DEM Portable Kits

Having deployable equipment can be critical during an incident. It is also important to have everything readily at hand when it is time to deploy. These kits are intended for that purpose, each with its own capabilities and having the antennas and other support to be effective and easy to set up.

The details are provided here to inform and inspire your creativity. Hopefully this provides an opportunity to get ideas, identify sources and learn from those who have done the work previously. In addition you are encouraged to see what others have done with there Personal Kits.

If you have a system with interesting features and would like it featured here, contact Scott via email at N7SS at arrl.net.

Portable Amateur Radio Kit

DEM has two portable amateur radio kits in rolling cases and a separate case with wire antennas, coax, twine for hanging antennas, instructions, notebook and pens. The kits include a Yaesu FT-897 for HF-UHF and an Icom IC-880 dual band mobile for FM and DSTAR. The Yaesu has a Signal Link USB and the Icom has a TNC-X for Winlink support.

For a downloadable version of this article, click HERE.

The Yaesu FT-897 is an analog rig that had been the main HF rig in the radio room but they were upgraded leaving them with no application. They still have utility so we decided to make them portable. They cover both the HF and VHF/UHF bands but only have a single VFO so a second VHF/UHF radio is helpful. The Icom ID-880 dual-bander was chosen because it can operate both FM and DSTAR.

The systems are built in a 4U rack mount rolling SKB case. There are many manufacturers of these cases and they are available from sources from Amazon to a local music store. These were chosen because they are lightweight and can stack with other units. All the equipment is mounted on a 2U rack shelf. There are no penetrations in the box to retain the weather resistant capability. This also allows all the equipment to be removed by removing the 4 screws on the shelf and sliding it out of the case. It does require loosening the screws on the speakers to allow them to rotate slightly to fit out the front of the case.

The case includes the necessary cables in the back. The power supply cord is secured in the back and a long USB cable from a USB hub. The USB cable connects to a hub which connects the Yaesu FT-897 and Signallink, Icom ID-880 and TNC-X. Plugging in this one cable mounts all these devices on the computer to support any desired digital mode software.

The Yaesu FT-897 is has a number of connections in the back. It’s tied to the matching LDG tuner, Singnalink USB and a speaker. The LDG tuner provides an additional CAT output that is tied to the USB hub in the box. The HF antenna port on the radio is tied to the tuner which has an open port for the antenna and the radio VHF/UHF port is still open on the back of the radio. The radio is long enough that these ports can easily be reached from the back of the case when connecting antennas.

The top shelf also holds the Alinco DM-330 32A power supply. This is a reasonably compact supply with a volt/amp meter that includes a cigarette lighter power on the front and some push in terminals for additional power out. This feeds a RigRunner 4004U that drives the radio and accessories. The 4004U features two USB ports that can be used for charging personal devices.

The lower shelf holds the Icom ID-880, the MFJ speakers, Signalink USB, TNC-X and Startech USB hub. The speakers have to be folded back slightly in order to remove the shelf from the case. They have also been modified to add a headphone jack.

The Icom is connected to the speaker, TNC-X and the USB hub for DSTAR support. Because the radio is so small and the USB hub is located behind it, the antenna port was difficult to access. It was necessary to remote the antenna jack to a bracket on the back of the shelf.

Some surplus laptop cases make excellent cases to hold antennas, coax, manuals and office supplies. The case holds two N9TAX roll-up J-pole antennas (one for each radio) and some twine to secure it. There is also a Radiowavz Off-Center Fed (OCF) dipole and more twine as an HF antenna solution. The OCF dipole is more convenient than a standard dipole because the feed point can be placed closer to the station. There are three lengths of RG-58 coax included; 25', 35' and 65'. There are also some coax couplers available to attach lengths together as needed. All coaxes have color coded tape to help identify them when attaching them.

There is another antenna bag available that includes a Buddipole tripod, mast and guy kit, coax and vertical whip antennas for multiple bands.

Land Mobile Radio Kit

During the 2014 Hwy 530 landslide incident, it became clear we needed a portable package that had primarily VHF commercial and air band radios. This was the exact configuration needed to control the airspace over the incident site. Having UHF and/or 800 MHz would be a bonus.

For a downloadable version of this article, click HERE.

We built two cases with Harris Unity radios that cover VHF, UHF, 700 and 800 MHz and an Icom IC-A110 air band radio. The Harris Unity radio actually costs significantly less than a comparable Motorola radio but is more complicated to program and doesn’t support the wideband FM on UHF used by amateur radio. The 800 Mhz is not as useful as it could be since it doesn’t support the Motorola Smartzone trunking used in Snohomish County. It does still support the interoperability and state ops frequencies and is P25 capable standard. The color touchscreen provides an attractive and easy to use interface.

The Harris presented some wiring issues because the power connection includes a switched “accessory” lead that also has to be powered. Since there are several available outlets on the RigRunner, the white accessory line got its own connector. The speaker output is available via a DB-25 connector in the back of the radio. It was necessary to create an adapter from the DB-25 to the Icom speaker. Antenna jacks from both radios were extended to the back of the shelf.

The systems are built in a 4U rack mount rolling SKB case. There are many manufacturers of these cases and they are available from sources from Amazon to a local music store. These were chosen because they are lightweight and can stack with other units. All the equipment is mounted on a 2U vented rack shelf. There are no penetrations in the box to retain the weather resistant capability. This also allows all the equipment to be removed by removing the 4 screws on the shelf and sliding it out of the case. The Icom speakers were used because they’re short and the fit easily inside the case and still have very clear audio.

The top shelf also holds the Alinco DM-330 32A power supply. This is a reasonably compact supply with a volt/amp meter that includes a cigarette lighter power on the front and some push in terminals for additional power out. This feeds a RigRunner 4005 that drives the radio and accessories. The power cable for the Icom on the bottom of the shelf was routed through a rubber grommet placed in the shelf slot to minimize the risk of chafing (and fireworks from a shorted power cable). Cables are secured to the shelf and the Rigrunner ports and fuses are labelled to insure proper connection and fuse replacement.

The antennas used are all vertical and stored in a nylon golf bag with a Buddipole tripod, mast and guy kit. An adapter was created from PVC pipe to attach a Tram NMO base kit to the top of the Buddipole mast. This allows any NMO (Motorola) base antenna to be used. The bag also includes lengths of coax.