GTL Comm Kit

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I would respectfully add the following item to the kit.  I think it's great but I am sure that many might not like this:

http://www.fairradio.com/catalog.php?mode=viewitem&item=3091

It's an antenna that breaks down rapidly and can be carried by ground teams.  Our squadron has one and the price really isn't all that bad.  The antenna worked pretty darn well during our last field exercise.  Just thought I'd point this one out to you.  I seem to recall lots of places in Colorado that had dead spots.  This might have done the trick for my ground team when I was there.

Is that antenna tuned to work well on our frequencies of did you keep the pole and change antennas?

[Duke Dillio]

We used it as is straight from the box and it worked really really well.  We were in an area where we have always had an issue getting out.  It is kindof a little bowl in the middle of a valley with some hills around.  We popped it out and the cadets had it set up within 20 minutes (not bad considering they had to go by the instructions since we hadn't used it before.)  We then hooked it up to the radio and it worked like a charm.  I think the only issue was the connector at the end but I think we got one at Radio Shack for like $3.  All in all, it's a great little antenna and it's only $45.  For those that didn't look, it's like a military OE-254 but smaller with fewer antenna elements.

[arajca]

There are all kinds of good things that could be added, but we are trying to make it easy on the GTL. Outgoing GTL brings both cases in, incoming GTL checks and signs, Duty GTL carries two cases out. Adding much more stuff would make the process more cumbersome. Make it too cumbersome and you defeat the purpose.