Pedestrian Mobile

2022-05-18 My adventures with pedestrian mobile will be on hold for a while. My main objective was to see if I could do it! I've done that! It it is in fact quite workable and fun but is mostly a novelty for me. I enjoyed thinking about, planning and iteratively getting the system going. It certainly is one of the more interesting activities in the overall ham radio hobby. At the same time, I sort of miss setting up at a picnic table, putting up an antenna and just making contacts! I'll probably be back!

I did learn a few things that apply to other portable operations as well.

I learned how to do logging on my cell phone. I use VLS Logger. I'm actually using it in the shack now as well!
It is helpful, especially when portable, to have your key, cell phone and radio "nailed down" so you can do most things with one hand. I first realized that when I did my first CW contact with the pedestrian mobile rig. It is hard to use the paddle/key while writing down or entering into the phone call signs, RST reports, etc. if it takes two hands to do each of those things. I quickly made a mount for my phone and attached the paddle firmly. The result is that I'll use my pedestrian mobile setup on a the picnic or other table when I work portable. I even like it in the shack.
Non-resonant antennas can be just as effective as resonant ones. And a good tuner is a good thing and should not be shied away from. It was enlightening to discover that my 55" whip worked just as well when run directly to the tuner via a 9:1 unun as when I was using a bottom loading coil. And the tuner approach was much easier to work with overall.

I am not in any way criticizing or putting down pedestrian mobile. I would encourage any ham who is even slightly interested to try doing it. When successful you will have enhanced your understanding of equipment and and honed your operating skills. And you'll have fun. Even if it does not "take over" your operating, it's worth the investment in time and yes, cash!

2022-05-14 I got to wondering why most, including me, put the antenna on our back? In my case I don't need anything else on my back as the radio, tuner, key, battery, everything are on the chest suspended frame. So I set about to to mount it on the chest mount. the photo shows the result. I simply added a small aluminum bracket to the bottom of my mounting frame. A short jumper from the antenna to the K6ARK 9:1 tuner finished the job.

With the counterpoise wire clipped on (the red wire next to the mic in the photo, I checked it out. The tuner seemed to tune it up just as it has done with the back mount antenna. Current propagation (I think) prevented me from making any contacts with it but I have a feeling it will work similarly to my other arrangements.

I think having it on the chest setup is on the one hand more convenient. On the other hand it does add to the weight and "instability" of the whole thing. So on balance, I think I like the back mount a bit more.

2022-05-10a Pedestrian Mobile has it's challenges. Went out to a park right after lunch today. It was 85 and humid. Got all hitched up and set out. Responded to an activator on 20m. No response. Tuned up on 30 meters. Same. Went to 40, same. Back to 20. Tuner wouldn't tune. I was hot and frustrated so headed home. On the way home, having bad thoughts about my T1 tuner, it dawned on me that I've been using the same battery in that tuner for months! When I got home and replaced it, all was well! I actually had the spare battery in my backpack but never thought about that then! Another day in the life of a portable activator!

2022-05-10 I've now made 86 contacts with my pedestrian mobile setup. Plus I've used everything but the antenna here in the shack as well for a total of 264 contacts. 105 of those were SSB, the rest CW. All that to say, I think my setup is becoming fairly mature. I'm sure I will make additional changes, but I think the main system is fairly stable and works in a variety of situations. Below are some observations.

Regarding the antenna the thing that made the biggest difference was giving up on the loading coil for the short whip and in stead using a 9:1 unun and tuner. And the K6ARK unun simplified that. It is very tiny, not much larger than a BNC connector. The tuner/unun combination makes all band operation easy with the 55 inch whip. Further, when in the field, it is very simple to stop at a picnic table, attach a 29 or 32 (or longer) wire sloper in place of the whip and operate portable.

Regarding the gear, which includes a phone, radio , battery, tuner, mic and key, I find having that all assembled as a single unit makes operating very simple. It is essentially a grab-and-go kit. The only wires involved are the antenna radiator and counterpoise. while operating you don't have to pick up the phone to log, key to send, etc. It is all conveniently accessible. I find it easy to use whether strapped on my neck walking around, sitting at a picnic table or on my desk in the shack. I've used it exclusively for the past month and a half.

The gear consists of the ICOM IC-705 transceiver with hand mic, Elecraft T1 autotuner, modified Whiterook MK-44 CW paddle, Bioenno 3Ah LiFePo4 battery, and K6ARK 9:1 unun. It is all assembled on a homebrew L-shaped frame made from a thrift store clipboard and various hardware and other pieces. The neck strap is from an old camera case. It's total weight is just under 6 pounds.

