{"id":219,"date":"2020-06-29T22:02:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T03:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/?p=106"},"modified":"2025-01-01T17:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T23:03:51","slug":"bills-shack-in-a-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/2020\/06\/29\/bills-shack-in-a-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill&#8217;s Shack-in-a-Box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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 &#8220;go box&#8221;.  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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harborfreight.com\/3800-weatherproof-protective-case-large-black-63927.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apache 3800<\/a> case from Harbor Freight.  The general layout for my go box is shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1192\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-1536x1192-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-1536x1192-2.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-1536x1192-2-300x233.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-1536x1192-2-1024x795.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-1536x1192-2-768x596.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bill&#8217;s Shack-in-a-Box<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/shack-in-a-box-1-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buddipole.com\/buddistick.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BuddiStick <\/a>from my back yard.  The whole package weighs less than 20 lbs. and takes only minutes to setup.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/2020\/06\/29\/bills-shack-in-a-box\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ham-radio","category-portable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.k9wkd.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}