AE7Q |
Yaesu ATAS-120 Portable Setup |
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I constructed the following ATAS-120 setup for use on Field Days and other portable situations:
- I obtained a used "music instrument stand" from a friend, but you can get them at most music stores,
I'm told. It's like a small, squat lightweight tripod (25cm/10" legs) with a hole in the center that
secures the post (removed) that the music instrument is supposed to sit on.
- I bought a metal antenna mounting plate at the local CB radio store, and mounted the ATAS-120 to the
plate with a double SO-239 and one of its hex nuts.
- I fit a ¾" length of PVC tubing over the SO-239 and secured it with the second hex nut.
The outer diameter of the PVC tubing was chosen to slip inside the music stand's hole.
- My metal antenna mounting plate had five small holes, so I bought and mounted five sets of small bolts,
nuts, and wingnuts to the plate.
- I constructed radials as follows:
- bought five ground lugs and 200' of wire (the gauge doesn't matter electrically; you want something
that is easy to manage without being flimsy);
- cut the wire into fifteen 0.1λ (wavelength) radials on 40m (4m/13'), per the ARRL's
Antenna Book (Chapter 3, pp. 8-10 in the 20th edition);
- stripped ¼" of insulation from one end of each wire;
- grouped the wires into five sets of three wires each;
- attached (soldered) the stripped ends of each set of three wires to a ground lug.
To setup:
- The coax is threaded up through the bottom of the hole in the music stand and attached to the
ATAS-120.
- The bottom of the ATAS-120 is lowered into the hole in the music stand, and the clamp on the music
stand is tightened.
- The ground lugs on the five sets of wires are attached to the five bolts on the antenna mounting
plate with the wingnuts.
- The wires are spread out at 24° angles as radials on the ground.
Since the ATAS-120 is low to the ground, the whole setup is stable and guy wires are not needed. I set
this up in the middle of a dry farm field in Western Washington on Field Day 2004, 2005 & 2006.
With a Yaesu FT-897D on 40m, 20m, and 15m SSB, I was easily able to work stations on the East Coast
in the middle of the day.
![Simple Field Day 2016 setup](https://wa7ro.ae7q.com/media/fieldDay/2016/20160625_125543.jpg)
I am not your vanity application private consultant! Private messages (regardless of whether
you feel there is a special reason for your application) on these and associated topics will be
ignored, rebuffed, and/or made public.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, use the
AE7Q message board.
I've spent a considerable amount of time documenting the vanity application process. I've created
a message board,where I and others have publicly answered very common questions, so that
we don't have to repeatedly answer them, particularly in private communications.
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