2022-05-03 I've been playing with my pedestrian mobile rig and antenna for several weeks now. My basic setup is an ICOM IC705, Elecraft T1 tuner and a bottom loaded 55" telescopic whip. I've logged about 70 contacts with it, all on 20 meters at our local park, POTA k-4265 Richard Bong State Recreation Area.

This morning, talking with a neighbor on 2 meters he suggested using a 9:1 unun instead of a loading coil. I use a 9:1 unun often when portable with a 29' radiator and 17' counterpoise with good results. But it never occurred to me to try it with my 55" whip! Should it work, a great advantage would be the simple band change capability.

So I grabbed my K6ARK 9:1 unun mounted on a BNC connector and rigged up a 55" piece of speaker wire. Connected the unun to the antenna BNC on my T1 tuner and my 15' drag wire to the counterpoise connection on the unun. I taped the end of the radiator to the wall (it's raining outside) and tossed the counterpoise on the floor. The T1 tuner tuned the antenna on 40 and 20 just fine! SWR was about 2.5:1 on 80 meters.

All bands were "sick" here in SE Wisconsin at 8:30 this morning with almost no signals at all. So I tuned up on 7.055 and called CQ SKCC. KE4KE in MN answered immediately! He was about 439 here and gave me 559! I couldn't help but just sit back thinking, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Had to go make a cup of coffee and think about things a bit. If this will work, it just made my pedestrian mobile life a lot easier and more fun, opening up "all" bands without fussing with taps on loading coils, etc. We'll see.

2022-04-27 I keep making improvements, well at least changes, to my pedestrian mobile rig as I gain more experience with it. My aim is to make it easier to use and I've been focusing largely on my phone mounting so it is easy to use while wearing the rig on my chest suspended by a neck strap. I think I am getting close. I've recorded several dozen QSOs with it as shown here in the house over the past few days and everything seems pretty accessible and becoming intuitive with both SSB and CW contacts. The CW key is mounted below the phone. The paddle is highlighted in the last two pictures. It's a DIY paddle based on the Whiterook MK-44 mini paddle. I removed the paddles and remounted them in a small box made from balsa wood sheeting. It is held in place using Scotch Restickable Dots. It has proven pretty robust.

2022-04-22 One question I've had about my pedestrian mobile setup is how well it performs compared with my G5RV antenna here at home or my EFHW when portable. I've used the ic705 in all three scenarios and mostly at 10 watts though occasionally at 5 watts. So, since it is rainy and back in the 40s here today I decided to do some analysis. Below are the two maps of contacts for contacts with the pedestrian mobile vs. either using the G5RV at home or the KN4ACK EFHW when portable. I did not distinguish between home and portable.

Couple of things stood out to me right away. First, the geographic spread and reach of both systems is quite similar. I was pretty surprised that the pedestrian mobile system with it's very short vertical and 15 ft dragline put up a pretty impressive fight! Granted I spent more time with it than with either my fixed station or portable but still. It doesn't seem nearly as "compromised" as I expected.

Updated 04-20-2022

2022-04-20 Yesterday afternoon I took my pedmobi outfit to k-4265, the POTA park here in SE Wisconsin I've used for all previous pedmobi, and over a thousand other, contacts. I put the rig and antenna on and connected everything as before. Except I forgot to connect the counterpoise! Everything tuned up as always, so I started calling CQ POTA on 20 meter CW and started walking. I got 10 contacts in about 40 minutes. My RST reports were pretty much as in the previous activations. Then I discovered, NO COUNTERPOISE!

Frankly I was surprised that it tuned and worked! I noticed nothing unusual about it while operating. I've always assumed that without a counterpoise a short vertical antenna would be hard to tune, would not be stable, likely RF would getting into the tuner and rig and it's performance would be poor. But nothing like that was evident. Everything seemed completely normal! It'd be nice if no counterpoise were needed as it is somewhat of a pain!

2022-04-13 Went back to k-4265 this afternoon with my Pedestrian Mobile setup after tuning the whip this morning so I can bypass the tuner. Made another sixteen contacts, three SSB, the rest CW. With three activations under my belt now with this setup, I have made 41 contacts. Thirteen were SSB and the balance CW. So far my antenna only works on 20 meters. I'll probably work on tapping the coil for higher bands and maybe an additional loading coil for 40 meters. The kit will likely continue to be "improved" but it is now fully functional.

