06/29/2006 | KD8BSR Now a few thoughts stemming from my experience related several pages back...

30 ft. of wire works nicely for 20 metres and shorter. I had no trouble at all making contacts with it. The key was having enough wire on the ground as a counterpoise to push it against.

Sporadic E made the shorter bands (6, 10, and 15 metres) quite lively. There were signs of it in 20 as well from some of the short-haul contacts made.

An effective on-the-fly setup is not only possible but fairly easy to accomplish for someone accustomed to limits.

One marine battery worked well for seven hours' operation of two 80- to 100-watt transceivers. There was still plenty of charge left in it when I stopped for the night.

In a real emergency, in the rather unlikely event that I were called upon to provide communications, I would run 2 metres in addition to or instead of 6 for local work. Six did work well locally with some tropo enhancement and E backscatter but it's something of a specialty band around here whereas 2 is everywhere.

I'll bring a tarp next year, just in case. Also a light. -- KD8BSR