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I had heard a story of a long time ago where a police department somewhere in the United States needed ham radio operator help for some emergency.  I believe it was a RACES group.  The police needed to coordinate their efforts with the ham radio volunteers.  Within a very short time a ham radio operator showed up at the police station with a radio in a box solution.  He was told where to set up and the station was operational in a very short time.  I was most impressed with that story.  This type of radio in a carry container is also called “go kits”.  I decided to make my own go box.

Here are my requirements:

• Must be easily carried from vehicle to operation site.
• Must be useable inside a vehicle while moving.
• As many components as possible must be contained within the box.

I deal with 19 inch rack equipment all the time and I simply love that solution.  I went to my local Guitar Center and found a very nice rack box encased in canvas with Velcro fasteners.  Each side of the wood box is 7 inches of rack ears.  The case comes with a zippered pouch, carry handle and shoulder strap.  It is made by Ace Products, Kaces III product.

I purchased a 19 inch rack plate on which I mounted the following components:

• Kenwood TMD-710 dual band radio (2M and 440)
• Green Light Labs GPS710 (To supply GPS capability to the radio)
• Qty 2 MFJ 281 speakers.  I actually purchased 4 of these speakers and mounted the extra 2 on to a board that attaches to the driver seat head rest when the go box is used in a car.
• RIGunner 4008 (Used to distribute power)
• Watts Up battery Watt meter (Used for battery management)
• RigLite, warm white version.  Used to supply illumination.

 Notes:

• The RIGunner has a lot of power connectors and you might not agree with my selection.  But, I envision that a single DC power source will be provided either from a AC 12 volt power supply, car battery or generator.  Those devices simply do not offer power distribution.  This RiGunner offers a very large 12 volt break out for other operators to use.
• I found that the rack plate could not screw in immediately unless I filed all 4 plate screw holes.  I decided to slip the plate upward until the plate holes matched the rack ears.  This turned out to be an advantage.  The radio control head is mounted to the plate using a single nut and wing nut.  Using a single bolt allow the head mounting plate to be easily removed.  I can also swing the head left and right a bit if needed by reaching under the plate and loosening that wing nut.
• I carry extra head to radio I/O cables in the case pouch so the radio can be used in a car and the microphone can be used further away.

The image above shows the front of the go box

The above image shows the rear view of the go box.  Note the small black box mounted behind the radio control head.  This box is the GPS unit.

The above image was taken before I purchased the RigLite.  Below you can see the aluminum bar over the radio hiding the LED components that light up the radio.

The above image shows the where the microphone clip is located and where the RigLight is mounted and how much illumination it provides.  It does not overwhelm the area with light.

Dimensions and weight:

• Height with document pouch full: 12 inches.
• Width:  21 inches.
• Depth: 16 inches.
• Weight: 22 lbs.

One day while wearing my Kenwood TH-F6 on my belt I backed up to a wall for some reason and the radio fell off my belt and the clip on battery separated, both falling to the floor.  The radio was ok but the battery lock mechanism was broken.  The battery is rather expensive so I determined to figure out how to protect any HT radio.  It took a while but here is my solution:

T-Reign 24 inch 4 oz small retractable tether.  (My model: TRSMSTRAP HUNT).  Approximate cost is anywhere from $16 to #25.  I purchased mine from Sports Chalet in Brea California for $12.76 on sale.  My model has a Velcro belt  loop which I do not see on the T-Reign web site.

I tried to make the T-Reign work directly by trying to attach the device to my HT but it simply would not work.  The unit has a satinless steel loop but it was extremely difficult to open and once I did open the loop I found it would not slip through most of the small HT lanyard openings.  The elegant solution was found when I spotted a Nite Ize S-Binder #5 carbine.  I purchased the 2 pack for about $3.99.  I found them at Home Depot and Sports Chalet.

Image shows HT radio connected to T-Reign by using a Nite Ize carbine.

Photo taken by Nancy Nuclear.

The Kevlar cord is 24 inches and simply will not allow the HT radio to hit the ground.  The cord does pull out with some small effort.  I found working the HT radio was not impeded by being connected to the lanyard.  The S-Binder carabiner works terrific for quick connect and disconnect.   I totally discount using the the cable anchor because it is such a pain to connect and disconnect.

I really recommend that if you are a ham radio operator staying at Walt Disney World, Orlando, that you check out Disney Emergency Amateur Radio Service or D.E.A.R.S.  Here is the web site for that club: http://www.wd4wdw.org/.    The web site shows the following information:

