I think you had said you were going to test the MFJ-1899T at some point.
I remembered I had one in a bin so I pulled it out, went to the local park and did some FT8 as my radiation test. All of the PSK reporter screen shots (below) are using the 1899T at 8 watts from my IC-703. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it did plus I was able to work several POTA folks from Texas to NY on voice still at 8 watts.
Also you can get from a camping store a POTA party shelter for about $50 .
Great for a cheap portable ham shack . Keeps out of the sun and weather .
Room for a table, chair and cooler. What more do you need?
Have fun !
Don W7SSB
Thanks so much for the tip, Don!
It’s ironic you send this now as I’ve been looking at an inexpensive pop-up shade tent to protect my radios from the snow, sun and sand when doing portable operations. This $12 model(Amazon affiliate link) has been in my Amazon cart for about a week:
It’s made to protect a sun-bather’s head from the sun or protect a small pet. I think my gear could easily fit inside on a tabletop or ground and there’s even a small ceiling window (designed so people can look at their phones while sun bathing?!?) that I think would work brilliantly as a spot to place an LED light to illuminate the inside of the tent.
While I don’t think I’d use this a lot, it would be awfully handy when there’s no shelter from direct sunlight. It should keep a radio from over heating.
Also, recently I was operating outdoors with blowing snow–temps were well below freezing, but when snow landed on the transceiver, the chassis was warm enough to melt it. It started to get downright wet on top. A small pop-up like this would have come in handy.
Readers: Do you use pop-up shade products? Feel free to comment with your experience and share models you’ve used.
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