[Milsurplus] Milsurplus Digest, Vol 60, Issue 27 (ATF Use of HF)

[Peter Gottlieb]

I have a PRC-104 which I have carried hiking and yes it is a brick.  I 
use a dipole made from #26 insulated stranded copperweld, lightweight 
thin teflon coax, and paracord to tie to trees.  I use a locally 
obtained rock to throw lines over trees.  For power I made up a pack 
with 4.4 AH NiMH cells in 2 strings to get 8.8 AH.  This lasts a very 
long time, and I have a 12 volt foldable solar panel to recharge it.  I 
made a little inverter which takes the 12 to recharge the 28 volt pack, 
making provisions to let the solar panel sit at max power output as much 
as possible.  A little SMPS boost converter with a good FET and inductor 
will get around 95% efficiency without much work.  So when there is sun 
I can charge (or reduce discharge!).  Get some altitude with a dipole 
and the thing works fantastic.  The PRC-104 can easily operate in rain, 
snow, or wherever I can without worry.  I would love to have the A 
version with LCD and channel memories but hey, I like the thing despite 
its weight.  Oh yeah, the dipole is cut for 80 meters and the internal 
tuner seems fine everywhere I've tried it.

Mike Morrow wrote:
> John wrote:
>
>   
>> I have a PRC-104 with a PRC-74 tunable antenna,etc. for the real world/QRP
>> pedestrian operations.
>>     
>
> I'd put my money on something more modern, like a commercial Yaesu FT-817, but
> even that small set is a battery power hog.
>
> If you go to YouTube and search for "goathiker" you'll find some very interesting
> trips taken by NOTU and his goats, Rooster and Peanut, for some QRP ops out in
> the mountains.  Example:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHgVYVkW25w
> He uses an FT-817 power hog, but he's got the goats to do the hauling.  Even they
> would balk at a long trip with an AN/PRC-104 and batteries, I think.
>
>   
>> I think it is a great radio system to use for HF backbacking if I ever get
>> around to that great adventure.
>>     
>
> Using a AN/PRC-104 sounds more like day hiking rather than backpacking.  When
> packing for a few days out on the trail, every ounce of extra weight quickly
> begins to hurt.  My backpacking HF rigs for tha past decade have been modern
> purpose-designed QRP rigs, my favorite being the Elecraft K1 four-band CW-only
> battery friendly rig.  Another candidate is the Elecraft KX1.  You can back pack
> these and their power source without breaking your back.  A dipole weighs much less
> than the PRC-74 whip, and is on the order of at least **30 dB** better in performance
> on both transmit and receive.
>
> I like all the military sets (especially the Transworld PRC1099), but usually military
> technology lags commercial state of the art until you get into the really specialized
> stuff.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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