Posted: 7/19/2020 9:53:33 AM EDT
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Decided to add digi to my “heavy” portable kit. That required a little bigger pack than the sling bag I had been using. The bag is one of the generic “tactical” bags I got at a local farm store. (I cringe at the use of the word tactical for ham radio applications but that’s what they’re called). Red Rock I think is the brand. Looks to be decent quality and should last a long time for my use. Using a bathroom scale, it weighs in at 15 pounds. Bought a plastic cutting board that I cut to fit inside the bag. Everything radio-wise is secured to it with straps, zip ties and Velcro. Antennas are a home brew endfed and also just tuned up a Par Trail Friendly. to try out. The bag also holds a little Asus notebook, a couple pieces of coax and some miscellaneous stuff for hanging antennas. Picked up a used FT2 that I use as a donor radio to set up a WIRESX node anywhere there is cell service. The tuner is mounted to a mobile bracket and secured to the radio with some thumbscrews. My pickup is all wired for this radio also and I can get it put back in there in probably two minutes or so. Conveniently, the 891 is the same size as this 857, so it will be easy to adapt if/when I ever upgrade to that model. I’ll probably add a 40/30/20 linked dipole and a roll up J pole for V/UHF, although I’m not sure how much I’d actually use it. Also want to get a small paddle to replace the little 3D printed key with so I don’t have to bring my good paddle with. Otherwise, it has worked well for the first few outings I’ve had with it. My biggest thing is convenience. I wanted everything self contained cuz I hate hauling around a bunch of miscellaneous items and messing with setup. I can pretty much just hook up the coax and be operating. My next project is to make a similar setup to try with my 991, which would also fit nicely in the bag. That would eliminate the SignaLink and antenna tuner and give a nicer UI, but at the expense of higher current draw. Most likely would be fine for a typical 1-2 hour POTA activation though. Attached File Attached File Attached File I took the piece I cut off of the length and screwed on vertically to help protect and secure the battery. Attached File Just a little bigger than the old sling bag I used to use. Attached File |
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Quoted: Is that a cutting board? Quoted: Is that a cutting board? Second paragraph of the OP: Bought a plastic cutting board that I cut to fit inside the bag... Cheap cutting boards can be bought for a dollar or two and are an easy way to pick up bits of HDPE for all sorts of things, mounting boards like this, insulators for antennas, etc. |
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Blue dog have you been reading my mind? I have been considering A man pack with a G90 mounted to a cutting board then zip tied to a old military external frame pack. Very cool setup. You just let me know when you want to do a mock JS8 ALET ALET Arfcom Pilot down net. |
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My progress, normally I'm a draw it in cad and make plans etc kind of guy. I just winged this though. Tomorrow I'll get some Velcro straps and paint it camo. Attached File |
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Quoted: My progress, normally I'm a draw it in cad and make plans etc kind of guy. I just winged this though. Tomorrow I'll get some Velcro straps and paint it camo. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/68732/F4163705-36D3-4DAE-9036-1F705D0D1F46_jpe-1512302.JPG I wish I had skills...my backup rig is the IC-7300.  Best I can do is duck tape and rusty baling wire for portable. 
