Pete Tiffany, KT4BW

This is my Vacation Station. When traveling by auto to visit friends or family, this 31-pound package has everything I need for making HF contacts at their various locations.

The rig is the FT-840 Yaesu and the power supply is an MFJ-4125. Using an MFJ-902 tuner and the Vanco SWR2 SWR/power meter, I feed the signal to the novel Yo-Yo-Tenna developed by DWM Communications. This tangle-free dipole is good for 10-40 Meters and can be easily lengthened or shortened for the desired band. Also shown in the photo are my MFJ-392 headphones (useful when one is a guest), one hundred feet of Mini 8/U coax, some short coax assemblies and grounding cables.

This station is also set up to transmit and receive digital signals. Notice the equipment on the lid of the toolbox carrying case. On the right is an MFJ-127 Mic/TNC switchbox (for rapid change between voice and digital transmissions) and an isolating interface by DigiPan. I just add my laptop and, using the audio and computer cables shown on the left, get on the digital modes including RTTY, BPSK31, MFSK-16, and SSTV.

With as variety of bands and modes available, this is a flexible station that’s always ready to go.