Effective Performance

What is needed to work effectively using HF bicycle or pedestrian mobile?:

1. Dedication … It takes a while to get it all working smoothly.
2. A good location is paramount, a coastal location is nearly always better than a high location, specially when using a vertical antenna.
3. Know your propagation! so you know when to go out to work a certain area, and also remember that the performance will always be better in the direction of the sea at a coastal location. (Check VOA prop for accurate propagation forecasts)
4. Stay simple with the antenna, its essential that its easy to set up and easy to remove as the weather conditions can change very quickly!
5. Chose a radio set up that is easy to use on the move, an analogue radio is far easier to use on the move as there are no complex menus to navigate.
6. When operating in the winter months its essential to wear the right clothing, I usually wear several thin layers and also have an electrically heated jacket/gloves when it gets really cold plus a balaclava to put over the headphones in winter to reduce wind noise and keep your head warm is a must!
7. Use a noise cancelling enclosed headset to eliminate extraneous noises and to hear weak stations.
8. Lots of toroids on all the DC lines, microphone lines, headset lines to prevent RF pick-up.
9. Keep all cables as short as possible, fasten all longer cables securely to the frame using tye wraps to avoid capacitive changes that can effect tuning and stability.

A useful piece of equipment to ensure everything is optimised is a field strength meter, that can be set a distance away from the transmitting antenna to monitor the radiated signal.