We live out in the country, about 100 miles from a major city. Our plan is to use CB and scanner to see what is happening near us and the SW to hear what is going on in the world. I have power back up for the radio gear.
     At the house we have dogs that sleep inside and their function is to wake up me and Mr. Remington if someone comes around.   73'S  KA5SIW

Great Trip!
     We had a great trip. The Burning Man paper ran an article on me and there were 3 hams that stopped by to visit. There were 3 people that stopped by to visit and learn more about ham radio. The Icom 7200 worked great, not the best of conditions using a 20meter inverted V antenna. I used fiberglass poles to run the antenna up and tied the antenna off to our camping canopy.
     I don't know if we will attend next year, but we had fun.

Hello, just wanted to see if anyone was going to Burning Man this year. My Wife and I went last year and had fun, but I left the radio gear behind. This year I plan to work 20 and maybe 40 meters. I plan to use an Icom 7200 and 703. A 20m dipole will anchor the station and I may use a tripod mounted 40m ham stick also. For two meter will use will be an Icom HT. Plan to use a 60watt solar panel for power. Look for me around 14.305mhz.
     The Northwest Nevada desert is not an ideal campsite, but if I can camp there I can camp almost anywhere. We have a 10X20 shelter and a 9ft.sq tent. Anyway, a week off work and I will not have to climb any antennas. We had planned to buy an RV but did not find anything in out price range. Might try for an RV next year.
73'S  KA5SIW

Finished my dipole, all trimmed up and first contact was from Utah to Arlington Tex. with 10 watts SSB. That is a good start. I used a gel cell battery and Icom 703. The basic picnic table portable.

Rah,
     Will this be a truck instal? Do you plan to buy new radios or go with used gear? For my mobile, I plan to use an Icom 730 with a MFJ mobile tuner and hamsticks for antennas. If I had an Icom 735 I would rather use that. My last mobile HF used an Alinco HF radio and that was nice and compact, but the noise blanker was of poor design.
     For mobile HF work be sure and use a noise canceling mic. With SSB the cab noise will make your voice hard to understand. A good extension speaker is a must. You might consider a 2nd battery. That would also decrease the noise some. I ran 20 meters mostly, sometimes 15 meters. 80 meters is hard to load-up as the antenna bandwidth is very short. Guess if I needed nighttime use I would try 40 meters.

Hope this helps you out,  73'S  KA5SIW

Gil,
     When the band opens up, 6mt is nice for SSB or FM communication. Another thing that makes 6mt good is the smaller antennas required. My first 6mt contact was with a dipole and 2 watts. I talked from Arlington TX. to Minn.
Now there is no worry about TVI since TVs are most all UHF now. 
     I work at the VLA and now I need to finish the 3 radios install on the new ambulance. Working with this stuff sure dampens a good hobby.  73'S  KA5SIW

Joe,
     Welcome to Amateur Radio. Sounds like you have a good start, get busy and study for General. I look at radio prepping like waves on a pond after you throw a stone into the water.  A good scanner is a start for local info. Next step would be a shortwave receiver or transceiver for national/World into. Yes, the CB is a good idea, even better if you are close to a major freeway.
     Guess the next question is if you are going to bug-out or hunker down. Stay at your place or travel to stay with relatives. Given the downsizing of the HF rigs in the past 20 years you can use the same rigs for either choice. A good deep cycle battery and some antennas and you will be ready to go.
     Information is a great power multiplier during bad weather or times of limited supplies. Growing up in Texas, a hurricane or ice storm could strip the store shelves of goods in 24-48 hours. I consider weather as the triggering event of other issues, course I live out in the country and don't have to deal with city strife. More room for antennas too. 73'S  KA5SIW

