Things are coming together...sort of.

Panoramic View of Central Saanich, BC - Taken from the top of Bear Hill, one of my favorite operating points.

Well, I did my first mock packing of my day pack yesterday. Everything fits very nicely... except for the radio, which, as you may realize, is kind of important.

No worries though, my FT-100D and either the auto or manual tuner and all the cables fit nicely in my netbook bag, which I can just sling over my shoulder. I will look for a better setup later on, and while we are camping next weekend, I will probably throw everything in my big hiking backpack. I'll do up a post about what I'm packing one day, but I am making it up as I go along right now and I'm sure there is going to be some trial and error.

PowerSonic 26Ah Battery - A whopping 17 pounds!

A giant thank you goes out to my good friend Kevin, VE7SXA, who not only gave me a 26 Ah battery, but loaned me a manual tuner, which doesn't require power AND gave me a power cable to fix my auto tuner. The 26 Ah battery is a little bigger and a LOT heavier than I thought, but I'm sure my $30 Coleman Max day pack is up to the task. Considering the 26 Ah battery is going to be a huge and welcome upgrade from the 4 Ah battery I was using, that I got from my neighbour's decommissioned security system, which I'd be lucky to operate for an hour with, I don't mind lugging around the extra weight.


So, the bags are packed, and I'm raring to go, but I've hit a bit of a road block(s)... I was planning on heading out tomorrow for a bit, just up a hill at the edge of our neighbourhood, but after taking 3 days off already this week, I should probably get some money in the bank tomorrow. No problem, right? It's the weekend AND Field Day in 36 hours, the perfect time to go work some portable HF... Weeeell, my son had an eye surgery done this morning, and will require some attention for the next few days and he isn't allowed to do anything fun, like go hiking with dad; and Sunday is my daughter's 3rd birthday, so I will be working Field Day from the back patio, if at all this weekend.

Mt. Baker to the east, as seen from the top of Bear Hill - Saanich, BC, Canada

Our camping trip next weekend will probably be my first "real" portable excursion, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid, but life has a way of taking all your planning and organizing and shitting all over it.

Right now, I'm off to see if I can reconfigure my packing to fit everything, including the boat anchor of a battery in to my day pack, or get my large back pack cinched down small enough to be practical. Then it's off to our year end Lions Club BBQ.

My Z100 Ultra Auto Tuner vs. the Versa Tuner II Manual Tuner
                                             (On loan from the VE7SXA Collection)

Next up I will do a short write up about the final touches to my station and let you know how the packing went...