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A bit of unseasonably warm weather late in January 2009 brought a trip to Home Depot for more project

materials. I'd been wanting to make secure carriers for the mobile antenna and its coils, as well as a Cushcraft AR-270B VHF/UHF base antenna. Although it was more expensive, I chose the heavy duty 4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe over the 3" drain pipe. I always "over build", but I actually needed a bit more room inside the pipe this time so that the coil assembly did not have to be taken off the AR-270B. In retrospect, the lighter duty drain pipe would have been much lighter in weight.

The Hustler mobile coils (80, 40, 30, 20 phone, 20 cw, 17, 15, 12, 10) and the two additional whips fit in the larger one (left) and the Cushcraft AR-270B 2-meter/70 cm antenna base antenna in the smaller carrier (right). A mag-mount VHF/UHF antenna also fit in either carrier. Since the pipe is heavy, I elected not to make the larger one big enough for the mast as well. I should have. With the 75-meter Super Hustler inside, it will not fit with the stinger tuned for the digital bands. I made a separate carrier from 1-1/2" PVC pipe for the mast (center).

In February I acquired a lightly used Yaesu FT-897D for use as a portable rig.

This would be the rig of choice for Field Day. It will also be used on the 070 Club "APE" outing in August as well. I guess I'm lazy, but I don't like tearing up the equipment in the shack to do portable work and then having to put it all back together again.

This was a stock unit with only the microphone, power cord, manual and box included. I also purchased a mobile mount, programming cable and software for it.

The mobile antenna mount was also installed on the trailer bumper. This provided an opportunity to check out the new rig on the mobile antenna

coils and determine whether they will tune low enough to be used on the digital bands.

An MFJ-4416B Super

Battery Booster was purchesed to help maintain a steady voltage for the Yaesu FT-897D transceiver during contest or extended operation use. I hadn't planned on this, but the opportunity came when I found the new units at a $40 price reduction off the regular retail price. Thanks, Burghart Amateur Center!

The MFJ-4416 Super Battery Booster eliminates low voltage problems by boosting input voltages as low as 9 volts up to the desired 13.8 volts at up to 25 amps peak with a typical efficiency of close to 90%. This unit was set up 11 volts minimum input.

The battery booster works great, but I detected a few strange sounds on the upper frequencies which probably came from the booster. It could be that it was just too close to the radio.

All of the mobile antenna coils except for the 75 meter coil were successfully readjusted for the new installation, though some were difficult to tune. After the coils were tuned as closely as possible for digital work, signals were fed to an MFJ-949E antenna tuner. While using the antenna tuner, I checked into the High Noon Net on 40 meters. The net control station was in central New Mexico and reported my signal was strong and sounded good.

A problem arose that has not yet been addressed. While trying to tune the 17 and 15 meter coils, RF was getting into the furnace fan relay. What a chatter that caused! Reducing the power to 20 watts on 17 meters cured the problem, but the 15 meter band is unusable with any power. Later on, ferrites were placed on the furnace wiring, and that cured the problem.

In April, an MFJ-1279M Deluxe Sound Card Interface purchased on Ebay was linked to the Yaesu FT-897D. If you are having trouble with the same combination I am using, ignore the Yaesu manual's information about changing over to the radio's Digital Modes setting. With this unit, which attaches to the microphone jack rather than the DIN jack on the back of the radio, use the LSB or USB setting -- depending on the band being used. Also, reduce the microphone gain from the default setting of 50 down to 2 to reduce the ALC reading as far as possible without reducing power output. You should be able reduce your ALC reading to 5 bars or below. Just watch the power meter on your antenna tuner. Check for on-air reports as well.

Thanks to several hams for the information on the jumper connection configuration for the MFJ-1279M when used with the Yaesu FT-897D, and for other information. The configuration is the same as for the FT-817 shown in the manual.

An Inrad 300 Hz filter was also added to the FT-897D. This was another purchase from Burghardt Amateur Center as they continue to sell off their inventory in preparation for becoming a repair facility only.

It was difficult to find someone to weld the tilting mobile mount I designed from a spare tire carrier, and the price was dear, but it is finished and painted. It held several 4' army surplus mast sections for an inverted "V" antenna (see photo at right). My AR-270B VHF/UFH antenna or 2-meter or 440 cm beam could also be attached to one mast section.

The mount was cut and ground off at the bottom where it touches the mounting plate in the photo above. This was done to let the mount to drop to a lower angle to make it easier to install the pipes easier at the far end. Only the base mounting plate stayed on the bumper while the trailer is being towed.

It was time for a little spring clean up on the inside of the trailer. The cabinet doors had paneling in the center and a painted wood frame about 1" wide. The paint was flaking off three of the frames, so they were taken off and repainted the first week of May.