John,

May I suggest a few points of prudence for you to consider?

1) Are you transmitting or simply intending to receive?

The former will most definitely require both a General Class license or
higher in this country, and either a reciprocal license, local license,
government permit, or a joint recognition treaty with the host country
that gives you the equivalent of General priviledges over there.

Keep in mind also that you will be limited to the priviledges of the
host country which extends these priviledges to you.

Even the possession of a receiver may require a license in the host
country. There could be several reasons for this: authoritarian state
where individual rights are far from paramount in the eyes of thier law,
free state (UK) that takes revenue from receiver licenses, or a state
where all communications are nationalized and thus even receivers are
considered government property.

2) Assuming you are transceiving, for what purpose do you intend to use
the transceiver for?

If you are intending to contact relatives and home office stateside as
third parties, you cannot use the amateur bands for this purposes, as
this is considered a business communication. There are countries
having even stricter third party restrictions than we have, and you
would of course need to consider the laws of both countries prior to
originating or handling such traffic.

You would be well advised to invest in a satellite phone instead.

3) If you are being sent to a place where the politics are at best
volatile and at worst violent, the possession of amateur gear could be
misconstrued by anyone from government paramilitaries to insurgent
terrorists in the host country as equipment in support of espionage.

The discovery of such gear in your possession could place your life in
even worse danger than your status as a US Peace Corp Volunteer normally
would.

This is another extremely good reason to consider a satellite phone instead.

4) Unless you can arrange for the item to be conveyed via "diplomatic
pouch", be prepared to pay a heavy customs duty to the host country.
The US State Department is usually quite cooperative with arranging
diplomatic immunity for conveyance of items necessary to the mission of
the US Peace Corp, though this is usually more along the category of
medications for humanitarian purposes. Consult with your superior for
more details.

5) If you are still determined, you should next consider tradeoffs in
reliability, portability, and rugged construction:

a) In terms of reliability, well constructed all-tube SSB/morse
gear is the gold standard for taking both physical and electrical abuse
in unknown situations, and can invariably run off of 50 or 60 hertz
mains across a wide range of input AC voltage level - 117 volts gear can
generally operate from 90 Volts minimum to 130 maximum.

Collins gear circa 1950-1970 would be eminently suitable for
semipermanent stations, and you can still see complete Collins
transcievers in working condition for under $1000. US military
surplus all-band SSB transcievers of similar construction to Collins
may also prove suitable.

The main disadvantages of this approach a (1) you would need
access to a dedicate power grid or at the very least, or at least 3
watts of power inverted from several paralled car batteries for every
watt of power you intend to transmit. A 1000 Watt power inverter would
be suitable for 300 Watts transmitter output. (2) due to the relative
fragility of vaccum tubes, you should take at least 2 spares of every
tube used by your transciever, and at least 3 extra sets of final
amplifier tubes.

b) Well constructed hybrid transistor/tube gear is the next best
with respect to physical abuse, but it is generally restricted in terms
of the variety of power supplies which can be adapted to it. It is
much more sensitive to power supply frequency, and a sag or surge much
outside 10% of the 117 volts input could even damage your gear.

The later model Heathkits, Yaesus, and Galaxies (I cut my teeth on
a Galaxy V Mark II during childhood), are all very good examples.

c) All-semiconductor gear such as from Icom, has the advantage of
being miniature, highly sensitive with outstanding selectivity for
weak signal work, quite flexible to operate, and can be run directly off
of a car battery, generator, or solar panels without need of inversion.

The main disadvantage is the exquisite sensitivity of modern
semiconductors to dirty power, I recommend very much against running any
all-semiconductor gear from a third-world power grid. Another major
disadvantage is the lack of user-servicable parts... if you intend to go
this route, bring TWO of them with you.

6) Don't forget other important station accessories, such as low pass
filter output, output balun, transmatch, and SWR meter. Old style
wraparound headphones are especially important for operator comfort.
Expect to spend another $1000 to $1500 on the accessories allow, if you
want rugged and top of the line accessories from the best names.

7) Paralleled inverted vee antennas cut for the bands you desire to
operate will give you the most flexible compromise between
bandswitching, local, and intercontinental operation. Consult the
ARRL Antenna Book for details.

Good luck,

The Eternal Squire













gwatts wrote:
John Walton wrote:

conditions are probably going to be hot, dusty, humid, full of
critters -- and battery operation essential --

Oh yeah, dusty.

Take a few plastic bags big enough to keep the radio in when you're not
using it. The radio will need ventilation when being used, especially
in hot places. I've used large Tupperware type containers in snowy and
rainy places to keep rigs dry, it'd work for dust and critters.

Humid: If it's too wet, it's too wet. Sometimes letting the radio warm
up will drive out moisture, unless it's really hot and humid.

Ok, posted from the right account this time,
Galen, W8LNA