Cecil Moore wrote:
Tom Horne wrote:
I'm honestly looking for advice that is based on experience rather
than a particular theory of what should work. I want to know what
does work from real world users.

What are you limitations? Supports? Size? Power?

Supports are an open question. I expect to have at least a forty eight
foot, two inch, aluminum, mast to use because that is what I'm buying to
support a directional or omni antenna array for the six, two, and three
quarter meter bands. That mast is available in eight foot long
sections. The six sections, couplers, guy rings, and the rest of the
mast assembly will live in one of those long air luggage carriers with
two built in wheels on one end that people use for things like skis. I
can certainly include one or more of the surplus GI plastic or aluminum
masts in the mobile equipment set, but three masts would be too much for
deployments involving commercial airline flights. Depending on how
heavy all of that is I could put one or two of the forty one foot
Jackite(r) poles or equivalent in that same kit.

The power would be the one hundred watts that can be gotten from one of
the DC to daylight mobile transceivers such as my Yaesu FT-857D. I
expect to build my lugable station into an air transport case with the
internal shelves and the removable front and back covers. That station
will have 1200/9600 packet for Winlink 2000 radio Email composed of a
laptop, TNC, and data radio. A dual bander for VHF / UHF voice and the
Yaesu FT-857D for HF. If the Kenwood TM-D710A continues to get high
reviews I'll use it for both voice and data on VHF / UHF and leave the
separate TNC for a ground mobile deployment. The rest of the weight
will be the power supply and rechargeable AGM battery up to the weight
limit prescribed for a single piece of airline passenger baggage. If
that ends up being impractical from a weight standpoint I might break it
up into two air transport cases. If I remember correctly they simply
won't transport an overweight item but they just charge you extra for
having an extra piece of baggage.

My reason for wanting to identify the antennas first is that they sort
of govern what else is possible.
--
Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison