You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more
Antenna is a multiband dipole 55' up, which is higher than the ideal NVIS arrangement. It works for 40m NVIS but not others. 20m is quite reliable at long distances even with these terrible solar conditions. Notice the St. Helena station reporting me only 4db under noise floor.
Interesting. Raises another issue, how willing and able are motivated but average people to set up a 55' tower vs. a lower-slung NVIS dipole from a painter's pole. I hope in future it can be not much harder than setting up a tent, plugging in some cables & installing software.
My setup is definitely a dedicated hobbyist setup and not what I would expect from an end user (though viable for the permanent station side of the border). 40m NVIS seems like the choice with the best tradeoffs on paper.
By the way I don't have a tower. I used a slingshot to get fishing line over two tall trees on my property then attached stronger cord and pulled over, then attached and raised the dipole. Not simple but not nearly the expense or time investment of a tower. But requires trees!
This could be a great way to do a quick mobile setup, with the advantages that you're off your own property, hidden among trees and don't need to carry a big pole and fix it to the ground.
It's a fairly common practice to get permanent or semi-permanent antennas up very high in trees. Casting with a rod is also popular, there are several methods. If you're aiming to get over 50' I wouldn't call it simple, it's at least a few hours work with two people.
Note that it requires two trees of sufficient height and becomes much much harder if there are too many trees, as they get in the way. It's not as easy or dependable as having some sort of collapsible pole. But what you gain is antenna height, and in some scenarios that is vital
Is there any reading material on this?
Tons. Depends on how narrow your interest is but amateur radio has been around a long time and there is a lot out there. This 1969 guide to dipoles is worth reading, I used these specs to build my own multiband dipole and it's great. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/684938.pdf …
Thanks! 
My general idea here is 100-900km range comms to get past political firewalls -- from portable (like camping equipment, not like pocket phones) rigs, simple enough for use by a motivated family trying to preserve as much as they can of their life savings from persecution.
Have you participated in an amatuer radio field day yet? That could be very instructive to see how knowledgeable hams communicate under conditions similar to what you're describing.
Nope sounds like a good tip.
It's like a LAN party but for nerds!
LAN parties were already for nerds; this is doubly nerdy which cancels and makes it cool.
What's the hard part here? Designing an effective, easy to use, portable kit? Are there any big technical obstacles?
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.
