VHF
From BrauhausWiki
http://brauhaus.org/n8ysz/VHF.png PNG diagram of my VHF portable station
Starting in January of 2005, for the January ARRL VHF contest, I've been building a transportable VHF station. To date, this has mostly been used at my home QTH, but, it is possible to pack the whole kit (and Kaboodle) into the car and operate from the field. It went with me to the Arlington ARC's 2005 Field day and was the VHF/UHF station there (picture of mast/antennas). I carried everthing to Missouri in July of 2005 to operate with my dad, ND0J - we ended only doing 20m though, not VHF. The station also went to Mississippi with me in response to Katrina. In 2006, I setup on my pack porch again, for the ARRL January sweepstakes. In March, I used the gear for the W4WVP/P portable operations in the VA QSO party (picture).
The above diagram is a bit dated. I've since added feed lines for both antennas, a 100amp hour battery box, built a relay control box powered from 2x 7ah gel-cells, and finally, built a manual rotator for the antenna stack.
I'm currently considering methods for building a powered rotator. The exisiting rotator, which was built just prior to Field Day 2005, was built out of PVC pipe and is turned by the "Armstrong method." It relies on having a lever arm - usually the PAR moxon with a downline attached to the end for manual rotation. Although this is brutally simple, it isn't very convenient unless you're sitting right under the antennas. I have an older cordless screwdriver which I'm planning on canibalizing in hopes of building a lightweight rotator. I'm hoping I can mount the screwdriver to the military mast and use a vacuum cleaner belt to power the existing PVC rotator.
