Tag: Yaesu

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Manpack Radio Project

New year, new project!

My main goal with amateur radio (at this time) is to push standard VHF and UHF (non-SSB) comms to their limits, but there is only so much you can do with a handheld yagi antenna attached to a 5W handie-talkie. I had experimented with long range stuff during my voyage to Main Duck Island in August 2022 and had some good results. The thing is, this was over mostly open water and shoreline, likely bolstered by some tropospheric ducting over such terrain. This was handy, but I normally don’t operate in that type of environment. According to K0NR’s website and book (VHF, Summits and More: Having Fun with Ham Radio), more range is usually possible with a better antenna (which I already have) and with applying more power.

There is also a chap on the Tube of You that goes by the handle “The Tech Prepper” who has come up with a modern take on manpack field radios used by the military. A concept that I had been thinking about for some time, but without any decent idea of how to make it work properly. He has a series of mobile and HF radios fitted with custom rail kits that allow mobile-style radios (those you would normally mount inside a vehicle) to be taken anywhere and used similarly to how an HT would be used. This gives the ability to use more power than you normally would be able to for a VHF/UHF field deployment.

I purchased a Yaesu FTM-200D in September 2022 in preparation for this project. I snipped the power connector off a week after I received it and fitted it with some powerpole connectors (there’s no going back now!)

Yaesu FTM-200D Powerpole-Equipped
Powerpole-equipped

It took me a few months to get around to it, but I finally ordered a set of rails from Armoloq and fitted them to the radio. The basic rail kit consists of an aluminum rail for each side of the radio and an antenna relocation mount. I chose this radio as I wanted to use it in the field, as well as my vehicle, and wanted to have APRS capability built-in to reduce the amount of extra stuff I’d need to carry. I do use APRS on the reg. If I need to do any other fancy-crazy digital modes, there is a data port on the rear of the radio. The radio so far has only been powered by the solar box I built and I plan on upgrading to a LiFEPO battery setup sometime in the near future to reduce the size and weight. The radio is capable of transmitting with 50W of power, but will only be used in manpack configuration at either the 5W or 25W settings (I’d like to not die from RF exposure anytime soon).

Yaesu FTM-200D Armoloq TPA-300
Rail kit attached with antenna relocation mount up top (cable not included)

A new antenna will need to be procured to make this setup more compact. I’m looking at picking up a Slim Jim antenna and running it up a collapsible carbon fishing rod. This will be way lighter and more compact than the Arrow II mounted to a tripod. The goal is to be as efficient as possible, while not dying after sliding down a slope and being buried by my gear.

Yaesu FTM-200D Maxpedition Colossus
Fits in my Maxpedition Colossus with some space on the sides. Just need to remove the antenna to zip up

The antenna relocation mount can be attached anywhere on the frame kit and is currently setup with a coiled up 3 foot section of RG58 until a shorter length arrives at a later date.

More to come as the parts come in.

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2 Meter Range Test Project

New project time! I’ve been wanting to test out the range of cheap and readily available amateur radios (specifically the Baofeng UV-5R) on simplex frequencies and finally got around to doing it. This is in preparation for the second phase of the solar box project which will pair that project with a simplex repeater setup.

I have previously performed a few tests with one radio hooked up to a laptop with a repeating CW (morse code) audio file to see how far I could receive the signal while using another radio in my vehicle. It was a half-assed plan to say the least: using a radio that essentially puts out only 4W of power at best, while also not taking notes during the process, didn’t really help.

This past Saturday, I decided to revisit my simplex range tests by picking a few locations locally where I should be able to receive signal. The goal of the project is to receive the beacon audio, over simplex frequencies , while being as far away from the beacon as possible. Two locations were chosen for the test. One being the P25 parking lot in the Ottawa Greenbelt. The second being Camp Fortune in Gatineau Park. Camp Fortune is a ski hill with a massive communications tower at the top of a mountain in the park. Unfortunately for me, the ski slope faces north (the beacon is in Ottawa to the south) and the place was packed to the brim with people, so that location was a no-go. I took a look at the topo maps for the area and settled on a spot just north of P5 in Gatineau Park for the test.

I used my Yaesu FT-70D as the receiving radio, paired with my Arrow II satellite antenna. The UV-5R beacon was paired with a Diamond RH-77CA whip antenna. The beacon was activated remotely using TeamViewer from my phone to unmute the computer and start the audio file playback. This was done to prevent overuse of the frequency and the transmission of any unintentional sounds from the computer. The Baofeng had VOX enabled to transmit the audio being played.

For the P25 Greenbelt location, I set up the receiving station on the shoulder of Bearbrook Road as it was higher in elevation than the parking lot.

Motorists thinking you are operating photo radar and questions like “are you tracking a bear?” are only a few of the perks of being this cool.

I set the audio file to play and within a few seconds of sweeping the antenna from side to side, I was able to pickup the beacon. It came through clearly, with the Yaesu’s S-Meter giving a solid reading of S5 (out of a possible 9).

S5 and clear.

I allowed the beacon to cycle a few more times just to see if I could get a slightly better signal, but that was as good as it was going to get. Part one of the test complete with good results.

Part two of the test at P5 in Gatineau Park began with a short 250 meter walk north of the parking lot, to a spot just off the road that should provide the elevation I was looking for while also being able to clear some of the hilly spots in the area to the south of the park. I changed positions a few times, but each time I was unable to receive any signal. There is quite a bit of foliage in that area close to the road which may have affected signal reception, but it was more-than-likely some elevation change between the beacon and this spot that I hadn’t accounted for.

The beacon details are as follows:

I came up with a short paragraph which began with my callsign, explained that this was a test for range purposes, approximate length of the test (which was ~50 seconds) and how often it would repeat (~5 minutes) and would then end with my callsign again. This was run through one of the many websites which offer a text-to-morse code audio file generator. A little bit of editing in Audacity allowed me to insert 4 minutes of dead-air so that it could be set to repeat in VLC when played back which would trigger the radio via its VOX functionality. I selected 144.190 MHz for the simplex frequency as it is within the CW portion of the 2m band in Canada and did not appear to have any specific restrictions to adhere to (this has since been changed to a different frequency as 144.190 MHz and other nearby frequencies are for narrowband transmissions only, which an HT is not capable of).

Range achieved from my home location to the P25 test site was approximately 11.3 km. With this test being successful, I will be planning for more testing at various locations throughout the area over the next couple of months.