Ham on a Bike: POTA and Bicycle Touring

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N4JAW - Ham on a Bike
Bicycle Touring Setup


 Recently I made a Twitter, Instagram and Mastodon post stating I had purchased a new radio after saying I wasn't going to buy another radio. I just couldn't let this radio go to someone else.  Before revealing what radio it is let me briefly explain why I purchased this radio. 

Many are aware I do all of my Parks on the Air activations via one of  my bicycles. But few know that I'm a bicycle tourist and have done some ham radio operating during most of my bicycle tours. For almost 10 years my bike touring rig has been the FT 817, Key, mic, Z817 Auto-tuner, 12V 3A LiFePO battery, 80-10 meter Random Length (9:1) unun, plus throw weight and paracord.  Excellent radio for bicycle touring. However, I'm always trying to find ways to cut weight and space while bike touring. Since I'm a diabetic, I generally burn about 3000 daily calories on my multi day bike tours, I eat a lot, a whole lot while riding, so food takes up a lot of space in my panniers. So I decided to create more space for next year's bike tours. 

             My choice is a YouKits HB-1B (MK3 version) covering 40, 30, 20, 17 and 15 meters. 


YouKits HB-1B Transceiver 

This super rig along with a 40,30,20,17,and 15 meter linked dipole I'm constructing from 26 AWG HOT PINK wire for dipole with RG174 coax, Weaver Leather Arborist throw line weight and the SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Paddle along with a LiFePo 12v 3 Ah battery will fit very snug in one of my panniers.

So the suspense is over. Happy Holidays and thanks to all of the wonderful people of  PARKS on the Air and POTA hunters who make my Ham on a Bike POTA activations possible.  


                                                       ðŸŽ„
  


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