My website is currently in development. It may take a little time between activations.
Radios:
Icom - IC-7300
Icom - IC-7100 x3
Icom - IC-2730A x2
Icom - IC-705
SBitx
My main radios for POTA are my IC-7100 and IC-705s these days. I activated for well over a year with my IC-7300 which is a fine radio although the IC-7100 became my main rig for POTA due to the ease of mounting one in my vehicle full time. Another plus is having 2m and 70cm available for the band openings. I have also added the IC-705 to the mix and have been running it almost solely since Dayton Hamvention 2024. This has mainly been due to the addition of a newer F-150 to the stable that I have not mounted a radio in as yet. I have found the IC-705 paired with the Xeigu XPA-125B has been a great addition to my radio array.
Headset:
Heil Proset-Icm X2
My main headsets are my Heil Proset-Icm. They are a bit expensive for the field but once you get over the fear of breaking them they are so much nicer wearing for long peroids of time. That said I consistently get great audio reports and compliments on the audio of my station.
Antennas and couplers:
SGC-230 Coupler x9
LDG RT-100 Feed point coax based tuner
Spider Beam 12M HD Mast x3
Spider Beam 18M Mast
POTA 20 mast
Tarheel Little TarHeel II Screwdriver x2
MFJ-1979 17' x4
WRC TIA
qrpkits.com 20m / 40m Dual Band Trap Dipole x2
Various pieces of wire
Oh boy, what can I say... I am a fan of the SGC-230, it is simply a fantastic coupler of high quality. I use these at the base of my Spider Beam masts feeding either a 43' vertical wire spiraled around the mast or a pseudo Doublet that is 50' of 450 ohm ladder line feeding 96' of wire (48' each side). I find the non-resonant length of wire does well with the coulper at the base with 7-8 radials in conjunction to coupling with my vehicle or trailer.
On 99% of my activations I use my vehicle to hold my SB masts. I use a cameco flag pole holder I purchased from Amazon that I cut the bottom off and jammed a 2" plumbing quick cap onto the bottom to protect the mast bottoms. From there I weled a makeshift rack to the back of the pole holder for my coupler to mount on and an extra piece of angle iron on the bottom that is drilled for attaching radials. I generally run 7-8 radials with my verticals. The radials range in length from 16' to about 50' and I lay them out in any manner I can; straight, zig zagged, and in cases I have even just left them wound up when space was limited. I have since added #11 bungs to teh mix and have one in the bottom section of each Spiderbeam. With adding the bungs I no longer have to cut the flag pole holders and have added 2 new ones to the mix.
As mentioned, I also have the pseudo doublet suspended by my SB mast and fed with ladder line for a horizontal orientation. I use this in references that are RF noisy or with my POTA trailer camping for the weekend I have found I can tune it from 6m to 80m easily with the SGC-230 but trying 160m with it is finicky at times.
I also have the qrpkits.com Pacific Antenna 20 and 40 meters trap dipole. I generally run this off the 12m spiderbeam as well using the cotter pin through the existing hole in the dipole pcb to hold it to the top of the mast. I feed it with a 50 feet length of rg-58 that does not have much deflection on the mast. I have been using this antenna with my IC-705 and XPA-125b roving out of my truck .
One of the best features of the SGC line is that you do not need a radio interface to use the coupler. You simply connect the coax from it to your radio and supply power. With wire connected you send a carrier or rf such as a whistle and it will tune. There is a SmartLock device to use with the coupler that has a status indicator light, lock switch to stop it from re-tuning, and a button to force a re-tune cycle. I currently only own one of the actual SGC branded locks and instead follow some schematics online to create my own for my other units.
The Tarheel I use in situaltions where I can not put up my mast or when on run and gun style activations where I am trying to get in and out and on to my next park. I use the MFJ-1979 on it as the whip when I am stationary. I find it gives me a lot more bandwidth per tune and as a huge plus it allows me to work 160m.
WRC TIA is a back-up oh' poop antenna. I actually started out activating with it like so many others have, but quickly learned that it is not the best antenna for me and my activating style. I currently have it loaned out to a hopefully soon to be new activator...
Batteries:
Expert Power 20Ah
FeMart 32Ah x2
Li+Age 32Ah x4
Tracker Lithium TLI 100 100ah x4
DC House 100ah
I started out activating using spare car batteries because I was able to obtain them locally and got an excellent deal on them. I have since given those to my son as extra batteries for his vehicle and for projects while he is away in college.
The ToBattery, no longer mentioned in my list, I purchased after several activations when I quickly determined that I did not care to lug around the heavy SLABs. I ran it as my primary battery for well over 100 activations and never ran it down completely. It always prefeormed well and based on testing with my West Mountain CBA delivered the rated capacity with a 10 amp load although did eventually have a cell die. Based on pricing and after opening it up to diagnose th eproblem upon taking a deeper look I suspect they are using grade "B" cells.
The Expert power was an Amazon purchase to have a lighter battery for field and pack usage. It tested well on the CBA and has been a good addition to my battery fleet. I currently have it loaned out to a chaser friend that has used it the last 2 torando seasons keeping the electronics and gear running with Ryan Hall's chase teams.
The FeMart and Li+Age batteries came from Battery Hookup as medical cart pulls. I have purchased several 4 packs of them and shared with fellow friends and club members. Every set I have purchased has tested above 90% on the CBA. I generally run 2 of these in parallel in my vehicle for my activations and have an extra with me incase I setup in a shelter or pavillion. I have the DC House as a back up in the bed of my pickup.
The 12 Tracker batteries are in the 6'x12' POTA-Box on wheels that doubles as our pseudo stelth camper. I have a 400ah 12v bank currently running all needed electronics, lighting, and radios in the trailer. The trailer is wired with a 12volt power supply running a charger when there is shore power and a solar charge controller with 200 watts of solar.
Chargers:
Powerwerx DC-DC 8a LIFePO4 charger X2
ISDT Q6
I had been a fan of ISDT chargers although I have recently been through 3 of them . I had a Q8 max burn up and 2 Q6s that have gone "wonky" and either drift and need constant calibration or just fail to charge.
I added the PowerWerx chargers as a replacement initially as I do like the hobby chargers features but after a few months running one and being happy with performance I have decided they are my new goto charger. I do wish there was more than a red and green status led but sometimes simple is better.
