10-meter, 28.300-28.500, EFH10 antenna, FT-817, MFJ Enterprises, MFJ-1810T, RadioWavz, Ranger, RCI-2950DX, RCI-2970DX, T-REX 2014, Yaesu We are preparing to support the RFR partisans in the The End of The World as We Know It 2014 (T-REX 14) exercise this year. If fans of this blog also plan on participating, please let me know so we can try to communicate. Also if there is anyone who wants to “play” in our group’s slightly harder T-REX 14 scenario please let me know and I will share more of what we are doing. In preparing for T-REX 14 I have realized that my current communication setup which is a Kenwood TH-F6, that I shared on this site in the blog post  is not really applicable for communicating longer distances.  The Kenwood TH-F6 is primarily a 2 meter (144 MHz) radio but also does 220 and 440 MHz, however it cannot do the HF bands like 10, 20, 40, etc.  The 2 meter wave form is good at tactical distances of 2 – 5 miles without a repeater. With a 2M repeater it connects people in approximately a 50 mile radius depending on its location and power.

With a repeater you can communicate over large country and / or city approach. Without a repeater the 2 meter 2 – 5 mile range (perhaps longer if conditions are right) is a good distance to keep a convoy or several groups of people in contact but it is not appropriate to communicate across the nation. With my first ham installation and the Kenwood TH-F6 you will be able to use the local ham repeaters as you bug out if they are not destroyed or denied to you.  backpack yaesu ft-897dYou will also be able to keep a group moving on foot or vehicle in contact locally (3 – 5 miles) without the repeater.    swissgear laptop backpack 1900This year my slightly more difficult T-REX 14 scenario assumes that local repeaters will either eventually run out of gas / battery backup, be destroyed (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, EMP, solar flare) or be denied to independent, self-sufficient patriots. qwstion backpack uk

This is an added complication to the default RFR T-REX 14 scenario. Thus we need a way for Patriot Operators to stay in contact without any infrastructure. In working through this added concept with our … “outdoor adventure group” we basically came up with the solution that we must use HF frequencies such as 10, 20 or 40 meters. easies laptop backpackCurrently you can get one of three Ham licenses from the Federal government, Technician, General and Extra. nomad backpack kwaliteitIf you get the higher level General or Extra more of the higher bands are available. women's pivoter backpackI have the entry-level Technical class Ham license thus the voice modes in the higher bands are fairly restricted to only a portion of the 10 meter band. heys backpack staples

Also I am restricted to push only 200 watts on that band.  Now the 10-meter band is not optimal for reliable nation wide communication.    Tntcombatives wrote “the propagation on 10 meters is not sufficient to make it a reliable way to connect on HF. Suggestion: get general class license.”  He is basically right.  However I am not getting my General Ham license in the next three weeks and I want to participate in T-REX 14 over whatever longer distance communication path I have. Remember in a true TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI event you would use any and all means to save life and property. This means you would use whatever bands you need to keep patriot operators in contact. I would recommend considering the 40 meter band during the day and the 80 meter band at night. For this T-REX 14 exercise we should stick with the frequencies the Federal government have authorized citizens. Thus for me, this is the 10-meter band at maximum of 200 watts.  Remember the 10-meter band is 28.000-28.300 MHz: Morse code, RTTY and data at a maximum power of 200 watts PEP and 28.300-28.500 MHz: for Morse code and voice at a maximum power 200 watts PEP. 

Here is what Don Butler, N4UJW says about the 10-meter band “I ‘cut my teeth’ in Ham Radio on the 10 meter HF ham band using an old Yaesu FT-107 that I had found on the used market from a local ham shop along with a homebrew 10 meter inverted V dipole I had built attached to a wooden fence about 15 feet in the air to the top of it. I set myself a goal to try to work as many countries and states over a one year period. As luck would have it, by the last day of that goal, I had worked over 100 countries and all 50 U.S. states in casual part time operating. Alaska was my last state on the list…finally! All on 10 meter SSB.” Now as we started to look at various ways a Technician can get on 10-meter longer distance at a cheaper price. We have looked at a lot of radios but we have use basic Trade Study approach to come down to two brands the Ranger ($350) and Yaesu ($650). The Ranger’s radios we looked at are the RCI-2950DX and the RCI-2970DX models which get good reviews and are very popular and the Yaesu FT-817 which cost more but is pretty attractive.

