More and more radio amateurs seem to have the need to take their equipment out into the open. Whether this is during their vacation, to escape the QRM inside their QTH or to participate in Parks On The Air (POTA), but taking equipment with you to use it outside the QTH is becoming more and more a part of our hobby.
Years ago I was also looking for such a solution to be able to take my radio equipment with me to the IPA Radio Club days (IPARC-PA), a club which I am still a member of.
Back then I found the solution for myself in a large Explorer Case.
In the case I made two compartments in which I could store the necessary items and I could close these compartments with two lids made of aluminum, on which I could then place my transceiver and stuff at the location.
.(see photo)
For years this Explorer Case has fulfilled the need to be able to take my equipment with me somewhere.
Eventually, it turned out that the case, with some effort, just fitted in the successor to my previous car, which I had purchased in the meantime.
A major disadvantage of the box was that once filled with equipment, it could no longer be carried from the attic (my shack) to the ground floor, so it always had to be loaded on the ground floor.
That is why I sold the case some time ago, of course without any contents.
However, the need to easily take equipment with me remained, so I went online to search for the experiences of fellow radio amateurs.
There is a lot to find on the internet, commercial and non-commercial, if you type in the term “ham radio go-box” or “Radio In a Box”.
Every radio amateur who has the need to build something to take his equipment with him safely and without damage, will have different conditions and/or requirements for this, so something can be found in all shapes and sizes.
But very often only a photo or a video of the end product.
The latter is the reason why you can now read this somewhat longer description of my project on my website.
Personally, I wanted a few things when I started this project: DIY, compact, mobile and if possible without using any existing 230V power sockets.
Many radio amateurs immediately think of QRP equipment with this kind of projects, but that was not a necessity for me. After all, I own a nice compact Yaesu FT-891.
(see the “New Equipment” web page on this site)
During my search on the internet I therefore skipped all the QRP solutions.
I came across many examples of things I definitely wouldn’t do.
I often found the cases in which the equipment was built too big.
Eventually I found something that appealed to me:
Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to determine which radio amateur built this solution, but I did see a solution for myself in this.
The use of a toolbox as a starting point for my project, was a better solution for me, so I went looking for a toolbox that would meet the dimensions.
I had already decided that I was going to use my Yaesu FT-891 and my Yaesu FT-8900 for this project.
For the FT-891 an automatic antenna tuner had to be fitted also, but I already had one: the MAT-TUNER mAT-30 (see the “New Equipment” web page on this site)
After measuring a few things I could start searching the internet for a suitable toolbox.
Many toolboxes I found turned out to be inadequate, but I did come across one that I thought would be adequate in terms of size and costs:
The photos above show the QBRICK toolbox System PRO 500 BASIC and the QBRICK System PRO 2.0 CART PLUS respectively.
On the last 2 photos you can see that these two boxes can be stacked and linked perfectly. And thanks to the wheels built into the QBRICK System PRO 2.0 CART PLUS, the whole thing is also mobile.
When I saw this combination, my plan for a mobile power supply was also immediately filled in.
Now the question was whether the equipment would fit in the QBRICK System PRO 500 BASIC, and whether it would be possible to use the QBRICK System PRO 2.0 CART PLUS as a power supply.
Since the transformation from toolbox to “portable radio box” was really starting, I will call it a portable-radio-box from now on.
First I made a sketch for a frame that had to fit in the portable-radio-box.
My plan was to build the equipment into the frame, and then place it all into the portable radio case.
So I had to buy some metal and weld it…
Of course after this I was curious whether this upper part of the frame would fit in the portable-radio box. And it did:
As you can see I left about 5cm of space between the top of the portable-radio-box and the frame. This is done on purpose, to keep the space for the control panels of both the FT-891 and the FT-8900R. It must still be possible to close the lid of the box of course.
It was not my intention to mount the control panels flat on a plate inside the box.
This to prevent you from always having to look into the portable-radio-box from above, to see the screens of the control panels to operate the transceivers.
Now I had to make the lower part of the frame.
This section of the frame had to accommodate the mounting points for the FT-891, the FT-8900R and the mAT-30 tuner.
For the FT-8900R I had reserved space on the right side of my sketch as seen from above.
The FT-891 and mAT-30 tuner could placed on top of each other on the left side.
For the FT-8900R I could use the mobile bracket supplied with this set, but for the FT-891 that was not possible because they would then come out too high in the portable-radio-box and I would no longer have room to place the control panels.
In addition, I had to take into account that I had to be able to take the frame in and out of the portable radio case, and that there would eventually be connectors on the sides of the case for antennas and a 12V power supply.
So, let’s get started with the welding machine:
This is the bottom part of the frame, significantly narrower than the top part so that it can be taken in and out of the portable-radio-box.
This part also fited neatly into the portable-radio-box:
After this I could start welding the frame together:
After welding, of course, check whether everything still fits in the portable-radio-box:
The frame fitted nicely into the portable-radio-box, so I could focus on building the equipment into the frame and placing the antenna connectors and the 12V connection in the portable-radio-box.
First I started with the connections inside the portable-radio-box itself.
The possibility that something would not fit was still there because I did not have all the parts in my possession.
After looking at a number of options for the 12V connection, I ended up with a 3-pin 12V trailer plug:
These are available at various internet shops. I myself purchased them via Amazon.
So I mounted this 3-pin 12V connector on the side of the portable-radio-box:
Next up were the antenna connections.
In order to connect antennas to the transmitters from the outside, I used the following connectors:
These are for using RG58 coax and I bought them via AliExpress.
Given the limited space it was important that the RG58 connectors would be at a 90 degree angle on the inside, and these connectors have that angle.
Finally I mounted 2 of them on the side of the portable-radio-box:
Now that the connectors were mounted on the outside of the portable radio box, it was time to install the equipment into the frame.
First the mobile bracket for the FT-8900R was mounted and then the holes were drilled to secure the FT-891 directly on to the frame.
Since the mAT-30 tuner does not have holes on the side to place a mobile bracket, it seemed to me a good solution to place it on top of the FT-891 using two long pieces of Velcro.
Another advantage of this is that after placing the frame with the equipment into the portable-radio-box, there is a little more space to connect the cables properly because the tuner can still be moved a little.
The whole thing is placed in the portable-radio-box like this:
I was very pleased that everything fitted neatly into the portable radio case, although connecting all the wiring and then place the frame in the case does require some patience.
Before I focused on how I would mount the control panels of the two transceivers in the case, I first started working on the toolbox that I wanted to use as a portable power supply.
I had already decided in what box I wanted to mount the components for this mobile power unit, and that was the QBRICK System PRO 2.0 CART PLUS.
This case would also make the whole thing mobile.
I had recently purchased a few 12V 70Ah batteries. Due to the combined weight of these 2 batteries, I had already given up on the idea of making these 2 batteries mobile, but one of them placed in the mobile power unit that was yet to be built, should be doable.
I already knew what I was going to use as an external 12V connection, namely the same 3-pin 12V trailer plug.
Since the portable radio box is of the same brand and belongs to the same series as the box I wanted to convert into a mobile power unit, they can be stacked on top of each other and connected to each other, as previously mentioned.
It therefore seemed very practical to me to make the 12V connector of the mobile power unit on the same side as that of the portable radio box.
So I picked up the drill again with the following result:
Of course, it has to be possible to switch the mobile power unit on and off, so I purchased a nice panel for this purpose from the well-known Chinese webshop:
After drilling the holes for this and mounting the panel on the front of the mobile power unit, it looked like this:
Next up was the wiring on the inside.
The switch is not large enough to switch a high voltage, so I thought it would be wise to install a 12V 40A relay to serve as the main switch.
Of course, all external connections of the mobile power unit were fitted with fuses.
Here is a picture of the inside of the mobile power unit:
There was enough room in the box for all of this, so I was able to place the connections low enough so that the removable plastic tray that comes with the box could still be installed.
The cables for the portable radio box can be neatly stored in this tray:
Now I could concentrate on how I was going to place the control panels of the FT-891 and FT8900R in the portable-radio-box.
To start, I ordered a custom-made aluminum plate to place on the frame.
On the right side, due to the deep position of the FT-8900R body in the frame, I had the space to mount the microphone, speaker and accessory connectors for the FT-891.
To attach the aluminum plate to the frame, I attached 6 M6 rivet nuts to the top of the frame.
M6 grip bolts can be turned into them to attach the aluminum plate to the frame.
The photo below shows both the grip bolts and the mentioned connectors of the FT-891:
For the control panels of both transmitters I had in mind mounting in a pair of universal car brake lights:
After putting a lot of work and time into this, I ended up not using them because they took too much space.
At some point I came across the suction cup window mount of my GoPro camera, and that gave me an idea….
Went shopping at the well-known Chinese webshop once again….and found something:
This is the suction cup mount for a FT-8900R!
My thoughts were that with a small modification I could also make this suitable for the FT-891 control panel.
On the back of the control panel of the FT-891, in the middle, there is the option to screw in an M5 bolt:
With the help of a small piece of aluminum, the FT891 control panel also fitted nicely on the suction cup mount:
An additional advantage of this suction cup solution is that you can set the control panels to a certain desired height, and they take up considerably less space than my previously considered solution:
Now it was time to finish the aluminum plate.
A common solution of course is to take a can of spray paint and spray the aluminum plate black.
The suction cups however do not like a coat of paint, they require a much smoother surface to be able to perform their function properly.
For this reason I decided to cover the aluminum plate with black plastic foil.
I am very pleased with the end result of both the portable-radio-box and the mobile power unit.
It is very likely that I will change or adjust something to both boxes in the near future.
For example, I want to make a digital voltmeter in the lid of the portable-radio-box, so that it is visible that 12V is connected to the box.
Finally, a few pictures of the operational portable-radio-box:
I hope there are fellow amateurs who will get some inspiration for their own project from this project description.
That’s the beauty of radio amateurs among themselves, sharing experiences and ideas.