What are my observations? My main observation is that pedestrian mobile is not only feasible and fun, it is a good way to operate. I've been fairly surprised that you can make many contacts with it, not too different from any other portable setup with modest wire or vertical antennas. Logging it more challenging than when sitting at a picnic table. I've always logged using paper so part of the challenge for me is developing the skill to log on my phone. But I am beginning to feel that may become much easier as I gain experience. I'm using the same radio I use when portable, my ICOM IC-705, which works very well in both scenarios. The antenna is the main difference. The pedestrian mobile one will likely always be single band. Even if band change can be done by moving jumpers or whatever, the antenna, at least mine for now, is really not reachable when it is mounted on my back. So even a jumper change will require removing the backpack, making the change and then reconnecting and checking. But overall, I can see going on a trip with only this setup and having a successful and fun time. It has likely forever changed my attitude about portable operating. Thirty foot push up masts and 60 ft end fed wires will always be better performers, but they aren't' quite as "essential" in my mind as previous to the past couple week's experiences.

2022-04-12 This afternoon was in the mid 60s with a light breeze and high thin clouds. I had to head out to K-4265, Richard Bong State Recreation Area! This was my second activation attempt with my pedestrian mobile setup, and it was also successful! I appreciate the patience of all who responded to my CQ POTA in both SSB and CW. I've not settled on a good way to do logging. Currently I'm using VLS Logger on my phone. It works very well except I fat-finger all the time. Most operators stuck with me as I fumbled around. A couple gave up! I understand!
I had 3 SSB contacts and 11 CW contacts. Two were p2p stations. All on 20 meters. The station was, as described below, my ic705 @ 10w, DIY paddle, & DIY 55" bottom loaded whip.

Pedestrian mobile is quite a different experience compared with fixed, mobile or portable. Kind of like backpacking, everything you need is on your back!

Pleased overall! Thanks again.

2022-02-06a After yesterday's successful stroll in the neighborhood, and predictions of a somewhat nicer day today, I grabbed the kit I took out yesterday and headed for k-4265 Richard Bong State Recreation Area not far from our home. The result? a successful activation. Got eleven total contacts on 20 meters but one was a duplicate! The first contact was CW. The other ten were SSB. Total on-air time was about 40 minutes. One of the SSB stations was in the Azores, 3113 miles. Another was in Utah, 1340 miles. Not bad for 10 watts, a 55" whip using my ic705. I walked around in the parking lot mostly. Tried the grass but there was way too much standing water from rain overnight!

As I mentioned in a previous post an issue has been how to hold or mount the phone so I can do logging on it and/or look at the POTA spotting page. Just before I headed out this morning I attach a couple pieces of foam from an old camping mat using double sided tape to my chest carrier. It held my phone snuggly and made it pretty easy to do logging using VLS Logger while walking around. It was a successful and fun activation.

A function of the ic705 which proved very helpful was the audio recording capability. I turned it on before my first call and recorded the entire activation. Later when cleaning up the log I discovered that one call was incorrect, one letter off. By listening to the recording I was able to fix the typo and save the activation! That recorder is my friend!

2022-04-06 Finally, yesterday afternoon I went for a "stroll" with my pedestrian mobile setup. Ic705 on my chest with an Elecraft T1 tuner; DIY bottom loaded antenna with a 55 inch whip and 13 ft counterpoise wire. Had a 6Ah Miady battery in the bag for 10 watts. Two SSB contacts: W3EMD in upstate NY and W5LST in Arkansas. I walked in our neighborhood along the road and on the grass near the lake, about a half mile round trip. I didn't have my photographer with me (my wife) but she consented to take a picture in our front yard! It was drab and overcast today so the lighting is not very good, but it's what we have! It took me hours to warm up as it was about 45 and breezy. Heard a couple European stations loud and clear. I don't know if they could have heard me but they always had a pileup so my little signal was never responded too! I feel pretty confident that when I take it to a park and post a spot I'll get calls! Please, warm weather and sunshine for several days in a row!

Earlier this morning I mounted my QRPGUYS DS1 44 inch vertical on my Xiegu X5105 and stepped outside on our sidewalk. KG5OWB was calling CQ on CW from K-0756 San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. He was a solid 559 in here and gave me a 569. It was a struggle to hold the radio and paddle but I managed it without dropping anything! Before I try that again I'll have to figure that all out.