The Ranger RCI-2950DX ($300 or so) at 25 watt and the RCI-2970DX ($450 or so) at 200 watt are interesting. The 200 watt model is pretty heavy (8 lbs) and takes a lot of power. The 25 watt model looks like it would do the job pretty well, at half the weight. The Ranger Ham radios are essentially “redesigned” CBs. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something to know. The big thing to watch for with any of these radios is they must do Single Side Band (SSB). If they don’t, they are basically useless for ham use. Both the Ranger RCI-2950DX and the RCI-2970DX appear to be SSB and are thus potentially useful. If any Ham operators have direct experience with the Ranger, please add your knowledge to the comments below. The Yaesu FT-817 is looking pretty attractive. It costs more ($660 – currently minus a $50 rebate), but I have looked at specs and it is a sweet little radio. The killer deal is that it covers all HF bands, plus 6 meter, 2 meter, and 70 centimeter at 5 watts out.

This means this radio can replace my Kenwood TH-F6 started radio which does not do HF and it can also grow with me as I get a more advanced ham license and more ability to transmit across more HF bands.  Current draw (transmitting) is 2.2 amps. Weight is under 3 pounds (lbs.), including 8 AA batteries. The Yaesu FT-817 includes AA battery case, NiMh battery pack and charger, built-in antenna tuner, and a 6m/2m/70cm whip antenna. The fact that the Yaesu FT-817 has better Space, Weight and Power (SWaP), can replace my current 2m radio, can grow with me as I grow in my ham license and has an antenna tuner made the decision for me. What an antenna tuner does is you can connect a longer antenna cable, and have the radio “tune” itself to use it for this band. This is very, very useful. If you do not have this option on your radio, you would need to have an external antenna tuner. It also appears the Yaesu FT-817 does digital modes. This is communicating data over 10m which goes much further on lower power.

This is also useful. There are many reviews saying backpacking with the Yaesu FT-817 is very good. Now a ham radio without a good antenna is useless. Thus we started to look through “tactical” or “backpack-able” antennas. Things you could carry in your bug out bag (BOB) without breaking your back. We found a very impressive whip antenna for working 10 meter band on the Yaesu FT-817.  The MFJ Enterprises Inc. MFJ-1810T ($25.00) is a whip antenna that you can put on your truck, or build into something you have in your bug out bag (BOB).  The antenna collapses from 1.4m to 23cm.  This looks like the “must have” antenna for doing 10m on the FT-817. In walking (or driving) around this omnidirectional simple whip antenna should get you going. It just isn’t likely to get smaller, lighter or easier than this. If you want something that is more, and can base camp it for the night, we found the RadioWavz End Fed Half Wave (EFH) 10M 200W SSB / PEP 25W AM EFH10 antenna ($45.95). 

The RadioWavz EFH10 is a great base camp radio. If you read through the manufacture’s website it appears that RadioWavz has some experience in building collapsible backpack-able antennas for the military and other government agencies, if that matters to you. This antenna is designed to be broken out, and hung across stuff like trees, or even tents to create the half wave antenna. It’s an end-fed 1/2 wave (16′) wire. Can be hung from a tree, angled from a pole, strung between two tallish objects, or whatever. When you are done, you would unhook it, roll it back up and put it away in your BOB.  After this antenna, I would start looking at (longer) multi-band wires and such. One of our members was on a ham net and another ham has used the EFH10 antenna for quite some time and likes it.  He has shared some ideas on how to try to make it somewhat more directional by positioning it.   This ham said the antenna seems to work very well when strung out “low” which also may be useful to independent self-sufficient patriots.