Hello from a new groupie ๐
Here's what I'm putting together while building courage to take The Exam. An Icom IC-7100, Raspberry Pi 4, 12 V lithium battery with 256 Wh capacity and a 12 V -> 2x USB power thingy forged into a solid unit that fits inside a Savotta brand MOLLE pocket with attached 30 W self-regulated solar panel designed to top up car batteries.
The Raspi is there to run JS8Call, so that I can let it run and take a peek at what's happening over VNC. I'll attach the Raspi right against the Icom's front panel fan, should keep it nice and cool since the Raspi is clad in a passive heatsink case.
Would love to hear tips and ideas from experienced hams. Particularily interested to learn about quickly deployable 70 cm antennas. There was a twist and stow antenna (possibly called Firestick or something similar) I saw on Youtube but never found those for sale on the net. Anyone out there with a link?
You got me thinking about a roll-up yagi: elements laminated on something that can be rolled up lengthwise and flown like a flag, but with channels at the top and bottom edge that take something to stiffen the 'flag' :)
Will definitely also revisit the J-pole design. Come to think of it, so far the only store-bought antennas I have are on the car. Perhaps a little bit of ethos should be applied here โ only DIY antennas for HAM activities. As for the radio, I'm going to try to never charge the battery on anything but the solar panel, so that all of my operating will be independently powered :D Right now it's on a charger though, to get it to full capacity before the package is finished.
Thank you for the inspiration!
i've seen someone made rollup j-pole on basis of fabric strip, with conductive fabric strips sewn on. so you could probably take an actual flag and do the same, because yagi elements need some thickness and flat strips are good enough. this looks a lot like yagi printed on pcb board, except that pcb board is stiff, and you'd need some rods to stretch the fabric. so there already is need to store long sticks. instead, you can make a regular yagi but with elements that can be detached when not in use. i bet somebody made 3d-printable clamps like that
there are commercial antennas available, but you will pay an arm and leg