Sunday, May 5, 2019

A Tale of Two Radios

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" 
(with apologies to Charles Dickens) 


Anyone who has been in this hobby for any length of time realizes they need (want?) more than one radio. It's a disease. Trust me. 

ONE do-all radio (FT-817/818/857) is a great idea.....until.....it breaks. What now, coach? 

The solution is simple, have a standby radio to pick up the slack while the primary radio undergoes maintenance. Makes sense, doesn't it?  It makes real sense when we talk about emergency communications (EmComm) or for the "preppers" out there trying to bullet-proof their communications systems.

For the last um-teen years those of us who have participated in Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) have used analog VHF FM to pass emergency traffic. Over the last few years digital modes like PSK-31, WinLink, DStar, etc have been incorporated into the EmComm arsenal much to the consternation of many of the Old Guard within the EmComm community.  

Gradually VHF gave way to a combination of VHF and UHF FM modes to spread the wealth around allowing more communications channels with which to improve redundancy and to support the mitigation of the emergency. This idea was something that had come of age owing to the proliferation of V/UHF dual band mobile and hand held transceivers (HTs). These devices allowed the EmComm/prepper user to have access to more spectrum which is always a great idea. 

 When it comes to survivable/emergency communications it might be a good idea to pay attention to an adage used by "preppers/survivalists": Two is one and One is none. Ergo, if you have two radios and one goes Tango Uniform, you will still have the ability to communicate. I like that adage, actually. 

One of our local area amateur radio clubs has an EmComm trailer that has all sorts of comm gear installed: HF, V/UHF FM, CB (yes, one of those "10-4 good buddy rigs") along with a portable repeater. A high end computer system, and of course, antennas to match all those radios plus gas generated power. Great idea, especially when it has air conditioning!!! Unfortunately only the "chosen ones" within that particular ARES organization have the privilege of manning it. Alas, once again "the great unwashed" are left out in the cold but it does look good on display at ham fests and field day.

Recently Patti and I were able to afford a covered Horton Hauler 6 x 12 foot utility trailer. The previous owner was an elderly locksmith and used the trailer for his business while on the road. It came with 120VAC and 12VDC lighting and power factory installed, along with a counter weighted rear door and a host of other options. The price was an absolute steal  so we jumped while the jumping was good.  

We are going to remove some of the cabinets and stowage that was previously installed and add a communications console, workbench and basically convert it over to our camping/mobile ham shack trailer. While we have a nice 25 ft fully outfitted camping trailer this smaller trailer will fulfill our needs much better than it's bigger cousin.

As to radio gear I plan on installing a HF SSB/CW/DATA radio along with V/UHF analog/digital radios, two high end scanning receivers, a CB set and a high power GMRS transceiver along with a couple of recycled laptop computers. I will have enough redundancy in place to continue operating should one or more of the primary radios fail.

Plans for this camp trailer/ham shack include outings to local county and state parks, speed runs up north to visit the kids/grand kids, Field Day, Winter Field Day, and the occasional camping/fishing trip.

In short being able to continue to operate should one of the radios go down is a great proactive idea. Provided I can find one additional Icom IC-2720 dual band V/UHF FM radio I will install that radio in the trailer as I have that particular rig in both my Chevy Silverado and Patti's Chev Equinox, giving me the necessary redundancy on those bands. 

Backtracking a bit, the addition of two scanning receivers gives us the ability to monitor local and state radio systems for the emergency responders. 

Time for a "War Story": about 15 years ago I was working at a state prison in NE Pennsylvania. One evening I heard a gaggle of sirens across town and turned up the gain on the scanner beside my chair. The local Wilkes-Barre PD and the Luzerne County Sheriff  frequencies were going wild with urgent traffic. 

It seems that two of the "guests" of the county jail had engineered a daring escape using bed sheets to form a makeshift rope that they used to slither down from their cell window and escape into the community. 

Since I knew the State Police air unit would be involved along with local township law enforcement units I put two more scanners on line and was monitoring the frantic action in trying to recapture these two miscreants. 

Suffice it to say that these three scanning receivers allowed me to keep up with the exciting, non-stop action happening only several blocks away from my home! There is little doubt in my mind that I knew as much, possibly more, about the efforts to recapture the two escapees than the on-scene incident commander! 

As to the inclusion of CB and GMRS radios that is a no-brainer. There are several million CB sets out there and probably triple that in GMRS rigs. Being able to gather information (intelligence) from these valuable sources can provide valuable insight to local situations. 

So now all we have to do is get the time and allot the energy to upgrading the new trailer. The antennas needed to support all these radios will be a challenge since at first glance, the outside of the trailer is aluminum and mag mount antennas won't stick!! That is OK, we'll think of something! 

Now how will I mount that V/UHF beam array??? Hmmmm.....

Vy 73
Rich K7SZ




















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