147.300 +.600 PL tone 103.5? and ?D-Star

442.000 +5.000

WD4WDW B

Gateway Enabled

After I arrived at the Saratoga Springs Resort, I broke out my ARRL Repeater Directory for 2011-2012 and input all the frequencies for Orlando.  D.E.A.R.S was the only one with any significant activity and the only repeater that I was able to make a contact on.  I took along my Wouxun KG-UV3D because if ham radio was bust, I could use the FM radio and listen to NPR.  Also, if I lost my HT, the financial cost would be way less than my Kenwood unit.  Programming the Wouxun for repeaters is a pain.  It is best done using a computer and the USB cable purchased for that radio.  I had my Apple laptop and using Bootcamp, I restarted into the Windows operating system so I could load all the frequencies into the radio.  The Repeater Directory lists both input and output PL tones, all being 103.5.  But, when I specified input and output PL, I got nothing.   The Wouxun allows you to turn on the green channel activity light for any channel you want. I turned that on for all the channels to further my troubleshooting.  I then turned off the PL tone for output and I was able to listen to voices. I did make a contact with KG4URL, a brief chat.  That operator, Jim, was a bit confused when he heard my HT tone when I turned my HT on and off.  At his end he heard two tones, one from the repeater and one from my radio.  I told him that I had BEEP turned on.  Jim said that most all the repeaters in the area have repeater beep.  It has been my experience that many Southern California repeaters do not have beep tones.  I thus recommend that you turn that (Wouxun KG-UV3D menu item 11) off if it is a feature offered on your HT.

The next issue that I picked up was a comment made on the D.E.A.R.S. repeater.  An operator said that when he got near a Disney or Links bus his HT would misbehave.  He figured that those two buses transmit signals and interfered with his HT.   If you have never been to Disney World in Orlando you should be impressed if not amazed by the bus service here.  It is all free.  They have a LOT of buses.  The buses run on routes about every 20 minutes or less.  I have been told that there are 1,500 drivers.   This is the best bus service I have ever seen.  I have been told that each bus is outfitted with GPS and the drivers do not have to activate any of the voice announcements because it is done for them by the on board electronics.  Sorry, I degrees.  My point is this.  If the Disney buses do create  electronic hash and it affects your HT, your going to be affected on EVERY road way in this resort because there are buses running all the time.  You should be fine away from the buses.

I had an interesting conversation with a salesman at Ham Radio Outlet about putting up an antenna inside a house.  He told me that house appliances, florescent figures and many other devices would interfere with an indoor antenna.  That evening I connected my Yaesu FT-817 inside my home office to function as a short wave receiver.  I hooked it up to my Spider antenna with a 20 Mhz coil.  I put the radio into scan and got nothing but a lot of noise.  A day later I pulled off a Craftsman portable drill battery off its charger and unplugged the charger while the Yaesu radio was set for 10 Mhz, Fort Collins, Colorado, WWV, National Bureau of Standards station that should be received.  All of a sudden the radio was quiet except the click audio of the WWV station sending out timing signals.  I reconnected the Craftsman charger and the horrendous noise returned.  My Yaesu radio now functions quite nicely with the Craftsman charger disconnected.

Problem Charger: Craftsman 45 Min Quick Charger, model 315.259260

I have previously purchased Prime headsets for my hand held radio also called a handy talky or HT for short.  I need the headset for two city RACES events a year.  Problem is that the Prime microphone fails to function properly after two events.  This failure happened twice in two years.  Buying these headsets every year was getting expensive.  I called my local Ham Radio Outlet store and explained my problem.  The salesman suggested I consider buying the Icom HS-51. It was expensive $80 but came with some neat features.  I could not find any Internet review.  I was desperate so I decided to buy it.  I have two HT units and I just love my Icom O2AT.  It is 2 meters only, really old, large, and heavy but has some really neat features that make it ideal for bicycle mobile work. The options for providing a headset for that HT were limited.   In short, I found the HS-51 to be impressive.  It was very well designed and constructed.  But I have three minor complaints.  The switch unit rotates easily from the belt clip; will not stay in place.  The Prime unit also rotates but has a positive lock function for set rotation points.  The belt clip on the HS-51 is rather small while the Prime is large.  The Prime has a much better mic switch.  The switch is a much larger button and is activated on the large flat surface of the plastic case and that switch is easily found when bicycling.  The Prime unit, I did not have to look for the switch but my hand could easily find it.  The HS-51 has a very small switch along the side of its case so one has to squeeze the case to be able to apply the necessary pressure.  The switch is also used for TOT mode.  Press the switch once and the transmitter is on.  Press the switch again and it goes off.  The unit will automatically turn off after 2 to 4 minutes if you fail to hit the switch a second time.  Now that you think the Prime might be a better headset, let me now list the over the top features of the HS-51.  It has superb audio.  There is an audio gain control.  The headset folds up.  The earphone piece is not fixed but is on a long enough wire.  The unit has TOT, PTT and VOX activation for the microphone.  The mic and headset connectors are split so it marries with more HT units.  Wearing the headset for 5 hours was almost as comfortable as the Prime.  We recommend this unit.

Glossary:

Headset = In this instance, the term headset is not only listening function but the unit also has a microphone that can be held quite close out in front of the person’s mouth for good close private audio quality.
PTT = Push to talk is a very safe mode.  The operator presses a switch that turns on the transmitter while providing audio to the transmitter but when the operator stops pressing the button, the transmitter goes off.
RACES = Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.
TOT= Time out timer is a mode where the transmitter is turned on but will turn off after a set time.
VOX= Voice operated transmit depends upon an electronic circuit that senses when the operator talkes and thus turns on the transmitter and provides the audio out to the transmitter.  VOX is neat in that the operator does not have to press a switch allowing for hands free operation.  The down side is if the circuitry can activate when a person makes a noise that you do not want to go out over the air.   We do not recommend VOX for parades where there is high noise levels that would trigger the VOX to turn on at the wrong times.