Portable Go Box
I wanted to protect the radio and have everything held together. Military manpack radios are the best! Visual rear section helps in connections and troubleshooting. The front control panel for the IC-706 is removable thus the radio if you notice is offset for that reason. It's around 10lbs/4.5kg. I did not want a wooden box, or igloo adding to the weight. Plus its hard to see or change connections in the rear. The components are: Icom IC-706, SGC 237 auto-coupler, and a switching power supply. They are all about 180mm in width. Total dimensions: HWD 10 1/2" x 7 1/2" x 8". The antenna is a HA4S mobile HF 10-40. The battery in the video is an overkill 40ah wetcell @ 35lbs/15.8kgs. I had to add the scooter wheels and a friend of mine donated the collapsible handle from an old computer bag. The good thing is that the 35lbs makes a good heavy antenna base. On Youtube these homemade manpacks deserve mention: Yaesu FT-857D Backpack LB1QF, FT 817 Man pack SP5VR, Codan HF Military Tactical Radio Manpack,HF Manpack Radio 1.6-30MHz & Remote handset by Barrett,VK4FLYS FT-897D MANPACK MOD Ver1.AVI, In my opinion the Yaesu FT897 begs to be a manpack radio. For under 10Watts the ICOM IC-703 with the internal tuner wins hands down. Which had the LC 156 backpack which is rather a bit small.
Questions or comments? Drop me a line. KA6PUW@ARRL.NET