VE6AB Portable Ops
HF APRS Manpack
So as I've mentioned before, but more so on my "VE6AB Mobile" gallery I have an SCS Tracker interfaced with the Kenwood TS-480HX along with the Garmin Montana, all residing in the radio stack of my mobile.
With that combination, and running HF APRS RPR (Robust Packet Radio) on 30 meters, my beacons are being heard and decoded by HF Gateways located across North America, as well as in other parts of the world.
This combination has proven to be very effective, allowing me to be seen on Google maps when conventional VHF APRS does not provide coverage any longer due to no service.
As you know, on occasion I also get away from my mobile with my portable manpack that is equipped with a Yaesu FT-897D, and the 10-60 meter antenna that I designed and built back some time ago.
While away from my mobile, trekking in the back-country, I thought it would be nice if I had an additional SCS TNC mounted on my manpack, allowing me to be seen on Google maps by my wife and daughter, whom are up to speed as to how to keep tabs of my whereabouts when I'm away from home.
Sometime back, I had the opportunity to aquire a 2nd SCS 3070 Tracker, and I finally got around to mounting it on my manpack as seen in the photos.
The SCS Tracker is mounted on the side of the FT-897D, and being I also had an extra Byonics GPS2 receiver kicking around in my hamshack, I paired it up with the tracker. The GPS2 is magnetically positioned on the side of the case of the 897 as seen in the photo .
The SCS Tracker combined with the GPS2 receiver draw very little current, and I managed to tap in to the 897 for the required 12 volts (9.6 volts on the internal batteries) required to operate the tracker, as well as power the GPS2 receiver through the tracker suppling 5 volts out to the GPS receiver.
The tracker is connected to the 6 pin mini din connector located on the back panel of the 897 with a dedicated cable connecting the two together.
When I'm running with the 15-75 meter Webster Band-Spanner antenna mounted on the manpack while away from my mobile, and I need an extra push when 20 watts out from the FT-897D won't allow for my beacons to be heard by a distant HF Gateway, I have my mobile parked at the trailhead set up as a fill-in HF digipeater.
With the Kenwood TS-480HX/SCS Tracker mounted in my radio-stack listening for my HF APRS equipped manpack to beacon, the beacons from my manpack are then forwarded to a distant HF gateway with the help of the TS-480HX capable of 200 watts out.
Does it get any better than that......stay tuned.
Click on the photo for a closer look......
Another look at HF RPR APRS going down the road.....
http://www.jerryclement.ca/HamRadio/HamRadio/i-SqQN2LT
