Hi Grafitti - Sounds like a good equipment setup you propose. I'm with Glebo and others above on antennas: A simple dipole is cheap and very effective; takes a little time to launch but otherwise very hard to beat, especially with low powered military sets. Here's some ideas on my portable field antenna kit - it's never failed me.
http://www.n6cc.com/field-antenna-kit
Cheers! N6CC
BT
AR