I was first licensed in 1981

and issued my Australian license on February 3rd 2015.

Quite a bit has changed since I first became an amateur. If you have a radio that can be setup as a portable station, I highly recommend you try it.

Find yourself a spot, next to salt water if you can. I promise you, you will enjoy every minute.

It's very pleasant sitting on the rocks at the waters edge, talking to people all around the world.

My setup consists of:-

a ¼ λ vertical for 20M, 5023mm long or 16' 5¾"
No ground plane radials
a homebrew Ground Tuning Unit. The GTU uses the base of the trolley as the counterpoise.
a 33AHr Deep Cycle AGM battery. Gives me over 3 hours or Portable working at full power.
an Emtron EAT-300A ATU (switched in Bypass mode on 20M)
all mounted on a small Magna Cart Folding Hand Truck.
At times I will be using an End Fed Half Wave Vertical for 20M with No radials.
Thanks to Alex, VK2HAS, for inspiring me with his Pedestrian Mobile set-up.

For more information on Portable/Mobile/Pedestrian Mobile operation, visit the Real HF Mobile Group

For my home operation, I use the same trolley, I just plug in a Mains power supply and a ¼ λ vertical for 20M which is mounted on the roof of the house. I would love to talk with you from my home and portable locations.

The Antenna is a ¼ λ vertical for 20M, 3 sections telescopic.
Made from 3 pieces of Aluminium tubing 20mm, 16mm and 12mm OD each with a wall Thickness of 1.6mm.