What did I learn today? With the x5105 I didn't like the way the antenna was supported only by the BNC connector. With the IC705, the only thing I noticed is that as I walked along, particularly on the road I noticed what sounded like static discharge. It wasn't there when I was on grass. With both, I have to come up with a way to carry the phone so it is both accessible and visible to log calls without having to be held. I don't think pedestrian mobile will displace "normal portable" operating but I'm hooked! Figuring everything out and having it actually work is perhaps the most rewarding part of the whole undertaking!

2022-04-01a Finally, today turned into a full sun day! Wonderful! It even got into the 40s, not warm but tolerable. So this afternoon I mounted my DIY Short vertical on my backpack and headed to the yard with my developing pedestrian mobile setup. The antenna is similar to the QRPGUYS DS-1 with just a bit longer whip and a more convenient way of mounting. The DIY coil is more easily adapted too.

I managed four contacts while walking around the yard this afternoon. Two of them were POTA activators. Everything seemed to work better outside. Also, was using the auto-tuner which helps considerably. I'm learning pedestrian mobile not for the faint of heart!

Sorry, I failed to get any pictures of my "yard excursion" but here is one of the antenna mounted on my backpack.

2022-04-01 With weather still not pedestrian mobile friendly, at least for me, here in SE Wisconsin I continue to "refine" my setup in our high ceilinged family room. The main thing I'm fussing with is the antenna. SWR is very much a moving target. Seems the slightest change in anything get's different results. Something that I think is helping me get a handle on things is a book I discovered on Amazon called Amateur Radio Pedestrian Mobile Handbook by Edward R. Breneiser. Much of what he writes I've already discovered but two things really helped me.

First, think of Pedestrian Mobile (PM) as a system, not just a radio, antenna, battery, etc. And that system includes you, your clothes, the ground, trees, etc. Everything interacts with and affects everything else. That's always true but in your ham shack, even portable, the parts of the system remain relatively static once set up. When Pedestrian Mobile they are constantly changing, perhaps with every step. What's the significance of that? You have to have a system that can cope with the change. and that includes your thought processes as well as equipment. In other words build a system that can respond to and compensate for all that change relatively easily, and happily!

Second, use an auto-tuner! It took me years to adopt an auto-tuner in my shack. I did give in to a manual one many years ago, finally admitting that even there simple things like changing frequency needs to be compensated for. Using a good auto-tuner makes operating much simpler. Yes, you want to put up the best antenna you can. But just changing frequency a few kilohertz will stretch your good antenna. And the better that antenna is, the less tolerant it is likely to be of changes. How much more, when carrying your antenna around on your back. That doesn't mean you can ignore the antenna's native resonant frequency, for example, But change is too dynamic to tweak manually every few steps. A good auto-tuner will handle a wide enough range that you can "keep on walking!"

As I cogitated on those two things, it became clear that I needed to change my chest rig carrier to allow inclusion of my Elecraft T1 auto-tuner. Thankfully, that was fairly easy to do and is pictured below. I'm sure I'll make some additional changes but here is version 1-a!

One change I'm thinking about is whether or not to place the NanoVNA "permanently" on the mount. I've learned that having that NanoVNA readily accessible for initially tuning up the antenna is really important. Once it is "in the band" small changes in the whip are relatively easy with the radio's internal SWR scope. And the auto-tuner can probably deal with most in-band changes. I'll have to play with it a while to decide what I will need to do. It may be that I just need the NanoVNA in my pocket and not "permanently" mounted on the carrier.

For the record, a few minutes after assembling the carrier as pictured above, about 4pm local time, I checked into the YL System on 14.332 with control operator N1PVT in MA, 843 miles. Jane gave me a 54 and was about the same here! Ten watts SSB standing in the family room! and I did the final tweaking using the T1! Oh Happy Day! :-)

2022-03-29 Chest Carrier. My chest carrier for the ICOM IC-705 is shown below.

2022-03-29 Full kit with QRPGUYS DS-1 Antenna.

2022-03-28 I think my Pedestrian Mobile kit is just about "road ready." Still based on the QRPGUYS DS-1 short vertical antenna. I've had five 20 meter QSOs with it now, all but one inside standing in our ground floor living room. all with respectable reports both ends. All on 20 meters. Two were on SSB, the other three CW. One of the SSB ones, outside was SSB and at 5 watts! I'm confident the antenna will perform acceptably. All contacts were with a 15 ft counterpoise wire just stretched on the floor or ground. My radio is the ICOM Ic705.

