Saturday April 4th 2026 the group set out to test some new equipment they have been working on in support of the ARES mission. Through 2025 some areas of improvement were identified via the numerous After Action Reports. 2 of those areas were higher power mobile radio availability and real time asset tracking. Portable 50 watt battery powered mobile radio units and self contained APRS tracking units were the answer. These unit were acquired piece by piece and assembled over time through the vision of ECs Brian, NG2S, and Mike, NZ4K. While not in their final forms they are far enough along to put into field trials and final testing before deployment at the upcoming Pedal for Paws event in May 2026.
As with any first field test there were some points of improvement that need to be addressed but overall it was a great success well beyond proof of concept. The 4 portable radio units consisted of two VHF and two UHF ICOM mobile radios each installed in a plastic 50 caliber sized ammo can with 40 amp hour LiFePo4 batteries, integrated cooling and external mag mount antennas. The APRS trackers were assembled with Retevis HT radios coupled with Digirig Lites that were interfaced to Raspberry Pi Zero computers and USB battery packs for power along with mag mount VHF and GPS antennas.
Additionally 2 portable APRS Digipeaters were deployed. One is a complete 12vdc system based on a Vanatech pc powered by a LiFePo4 battery and solar panels. Also using a Digirig Lite and an Icom VHF radio. The second was a Panasonic Toughbook that is setup as not only an APRS Digipeater but receiving station running YAAC for mapping and plotting objects for real time asset tracking. This station consists of the laptop, a Digirig Mobile, Yaesu FT-7800 dual band radio and was powered by a 100 ah LiFePo4 battery. The Digirig Mobile brings full Cat control capabilities to HF radios as this station is also fully digital capable with software like Winlink, WSJT-X and the like! Having full HF, VHF/UHF voice and digital portable communications in a portable fashion is a real asset to any ARES program!
In attendance in no particular order were the following operators:
Mike, NZ4K
Brian, NG2S
Jon, W4JDM
Kevin, K4TNR
Ben, KR4DXL
Jeff, W4SNY
Tom, W4UWO
Gary, KG4FSB
Jeff, KA4PYE