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Congrats @Bluedog1971 you made the thread and I caught an action pic on Twitter today! Quoted: My progress, normally I'm a draw it in cad and make plans etc kind of guy. I just winged this though. Tomorrow I'll get some Velcro straps and paint it camo. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/68732/F4163705-36D3-4DAE-9036-1F705D0D1F46_jpe-1512302.JPG share with us a build thread and we'll get you enshrined too! (looks good btw!) |
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Quoted: Blue dog have you been reading my mind? I have been considering A man pack with a G90 mounted to a cutting board then zip tied to a old military external frame pack. Very cool setup. You just let me know when you want to do a mock JS8 ALET ALET Arfcom Pilot down net. Yup, we’ll get it done soon! Quoted: Congrats @Bluedog1971 you made the thread and I caught an action pic on Twitter today! share with us a build thread and we'll get you enshrined too! (looks good btw!) Honored, thanks  Nice to keep tabs on you in the Twitterverse also.Did five POTA activations of three different parks while camping this week. Three of them were ft8 with the new kit and two were cw with the KX2. I still enjoy qrp cw more but nice to have another option and with more power. My son is with so I try to keep the radio time to 30-60 minutes at a time...definitely nice to be able to just close up the bag, put it away and move on to something else. |
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Quoted: Second paragraph of the OP: Cheap cutting boards can be bought for a dollar or two and are an easy way to pick up bits of HDPE for all sorts of things, mounting boards like this, insulators for antennas, etc. Quoted: Quoted: Is that a cutting board? Second paragraph of the OP: Bought a plastic cutting board that I cut to fit inside the bag... Cheap cutting boards can be bought for a dollar or two and are an easy way to pick up bits of HDPE for all sorts of things, mounting boards like this, insulators for antennas, etc. Neat. I need to put something like that together. |
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Quoted: Looks great. I'm sure this has been covered already (probably to death) but, why aren't there any civilian factory ham packs? Maybe there are. https://isteam.wsimg.com/ip/524cdd58-eb68-11e4-aa37-00219ba60aa6/ols/1164_original/:/rs=w:600,h:600 Thanks! And other rugged Green radios.... I would buy three. |
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Quoted: Looks great. I'm sure this has been covered already (probably to death) but, why aren't there any civilian factory ham packs? Maybe there are. https://isteam.wsimg.com/ip/524cdd58-eb68-11e4-aa37-00219ba60aa6/ols/1164_original/:/rs=w:600,h:600 Thanks! Hams are cheap asses. Real man packs cost real money. I know because I want one and I'm not willing to drop the $$$$. |
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Quoted: And other rugged Green radios.... I would buy three. Quoted: Quoted: Looks great. I'm sure this has been covered already (probably to death) but, why aren't there any civilian factory ham packs? Maybe there are. https://isteam.wsimg.com/ip/524cdd58-eb68-11e4-aa37-00219ba60aa6/ols/1164_original/:/rs=w:600,h:600 Thanks! And other rugged Green radios.... I would buy three. Easy. https://elecraft.com/products/kx3-all-mode-160-6-m-transceiver + https://www.pelican.com/us/en/products/cases Military manpacks as a concept for amateur radio are  in general.Although it's stupid that some company doesn't step up to take all the LARP money. Icom kinda did with the 7200 for a while. The 703 was way ahead of its time. If you're handy could always build it yourself. A Ubitx in a ruggedized case. Add 10 pounds of lead in the bottom for that true military radio experience. |
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Quoted: Hams are cheap asses. Real man packs cost real money. I know because I want one and I'm not willing to drop the $$$$. Quoted: Hams are cheap asses. Real man packs cost real money. I know because I want one and I'm not willing to drop the $$$$. Quoted: Easy. https://elecraft.com/products/kx3-all-mode-160-6-m-transceiver + https://www.pelican.com/us/en/products/cases Military manpacks as a concept for amateur radio are in general.Although it's stupid that some company doesn't step up to take all the LARP money. Icom kinda did with the 7200 for a while. The 703 was way ahead of its time. If you're handy could always build it yourself. A Ubitx in a ruggedized case. Add 10 pounds of lead in the bottom for that true military radio experience. so, yeah....that's a pretty simple explanation...you really begin to realize this when you're content creating and only 10 out of 10,000 are willing to cough up 100 pennies/month. Even then, reading Gamma's LARP comment made me think-hey, that's it-we could do that!....then I was reminded what LTC said in bold above. nah....go read my twitter argument with a millennial from earlier today (they're as cheap as the OMs and entitled to an whole new level) roll your own if you wanna man-pack and can't afford a .mil solution ETA: i did have some kick ass support from a few hams, many from this forum
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For some reason I keep wanting some sort of man pack. But when I think about it just how bad does one need to walk and talk HF at the same time? I always think of the crazy guy from the movie 2012 on the mountain top. When me and the wife walk at night I could be that guy. lol |
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Quoted: For some reason I keep wanting some sort of man pack. But when I think about it just how bad does one need to walk and talk HF at the same time? I always think of the crazy guy from the movie 2012 on the mountain top. When me and the wife walk at night I could be that guy. lol The manpack basically condenses the parts into a compact easy to use package. No piles of batteries and cables and boxes just a simple ready to go package. |