What have I learned? First, I wouldn't head out without my NanoVNA or some easy to read SWR meter. The SWR function on the IC705 is just too narrow, restricted to ham bands only. The antenna is almost always initially out of the band. And being very short it has a very narrow bandwidth so it is almost impossible to "find" it initially. With the NanoVNA I simply connect the feedline turn it on and see immediately where it is resonant and make the needed changes.

The second thing is that I would want to have CW capability. You can make SSB contacts but CW seems to do a better job. I probably haven't used it enough to be sure of that but it has seemed that way to me.

I'm really looking forward to using it in a park for an activation. I'm sure that will lead to more changes in the kit. It will also help me sort out logging contacts. So far, just hunting, I've simply entered the contacts into VLS logger on my phone. Not sure how that will work on an activation. I also want to get familiar with the ic705's recording feature so I can record the contacts and either transcribe or double check them before I head out for the first time. Stay tuned!

2022-03-26 With a shortened antenna such as the QrpGuys DS-1 CW will increase the likelihood of actually making contacts. I knew this as I started on this project but didn't really take dealing with a key or paddle seriously. This was driven home yesterday. The last 3 days have been blustery and drizzly here in SE Wisconsin so I couldn't go outside. But the sun came out briefly yesterday so I quick got everything outside and hitched up! Managed to adjust the whip so I had about 1.5:1 SWR. K1DJ in MA was calling CQ using CW on 14.040. I wasn't prepared for CW but somehow managed to hold my phone and paddle and respond without dropping everything on the ground. To my surprise he came back, about 559 here. He was doing some contest and was just giving his name and State, MA. I managed the selfie below. At least I know it works! Lots of room for improvement but it's slightly more than a beginning. Thanks, Rich for the contact!

But that drove me to find a way to add a CW paddle to my radio carrier. After several tries with a couple different paddles I attached the DIY one shown below using Scotch Restickable Dots! I found mounting it as shown seemed to work the best. I may make some further changes but this worked well enough for me to make several CW contacts this morning using my shack G5RV antenna and the DS-1. And, by the way I made one SSB contact with the backpack DS-1 this morning also with a station in Alberta, Canada, just under 1400 miles! Both the CW and SSB contacts were standing in our family room which has a 14 ft ceiling. I was running 10 watts. I'm excited to get this thing outside on a trail in one of our nearby state parks and try to do a Parks On The Air activation!

2022-03-24 For years, even before I got my ham license back in high school mobile and pedestrian mobile interested me. Over the years I had various mobile setups including both HF and VHF/UHF rigs and antennas. Currently I don't have any gear in my car. But just this week I once again began thinking about trying pedestrian mobile. I have two radios that would be suitable, a Xiegu x5105 and more recently an ICOM IC705. My interest was triggered by a posting on Facebook which showed in some detail how guy had made his chest mount radio carrier and backpack mounted antenna.

I needed two things. A way to carry my radio. An antenna setup. So I headed to our local store to buy a sheet aluminum to make a pan for the radio. But I nearly went into shock at the cost! I then stopped at two local thrift stores to look for a cookie sheet. None to be had! But for 50 cents did find an oversized clipboard which I thought I could cut up and use to fabricate something that might work. The pictures show the result. Had one QRP SSB QSO with a POTA station in TX using my home station G5RV. OK, not a pedestrian antenna!

After finishing the chest mount rig carrier I was mulling over antenna options and remembered my QRPGUYS DS-1 short vertical. So I dug it out and stuck the ground stake in the loops on an old backpack with the 20 meter coil. Then I strapped on the ic705, hooked up a 10ft rg174 coax, fully extended the whip and powered up.

To my surprise N4TAT in GA was calling CQ on 14.313 where the rig was tuned. Without even checking the SWR I gave him a call and he answered! We talked for several minutes and we're both 55! Oh, I was 5 watts!

I'm not recommending any of this but it sure was fun! My first non-HT, HF pedestrian mobile (well sitting down in my shack) QSO! You gotta love ham radio! Thanks, Don!

This morning, after our Thursday morning bible Study, I spent a little more time and mounted the antenna a bit more permanently to the backpack and standing in our family room tuned around. 20 meters didn't sound promising at all. So I added the 40 meter coil. one objective was to see just how feasible it is to tune the antenna while its on your back. It requires some contortions but is possible. A NanoVNA enhances the process considerably. Since a short vertical is "very narrow" the biggest challenge is finding where you are initially. Then you an extend or retract the whip a bit and get it resonant. I didn't make any contacts this morning from inside and it is too cool and rainy to go outside, so....