Doc...I am not a ham but really good stuff. I admire your commitment to doing what you love right. I am an Eagle Scout and had a Scout Master of the same acumen. He was a fine man as I am sure you are too. Keep it up. Make no mistake, you are appreciated.

Nice little setup. I have a similar radio in an FT-897 and run that on a 35 Amp 12V AGM type battery in a tool bag. The antenna is a home built Slim-Jim made from 450 ohm ladder line installed inside of a piece of white PVC schedule 20 pipe painted black. The take off comes out at right angles using a pipe T with a short length of pipe and terminated with a pipe cap with a UHF chassis mount connector. The whole antenna is supported by a speaker tripod which is quite sturdy. The thing comes down in a jiffy but can take the roughest weather provided some weight is added to the middle of the tripod.For HF I have a hi power end fed antenna that can be easily packed up and taken away. Considering building the FT-897 into a man pack of some kind with battery and charger inside to make it weather tolerant. I have a 40 watt Coleman solar panel and charge controller to keep it all going in the great outdoors. The 35 amp battery does well at getting out with full power for a short time when I need it. Not as portable as my FT-817 with roll up 300 ohm slim jim and end fed 20m antenna which can all be easily transported to the mountain tops in a back pack with lunch. Anyway, thanks for sharing all you have done, it looks great.

Hey Doc,

I like using one of those battery jump starters as a portable battery for the CB or 2m. It lasts a long time and can jump start a car, recharge cell phone, run LED lights if necessary and I can recharge it via 115v or 12v solar. It's not as compact, but has multiple uses.

I am a new Technician and I love this information. Would love more of it.Retired Army and like staying in touch. Thanks Keep up the GREAT work.

@53tandy - will do! I am actually getting ready to do an entire review of this antenna mod since I get quite a few questions on this topic.

Nice setup! I just got my Technician license and I'm getting my own ham gear together.

That's a pretty smart way you have your antenna setup. I was going to leave you a comment about making your own antenna so it can be more portable but it looks like your on your way with that already.

Excellent setup Doc! Now you need to get a 12v solar trickle charger to keep your portable battery topped off. They are pretty inexpensive I think I paid $25 for a pack of two at costco. If you have two 12v batts you can be charging one while operating on the other.

thanks to everyone that has shared there post's!