Transceivers
- Yaesu FT-100 (used on 20m)
- Kenwood TS-50 (used on 40m)
- 400 W amp (KL-500) for 40m
- homemade lowpass filter
- coax stubs for 20m and 40m
Antennas
- Spiderbeam for 20m/15m/10m
- Dipole for 40m
Antenna support
- 12m VDL fiberglas pushup mast
- 9m fiberglas telescope mast
Generator
The Spiderbeam performed exceptionally well. Even though the antenna was not very high (about 9-10m above ground) we were called by JA and VE. Signals from Europe were loud.
We only worked 20m as the time on the island was limited due to the bad weather we had.
If you are looking for a portable, lightweight, high performance antenna, then you should consider the spiderbeam. In the meantime Con, DF4SA has developed a 5-band version (which includes 12m and 17m) and a revised 3-band version. Check out his website: www.spiderbeam.net
The Honda EU-10i performed very well. Very lightweight (about 13kg), enough power (1KW) and very economic. We were running two stations continously for about 8-9 hours before we would have to refill the tank. We carried way too much fuel.
The rest of the equipment performed flawlessly but during our preparation we discovered a glitch in the FT-100. When the FT-100 was transmitting on 20m, 40m was unusable. The solution was using a 40m absorption circuit (double coax stub with 1/4 wave transformation line) on the 20m transmitter. This gave enough attenuation to get rid of the qrm from the FT-100.