Redhatter

I'm aware there are a couple of amateur radio operators on this forum, so I figured I'd open this thread up here so we don't clog up others with marginally-related posts. @Jim from Boston asked if it were possible to post details on the station I run.

Who are you, and do you operate from the bicycle? If so what do you run and what contacts have you made?

A bit of my history:

So, I've been a licensed amateur radio operator since 2008, currently holding the callsign VK4MSL. I actually picked up my cycling shortly after getting my radio license.

The radio station on the bike started out with what was, my one and only transceiver, a Kenwood TH-F7E, and I rigged up a PTT button and headset for it. I used a SMA to BNC adaptor to connect an antenna mounted on the rear pannier rack; a simple stainless steel whip.

The bike was a Dahon fold-up bike and my riding was almost exclusively on the footpath as I was quite unstable. Prior to this I hadn't been riding regularly for over 10 years.

Eventually the BNC→SMA adaptor destroyed the SMA socket on the radio, and for a little while I ran a Yaesu FT-290RII with the 25W linear.



Eventually I decided that bike wasn't really what I was after, so I bought a newer one, and for a while, used that same radio. I rigged up a headset for it, and for a long time that went well. I had all of 2m to play with, including the sideband bit. (CW too if I wanted to, but I can't copy CW in an armchair let alone on a bicycle. I'll leave that to LY2KW.)



Antenna was a simple ¼-wave whip. The controls for this were on the handlebars. Headset connection was using a VGA-style DB15HD connector, which ultimately proved to be a mistake (they aren't designed for outdoor use).



For power, I initially ran 9Ah sealed lead acids, but found that although rated for 9Ah, that was the 10 hour rate, they quickly discharged when used with the FT-290 which could draw 5A without problems. I found after 6 months the batteries were more or less ready for the tip. So I upgraded to the smallest decent-capacity LiFePO₄ cells I could get my hands on: 40Ah Thunderskys, the whole pack weighing 8kg.

This worked well; heavy, but workable.

I eventually bought a front basket and carried the FT-290RII in that, as buttons getting pressed with the radio behind me was a real problem.

Then the FT-290RII died. I used my FT-897D for a while, but it's a heavy lump weighing 5kg on its own. That plus a 8kg battery was taking its toll! So I bought the FT-857D, and so now I had all bands from 80m up to 70cm available to me (well, all that my license permits), I just needed the antenna.

Downside with this is the FT-897D had an automatic tuner (LDG AT-897), whereas I had to rely on the antenna being resonant or use my old Yaesu FC-700 manual tuner, but since I rarely operate HF on the bike, that was fine. I also managed to get hold of two 10Ah LiFePO₄ packs, so I now use those on rotation. These weigh 2kg, so a big reduction from the 8kg I was carrying in batteries.

For the first year or so, I had that rattling in the rear basket. Not good, but it was the best I could do.

Eventually I bought a new bike, and the whole radio station moved across with it. For the new bike I decided that I wanted something lockable on the back to keep the radio in, as when I wanted to park the bike anywhere, I had to haul everything off it and lug it around with me. With the top box, I just had the helmet and front basket to worry about. Batteries and the radio could live in the top box.



This worked out well, so I soon bought a second mounting plate and set the other bike up the same way. This is what it looks like today:



You'll notice it's the same front basket and top box. I've since also added a Garmin Rino 650 GPS and a handheld radio (Kenwood TH-D72A).

The radio controls on the old bike have moved across to the left side (I use the right side for controlling the front brake and the rear dérailleur, so figured it was more important that I keep my right hand free) and now instead of DB15HDs I now use a combination of DIN5 and DIN6 connectors; DIN5 for microphone/headphones, DIN6 for buttons.

Station: VK4MSL/BM
Bands: 80m…70cm AM/FM/SSB (FreeDV coming soon), 80ch UHF CB
Transmit power:

• 80m…6m: 100W
• 2m: 50W
• 70cm: 20W
• UHF CB: 5W

Power Supply: 10Ah LiFePO₄, charged from mains or solar.
Antennas:

• VHF/UHF: Either a monoband 2m vertical (made from RG-213) or a dual-band tunable whip (made from thick copper wire, telescopic)
• HF: 6' 27MHz CB whip or homebrew vertical.
• UHF CB: Rubber ducky built into Garmin GPS

APRS: Yes, 5W on 145.175MHz as VK4MSL-7, or via my phone over the Internet as VK4MSL-10.
License class: Australian "Standard"
License permissions:

• 80m: 3.500~3.700MHz
• 40m: 7.000~7.300MHz
• 20m: 14.000MHz~14.350MHz
• 15m: 21.000MHz~21.450MHz
• 10m: 28.000MHz~29.700MHz
• 6m: 52.000~54.000MHz
• 2m: 144.000~148.000MHz
• 70cm: 430.000~450.000MHz
• Average transmit power: 30W
• Peak Envelope Power: 100W
• Modes: any

Notable contacts:

• VK4SWE: 14.183MHz USB report 51 with 10W
• FK8HZ: 14.183MHz USB report 54 with 10W
• VK6KJ: 7.175MHz LSB report 45 with 100W
• N0UN: 7.???MHz LSB report 55 with 100W — using modified Opek HVT400B antenna
• ZL3SV: 7.???MHz LSB report 58 with 100W — first bicycle mobile contact, 27MHz CB whip mounted on trailer
• VK4SD/2 (Caragabal, NSW): 3.605MHz LSB, report 58 with 100W

Cyclist0084

Very nice set-up!!

I don't have pictures, but last year I rode with a Boafeng BF-F8HP with an extension speaker/mic clipped to the brake cables and a small mag mount antenna stuck on my rear rack. Wasn't the worlds best set-up, but it worked. Pretty much every Thursday evening I checked in to a local net from my bike. Call sign here is KC9NTO.

Will probably do the same thing this year, but I need to find a better way to mount the radio.

Redhatter

Well, I don't think there ever is a "world's best set-up", each has its advantages and disadvantages. My bike weighs about 40kg with all the gear on.

A hand-held with a mobile whip in the right place can have some pretty decent range. Nothing to be snorted at, and those Chinese hand-helds are cheap enough to be disposable. My cheap Wouxun KG-UVD1P also survives a deluge of rain much better than my Yaesu VX8-DR did: the latter being a submersible, if water gets in, it has nowhere to go and the radio drowns. AU$600 down the drain.

I find it always gets a conversation going… "Hang on, did you say 'bicycle mobile'?" I hear that a lot on HF.

Looigi

Yes, but I'm CW only.

J.C. Koto

Really nice setup, indeed!

Redhatter

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Guess there's no time like the present to learn some then. :-)

Looigi

??? CW is sound.

noglider 

I let my license lapse in the 80's. At the time, I would use a two-meter handheld and a whip antenna. Nothing as elaborate as you. It was fun, but then I lost interest. I can meet enough strangers on the internet.

Redhatter

It is, but I can't do sound on a forum… so I've done a crude approximation of what it'd look like with the waveform traced on paper. (If you imagine the tone's waveform traced that finely, all you see is the envelope which is what I've "drawn" there.)

2m is a good band really… decent range in the right conditions, the antennas aren't huge, and easily accessible. 2m SSB has AMAZING distance capability.

I find radio more personal than the Internet, but each has its advantages.

The main purpose of that rig above is emergency communications. I carry a log book in the back, and one of these days I should pack up the spare HF dipole I have and carry that in the panniers, with the view that in a major disaster, I can string it between a couple of surviving trees and operate portable.

The latter part of last week I had my 27MHz CB whip mounted and was using that on 14.125MHz; if I heard calls for assistance as a result of Cyclone Nathan, I'd be pulling over, getting some details off them then ringing the emergency services to relay the message.

The challenge for me (apart from physical; extra weight) is the technical challenges of radio. RF feedback is an ongoing issue and the signal isn't all that strong. Making an antenna that survives on a bicycle is also fun. I've found simple survives, fancy fails. ¼ wave whips seem to last years, where as one Nagoya dual-band antenna I tried once fell to bits in two months. The HVT400-B antenna I mentioned earlier met its end when I got too close to a bus shelter, sheared off at the base. (Pity, because I got into the US on that one.)

At least though, I've made a few contacts, so if the excrement and propeller become entwined, I'll be able to get a call out to someone in a 1000km radius. (More than that actually; FK8 = New Caledonia, and VK4SWE is on an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria -- that's equivalent to someone in Houston, Texas making contact with someone in South Dakota.)

Cyclist0084

Well, I think I found my "better set-up" this weekend. Was up in Milwaukee at the AES Superfest and while there, I came across a handlebar mount that will work with either a regular belt clip, or with a knob that slips in a belt clip. It seems to be a pretty sturdy mount, and it was only $20, so if it would fail for some reason, I'm not out a pocket full of money.

Robert C

AF7JA

I sometimes have my 2m/440 with me on longer rides; however, I have to say that I almost never hear anyone. I frequently monitor the local repeaters and I think it has been over three weeks since I have heard anyone. I have never spoken to anyone in this area that is a ham.

When scanning through the other Frs' I haven't heard anyone. I sometimes consider getting an HF rig, but I have other things that interest me more.