Tag Archives: Ultralight Field kits

Accessories, Articles, Field Radio Kits, Field Reports, Grab And Go, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Testing my new Headrest QRP POTA Field Kit!

8 Comments

I love field radio kits.

If you’ve read my “Anatomy of a Field Kit” series, you’ve likely gathered that field kits are a bit of an obsession. [Yeah, understatement alert!]

My field kits roughly fall into two main categories: modular and fully self-contained. My modular kits are ones where components like the battery, antenna, throw line, key, and radio are in separate pouches and can easily be combined to make a complete station before I leave for an activation.

My fully self-contained kits are ones that quite literally have everything needed to perform a park or summit activation in one pouch or box. A good example that I’ve documented here is my MTR-3B field kit.

For more on this, again, check out my “Anatomy of a Field Kit” series.

Vehicle kit

If you’re a devoted park and/or summit activator, I think it’s important to keep a dedicated kit kit in your car at all times. Why?

  • It’s ready to grab for impromptu activations
  • It’s handy in case of road-side emergencies in remote areas
  • It’s always  accessible to demonstrate amateur radio to those who are curious
  • It’s always always there for those times when you hadn’t planned to play radio, but the opportunity presents itself

I always have a full radio kit in my Subaru and over the years, I’ve changed and adapted it. For the most part, though, it’s been located in the trunk/boot and lives with anything and everything else I keep back there. Sometimes, it’s in the way when we need to fill that trunk space with family items for a trip or when we’re hauling things around town. Other times, it’s floating/sliding around freely in the back.

On long family trips, I’ve been known to store radios under the floor, but it’s a true hassle to remove them because I have to remove anything in the trunk before lifting the floor.

Contraband I hid in the car during our two month Canada trip last year.

I’ve always wanted a way to store my kit in the car in a dedicated space. In the past, I’ve tried to make a kit that could fit under the driver’s seat–thinking that might be ideal–but there’s very little clearance under it and it’s difficult to remove.

Enter the BROG Headrest Pouch Kit

Before I placed my initial order for the Blue Ridge Overland Gear (BROG) Gadget Bag, I checked out other items on their website. One that immediately caught my attention was their Headrest Kit.

It consists of a Velcro panel that fits around a vehicle headrest and a pouch (or pouches) attach to it.

BROG caters to Overlanders and vehicle storage/organization is huge in that community. The headrest kit makes a lot of sense: it’s using space that’s accessible, doesn’t interfere with any passengers, is off the floor, and is otherwise underutilized!

The big questions, of course:

  1. would the pouch offer enough space to store an entire radio kit,
  2. and would the kit weight too much for the Velcro back to hold it in place?

I asked for the Headrest Pouch Kit ($47.99) to be sent with my Gadget Bag order.

BTW: Big thanks to BROG for giving me flexibility with this order. Since I had no experience with their gear, I asked that they send me a list of items and allow me to evaluate them, then pay (full price) for what I decided to keep. 

Would it work?

I knew I’d need to store a very small transceiver in this dedicated pack. A few could potentially fit the bill–namely the:

  • Mountain Topper MTR-3B
  • Venus SW-3B
  • QCX-Mini
  • TEN-TEC R4020

I eliminated the QCX-Mini from this list because it’s mono band (mine is set for 20M) plus, I really love the field kit I already designed for it. Same for the MTR-3B–the kit I built for it is now time-tested and I love it as-is. The R4020, while quite compact, is the largest in this group of wee rigs. Continue reading Testing my new Headrest QRP POTA Field Kit! →

Field Radio Kits, Kits, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Reviews

Testing a new QCX-Mini Field Kit built in an Evergreen 56 Watertight case

11 Comments

In early November, I happened up a new waterproof case called the Evergreen 56. As with Pelican cases, it’s waterproof and also made in the USA. Like Nanuk cases (that are also waterproof and made in Canada) Evergreen cases have a built-in locking mechanism to keep the latch from accidentally opening during transport.

I thought the price for the Evergreen 56 at $28 US was fair and in-line with the Pelican 1060 and Nanuk 903 which are similar in size. I grabbed one made of a clear material with one radio in mind: my QCX-Mini!

There are a number of color options available for this Evergreen case, but I like the clear polycarbonate one because it makes it so much easier to see what’s inside (for a quick gear check) but also to confirm that no one part of the kit is being pressed too hard inside the case after the lid is sealed.

After receiving the Evergreen 56, I was very pleased with the quality–again, on par with what I would expect from Pelican or Nanuk.  It is incredibly solid and the seal is watertight.  The Twist Lock Latch (see above) is easy to operate and the case comes with two “keys” for adjusting the inner lock.

The Evergreen case has a soft egg crate-like rubber boot interior as opposed to the pick foam material you’d typically find in a water tight case. The case also has a hammock-like rubbery webbing on the inside of the lid that can be used to organize smaller contents (I knew instantly I’d use this to hold the antenna!).

The QCX-Mini fits in the Evergreen case perfectly–this was no surprise–but I was eager to see if my other station components could also fit. Note that I didn’t buy anything specifically to be used in this case; I used components I already owned. I could minimize the contents even further if I used a smaller battery, antenna, and key.  Here are the components of the first version of the QCX-Mini Field Kit: Continue reading Testing a new QCX-Mini Field Kit built in an Evergreen 56 Watertight case →

Field Radio Kits, News, Portable, QRP, SOTA

Matt’s “Ultra-Lyte” Hydration Vest QRP Field Kit

8 Comments

Many thanks to Matt (W7MDN) who writes:

When I was first getting into Ham radio a couple years ago, I ran across a slide presentation done by Fred KT5X on “Ultra-lyte” QRP. In it, Fred has pictures of a trail running hydration vest that contains a complete SOTA station, water, snacks and a jacket. I was sold on the idea, and made it my goal to start making my own ultralight setup.

Click here to download KT5X’s original presentation (PDF).

As time went on, I really got into the ultralight approach to SOTA, taking every opportunity to reduce weight and shrink my pack down. I enjoy some trail running, mountain biking and combining SOTA/POTA with either is the ultimate combo of adventure and ham radio. Continue reading Matt’s “Ultra-Lyte” Hydration Vest QRP Field Kit →