Gil,
     We have lots of TS in New Mexico. For the most part, 80meters is out of action due to static most all Summer. Yes, the 80meter antennas can be a bit large. I use a Husler vertical antenna for 80meters. I like 15 meters for CW and SSB when the band is open. For the most part if you want to do CW on 40 meters you need a narrow IF filter. When I was just starting ham radio it was a bummer to spend all your money for a radio just to find out you need another 50-80 for an IF filter to hear 40meter CW.
     Sometimes you can buy the fiberglass poles that can be put together to form 20-30 foot uprights. There work good for 20 and 15 meter inverted vee antennas. The gray PVC pipe can also be used be telascoping one piece inside another piece, use cross bolts to hole them with about a 2ft. overlap. The white PVC gets brittle from UV in the sunlight. Some people are lucky and can use trees to hoist wire antennas into the air. 73'S  KA5SIW

Rah,
     Hello to you. I dismantled my home station to use the gear for Field Day. This weekend I hope to re-assemble my station and start some radio repairs. I have several HF rigs to repair and get them ready to sell. When I get my pick-up back from the repair shop I need to do the radio install as I have road trips planned for the end of July and August. Always something needing work. The next big project is to set-up solar power for my radio shop. After that is finished the HF tower in the backyard will the big job. Slowly I have collected all the pieces, time to dig the hole, and do the cement work. What are your plans?  73'S  KA5SIW

Gil,
     Good for you. That is no small task. I have repaired lots of ham gear, I like TenTec HF rigs the most. Yes, I have some QRP CW rigs and someday I want to dust off the key and work some CW again. I would like to build an Elcraft rig sometime. My friend just did a K-3, tale about a great piece of gear. 73'S  KA5SIW

Hello Gil and Paul,

Paul is correct on the formula. For the 40/80 antenna I use some pieces of PVC pile to spread the wires apart. $ to 6in. works good and if you use the gray electrical PVC the antenna will last longer. In the Summertime, 80meters has a lot of static from TS. I use 80 mainly for Winter QSO'S. This past Field Day was a dud, the bands were not open. We made only 1 contact on 6mt, 0 on 10, 15 bands.
Good luck on the code, I never got good on CW, got my Novice and proud of that. I built a Heathkit HW-9 and am proud of that little rig. Even if I don't do CW most all my rigs have the CW filters and if need be I could could get a message out. I live near Socorro, and have some land for playing with antennas.
Take Care,  73'S  KA5SIW

Hello,
I have been a ham for over 25 years and I have worked in the electronics field for over 35 years. I still enjoy the Tentec HF rigs because I can work on them and I can still get repair parts. For VHF rigs I like ICOM. Their rigs are build tough and will work non stop for decades.
Field Day is Saturday, go have fun.

Good idea,
Being a ham is no good if you can't gather information as needed. Yes, I still own a CB radio and when we have an ice storm I hook-up the CB and gather information  that I pass on to other hams on the 2mt. repeaters.
When SHTF, you bet I will not be coping NBC, I will tune into BBC for a more impartial angle on the news.
A good short wave receiver and scanner are the backbone of any prepper's communication system. If the short wave receiver don't have an antenna connection then don't buy it.

Interesting,
Someone with the ability to take equipment at hand and relay a message is what counts. If you use tin cans and string, fine get the job done with what you have on hand. The skill to adapt technology at hand is what counts.
The past 20 years have seen a major downturn in the skill level of hams. Now most hams can't repair their own equipment not to mention build or tune antennas.
At one of our club meetings I mentioned I preform monthly SWR checks on my HF antennas. Some people said they just use their auto tuner. I questioned how would you determine if you had water in the coax if you rely on a auto tuner? Besides I tune my antennas correctly so I don't need to use a tuner.

Hello,
Getting ready for Field Day. Today I have to finish building my 80/40meter dipole/inverted V. After that I will pack the radios and gear. This year we will be using two Tentec Hf rigs, an Icom IC-7200 and a 2/6mt SSB/CW/FM. Rig.
If I have time I will rig-up some solar panels to suppliment the batteries.
I hope you all enjoy  Field Day and be safe.