APRN Mobile

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Saturday, 4 of September of 2010

We will be adding updates and a short description of our goals for this project soon. For the time being so everyone knows we have a Chevrolet Astro Van that has been donated for this project. This van will get set up as a Mobile Emergency Communications Demonstration Vehicle.

Our hope for this project is that in the near future we will be able to take this to different events during the year in an effort to promote this sites mission of helping to teach preparedness. Events that we have been considering are of course Hamfest, Field Day and any events related to preparedness. Another use for this van will be to assist with Boy Scouts of America (JOTA) or Jamboree-on-the-Air events. We are also considering making it available on a limited bases for demonstration to any group of preppers/survivalist wanting to demonstrate how Emergency Communications works at there events. This vehicle will be home based near the center of the Mid-Atlantic States so we would consider weekend trips to most of the Eastern 1/3 of the United States.

We are more than willing to accept any help we can get on this project. If you have anything you are willing to donate to support this project please let us know.
You can contact us about this by clicking HERE

I will try to post some pictures as soon as I can so you can all follow the progress of this project from start to finish.

Update: Centerfire Antennas has agreed to sponsor us on this project
Centerfire Antenna has shipped us 2 antennas to help with this project. Because of their donation we can now cover almost everything from 70cm thru the 160 meter band while set up portable. We want to thank them for their generosity to this project. I recently did some testing of the antennas provided to us. I can tell you that both antennas preformed beyond my expectations. The vertical antenna showed me a 3 db gain over the J pole antenna I have on my base station radio. The Yagi beam was also truly amazing. I have tried to work a repeater in the past from my location that several of my friends are on but do to the fact I am on the outside fringe of that repeater it has never worked well. With the use of the Yagi beam from Centerfire I was able to work that repeater with no problem at all. Another repeater that I use a lot in this area was a S4 signal using my J pole but went full scale signal on my meter using the Yagi beam. This is a big plus if you are set up portable on battery power since it allows you to run on a much lower power setting. Another big plus with the Yagi Beam is the fact it is very portable. A truly great American made product from www.centerfireantennas.com. If any of you are interested in a good quality portable beam for VHF work I highly recommend looking into the Centerfire antennas.

Update: AntennaLauncher.com has agreed to sponsor us on this project More on this coming soon
The antenna launcher arrived and what I can tell you so far is the craftsmanship of this launcher is truly great. This launcher is very compact for portable use and the quality that comes from AKBiocca Engineering is nothing short of true 100% American made with obvious pride in there work. If any of you are in need of a fast, easy, economical and most of all very SAFE way to deploy your antennas, I urge you to have a look at this product. I will post my personal results of testing with this as soon as I get a chance to practice with it more.

Update: Tilt-N-Raise antenna mount system has agreed to help
Tilt-N-Raise has donated one of their mounts to us for this project. I received the mount and can tell you that I was very impressed with the construction and quality of this mounting system. This will be used as the base for our VHF antenna system. If you are looking for a very easy to use stable platform to deploy an antenna mast this is the answer to your needs. A true American made quality product from www.tiltnraise.com

More updates to come on this project as I find the time to get everything accomplished.

—Latest News— The van is currently being worked on by a friend of the APRN. We have the counter or desktop for the radio set up being built and installed.

I am in the process of fabricating the screwdriver antenna mount and will install that as soon as the van comes back here. I also have a dedicated 10 meter antenna that will be mounted on the roof for mobile use.

—We are in need of—
A 2meter/440 dual band mobile antenna.
Good high quality PL259’s.
Antenna Support rope.
Grounding strap, flat braided wire type.
If anyone would happen to have any of the items listed that they would want to donate please use the contact tab on the top of the page to let us know what you may be able to help with.

Left click on images below to see full size.

Here is the first set of pictures before any work is done.

Quick note here; The pooch in the drivers window is the little guy (maybe 2lbs soaking wet) that survived the poisoning episode I wrote about here. He goes everywhere with me ever since he was a pup including riding on heavy equipment while I am working.