My Gear
Everything I carry to a park activation, tested in the field here in Florida. Affiliate links help keep this site running at no extra cost to you.
Radio — Xiegu X6200
This is my go-to for POTA. The X6200 is a true shack-in-a-box — it runs HF and 6m, supports SSB, CW, AM, FM, and digital modes, has a built-in automatic antenna tuner, and packs a replaceable 3200mAh battery good for 4–5 hours of field operation. The 4-inch color display with waterfall spectrum is genuinely useful for finding activity fast. Running at 5W off the internal battery it punches well above its weight. I've worked stations across the country and into the Caribbean from Florida parks with this rig.
Buy from Radioddity and use code W4GGJ for $15 off
Buy the Xiegu X6200 at Radioddity
Antenna — Radioddity HF-010
The HF-010 is my field antenna now, and it earned the spot head-to-head against my old vertical — same park, same radio, same band. It's a 10-band portable vertical covering 80m through 6m (3.5–50 MHz), rated up to 100W CW / 150W PEP, so the X6200 at 5W never makes it flinch, and it holds a clean SWR (typically under 1.5:1) across the bands. The whole assembly is 304 stainless steel with an anti-corrosion coating and an internal-coil design — no fragile exposed parts to baby in the field.
Tuning is slide-and-lock: a fixed coil for 80m, a sliding tuning coil for 60m–17m, and from 15m up to 6m you pull the coil for a near no-compromise quarter-wave. Mark your resonant points once with the included tape measure and band changes take seconds. It stands on the included ground spike in soft soil, or the tripod with a weighted water bag on concrete and hard surfaces.
Best part: it's a complete kit in one bag — 32.8 ft of 50Ω coax, a BNC-to-SO239 adapter, cable management spools, three radials, and a padded carrying case — which is exactly why it replaced my old multi-piece vertical setup. One bag, every band from 80 to 6.
Buy from Radioddity and use code W4GGJ for $15 off
Buy the Radioddity HF-010 at Radioddity
Backup Antenna — Generic 18.3 ft (1/4 wave) Vertical
My old field antenna, now retired to backup duty. A generic 18.3-foot stainless steel quarter-wave vertical covering 14–30 MHz, light and quick to deploy. It carried my first season of activations and still rides along as a spare if I ever need it.
Field Power — 3D-Printed MOLLE Power Box
Power lives in the pack now, not a separate ammo can. Two 8Ah LiFePO4 batteries (16Ah at 12V) feed a 3D-printed, MOLLE-mounted power box that clips onto the 50L MOLLE backpack carrying the whole station — radio and power travel as one unit.
The box runs a 4-in-1 front panel: a master on/off switch, a PD USB-C + QC 3.0 fast-charge port with a built-in voltmeter, two Anderson Powerpole connectors for the radio, and a 12V cigarette-lighter socket for everything else. Sixteen amp-hours of LiFePO4 carries the X6200 at QRP through a full day of activations with room to spare.
Home-brewing your own field power is one of the most satisfying builds you can do for POTA — you get exactly the capacity and connections you need in a package that holds up to real outdoor use, and building it into the pack means there's nothing extra to carry.
Buy the 50L MOLLE backpack
Buy the LiFePO4 batteries
Buy the LiFePO4 charger
Buy the 4-in-1 power panel
Buy the quick-release straps
Home Station Radio — Yaesu FT-450
My home shack rig. Not portable, but rock-solid for fixed station operation. This is what I run on the home G5RV for DX chasing, digital modes via the DigiPi, and general HF work.
Digital Modes — DigiPi
A Raspberry Pi-based portable digital station running WSJT-X. I built and configured — it handles FT8, FT4, and other WSJT modes both at home and in the field when I want to run digital on an activation. If you're curious about the DigiPi setup, I'll be writing it up in detail soon.
Home Antenna — G5RV
52-foot legs, fed with ladder line transitioning to coax through a choke balun at the feedpoint. Center is up at 36 feet. Covers most HF bands with the ATU-100 handling the matching duties.
Tuner — ATU-100
Compact external auto-tuner. Handles the impedance mismatch between the ladder line and coax on the home station without any drama.
Logging
DXKeeper — logs every QSO and auto-syncs to LoTW, QRZ, ClubLog, and eQSL. Set it and forget it.
Awards
- ARRL Worked All States — Mixed
- ARRL Worked All States — Digital
- QRZ DX Award
This page gets updated after every activation when I add or swap gear. 73 de W4GGJ
All gear sourced from Radioddity — use code W4GGJ for $15 off your order.
More Gear — Full Amazon Storefront
The list above covers my main station and field kit, but there's a lot more that goes into a complete ham radio setup — coax connectors, adapters, tools, accessories, and all the small stuff that adds up. I've put together a full Amazon storefront with everything I use or recommend across my shack, portable kit, and mobile setup.
Browse My Full Gear List on Amazon
Affiliate links help keep this site running at no extra cost to you.