I like the idea of operating a portable HF station. I have on a number of occasions packed up a radio and all of the necessary items to operate remotely (battery, antenna, coax, etc.) It is always an effort and I tend to take much more than I need just so I do not forget anything. In order to make this all a bit easier I decided to put together a “go box”. Now I have seen many go boxes and they usually consist of multiple radios with a power supply and seem to be on the larger side. I wanted to do something a bit smaller.
I decided to base my go box on a Yaesu FT-857D. This radio is all-band all-mode from 160M to 6M with 2M and 70cm, literally a Shack-in-a-box. I wanted something that would fit into a Apache 3800 case from Harbor Freight. The general layout for my go box is shown below.
The sketch does not show all of the wiring detail. Also not shown is the MFJ-939Y tuner which is mounted below the FT-857D. Originally I did not plan to include a battery in the go box but I found I had room for a small battery and that was a great addition to the go box. I can operate the go box for several hours at 10 watts or less without the need to lug another battery with me. If I want to operate higher power then I can use an external battery or power supply.
There are external connectors for power (Anderson Power Poles), two SO-239 connectors (HF, VHF/UHF), RJ45 Microphone connector, and a USB-C / USB charge ports in case I need to keep my iPad/iPhone charged for logging contacts.
I think this really turned out great for my needs. I put the go box into service for ARRL Field Day. Conditions were not great but I was still able to make contacts using the go box at 10 watts with my BuddiStick from my back yard. The whole package weighs less than 20 lbs. and takes only minutes to setup.