The week of May 17 through 22, 2003, my wife and I took a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden. For Cindy, it was a business trip. For me, it was a chance to do some sightseeing, some photography, and some hamming from "the other side"! I took along a portable QRP station and set it up in our room on the top floor of the six-story Hotel Poseidon. Even though the man-made noise on receive was S9 all the time, I still managed to fill a logbook page with QSO's all over Europe, including contacts as far away as Greece.
The Elpac switching power supply ran on anything from 100 VAC to 250 VAC at 50 to 60 Hz, so all I had to do was visit an electronics store in Gothenburg and buy a Swedish computer power cord and I was all set to run the station off the 240 VAC mains.
I transported the portable station (except for the B & W antenna) in a small camcorder bag, which I carried onto the airplanes as my hand luggage. I had no problem getting the bag through airport security in the USA, England, or Sweden. One screener in London opened the bag and swabbed some of the items for explosives, but that was only because I was lucky enough to be one of the random passengers chosen for a thorough search. He asked me what the equipment was for while he did his job, and when I explained it all, he seemed genuinely fascinated at the possibilities.
The station consisted of the following items:
Yaesu FT-817 transceiver
LDG model Z-11 automatic antenna tuner
Elpac switching power supply, 13.5 VDC @ 3.8 A
K10 memory keyer by K1EL
Mini-Paddles by Palm Radio
World time clock from Radio Shack
Unknown brand boom mic / headset
Homebrew PTT switchbox / headset interface
Homebrew DC power distribution box
B & W AP-10A portable antenna
20 feet of RG-58C/U mil-spec coax cable
I sold the entire FT-817 station in 2005 (with the exception of the mini paddles and clock) and replaced it with an Icom 703, which I still own. I've built yet another bag-portable ARP station around the 703 and a SuperAntennas MP-1 setup.
Below are some photos from my trip.
