It doesn’t have to be Field Day to “take it outside”

Today’s equipment simply begs to be taken portable.

When I was licensed in 1984, you could find a few compact HF radios – Icom IC-735, Kenwood TS-120S, Yaesu FT-757GX – but I was taught to be wary of solid state radios because the transistors were “fragile,” so my first rig was a Novice-proof radio called the Kenwood TS-520S. The receiver was… not great. The transmitter, on the other hand, could transfer power into a piece of wet string without damaging the tubes – perfect for a complete novice like me.

I learned how to work HF on that radio, and since the receiver was “broad as a barn,” I learned how to filter with my ears. I also learned that just because something comes with a carrying handle doesn’t make it “portable.”

It weighed nearly 40 pounds. Mine needed 120 VAC, so clearly I needed a generator, which I bought. It weighed 65 pounds. And I needed an antenna tuner.

When I went portable for Field Day, that was 120 pounds of gear, not including antennas, gasoline, food, or anything else. I can’t believe I ever did that, but I have photographic proof somewhere.

Today, I have a QRP complete station in a modest backpack: switching power supply, 10 amp-hour battery, Yaesu FT-817, laptop, magnetic paddles, mag loop antenna, cables, microphone, headphones. The whole thing weighs about 12 pounds, and taken and used it all over the world.

21 year old me, with a carload of gear that strained the rear shocks in my old Dodge Daytona, would never have believed it.

Get your stuff together and get outside!