Lionel,
obviously you are faced with coming up with a mount for whatever antenna you select to attach it to your tripod. If it’s a common camera tripod, you may have to fabricate a custom one. Most of these antennas are designed for mounting to a mast pipe, typically 1.25 in to 2in in diameter (perhaps welding a small section of pipe to a plate that can be drilled and tapped to thread with the tripod’s camera thumb screw?).
I’m going to use a spare 5ft PA speaker mounting stand/tripod I have. They are designed to be VERY stable, come with a 1.325in to 1.5in “mast” already (industry standard for most loudspeakers), some have adjustable heights (telescoping), light weight and collapses to easily fit a car’s trunk or back-seat, and are pretty cheap from a wide variety of online stores (Guitar Center, Sweetwater, MusiciansFriend, perhaps Amazon, etc). No need to fab up a mount for the recommended antennas for them. I plan to keep the antenna mounted on it, zip-tie the ethernet cable to it and glue on a Velcro cable strap to hold the ethernet cable coiled up when transporting. Take is out of the car, spread the legs, uncoil the ether cable and plug in the laptop (or WAP), aim the antenna (signal strength lites on side of the LHG5 antenna, or use WinBox program on the laptop to monitor signal strength), then ready to go (assuming strong enough signal at whatever distance from cell site).
Stephen W9SK
From: PSDR <psdr-bounces@hamwan.org> On Behalf Of lionelhlvrsn@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 2:33 PM
To: 'Puget Sound Data Ring' <psdr@hamwan.org>
Subject: [HamWAN PSDR] Advice for parts for a portable setup
Hello to the group!
I am on Bainbridge Island, and I am looking into a portable setup to experiment with from different locations.
While there is a lot of useful gear info on the website and on this listserv, I want to make sure that I don’t end up getting something that doesn’t maximize data speeds or will be obsolete in a year.
I am looking for advice for a complete portable system. I can make use of a power supply and tripod that I already have, although I’d be interested on input on that, as well.
Thanks in advance for your help with this.
-Lionel
K7BIX