Radio does not have to stay at home.
Portable radio is one of the things I enjoy most about amateur radio. Pack a compact station, find a good place and simply see what is possible away from the home shack.
DA6IT/P is therefore about radio on trips, in parks, on holidays and wherever a nice location and a little time come together.
The radio simply comes along.
A holiday is a perfect opportunity to operate from somewhere completely different without turning the trip into a full-time radio expedition. The station comes along and gets set up when weather, time and location fit.
Fehmarn was one example of that: a week away, radio gear in the luggage and some contacts whenever it fitted into the holiday. Other places will certainly follow.
Outside, a park and a bit of radio.
Parks On The Air fits portable operating perfectly for me. It gives a trip a small destination and turns even a spontaneous afternoon outside into a radio activity.
The point is not only collecting activations. I like the combination of being outside, setting up the station, finding out whether the antenna works at the location and then making contacts from there.
Compact enough to actually take it with me.
For portable operation I currently use the Yaesu FTX-1. It gives me a compact station without having to give up the things I want to experiment with on HF. A particularly handy feature is that a tablet or smartphone can connect directly to the FTX-1 via USB-C, so FT8 contacts can get started without a large computer setup.
The rest of the setup should stay just as manageable: a suitable portable antenna, power, a laptop when needed and as little unnecessary luggage as possible. A Radioddity HF-010 is one of the antennas available for trips.
Logging even when there is no internet.
Portable operation is exactly why an offline-first logbook makes sense to me. Contacts should not depend on mobile coverage or Wi-Fi at the operating location.
I therefore use my DA6IT Wavelog Offline Logger for operating on the road. Contacts are logged locally first and can later be synchronised with Wavelog once a connection is available again.
Offline Logger →