Very nice go box

[Gambrinus]

http://emergencyradiogokit.com/

This is my next project, in between the other couple that I have going.  ;D

[gil]

Nice, but I don't think all those add-ons are needed. The radio and a battery in a smaller case would be better. These days, most radios have SWR meters built in, and the fan plus breakers and whatever else he has are more for show than really needed. Something to remember about a go-box is that you may one day have to carry it on foot for long distances... He has a power supply, an amp and charger... Hum... You can get a brand new 75W Yaesu Ft-2900R for $170... No amp needed. A battery booster? I don't even know what that is. The battery he has next to the chair is big and heavy...

Sorry, I don't mean to criticize so much. I'm just a minimalist. If all that stuff is hauled up in a car, fine. I like to think of worst case scenarios...

Gil.

[Gambrinus]

All good points.  I'm looking at as many as I can before I start mine so the more conversation now means a smaller scrap pile later.  No matter what I do, I'm sure it'll be a long time if ever before I'm done revising it.
I'm not sure if I would try to carry my go box too far, that's why I have a 5w HT.  Although we know that sure has it's limitations  ;)  I want to make something that will give me a good kit that I can opperate from the back of my car or bug out location.  I want the ability to email, I hope my tablet will work for that otherwise I'll pick up a second hand lightweight netbook.  It will be a lot of give and take with size and weight to capabilities for sure.

[Mitch]

Keep in mind the traditional Go-Box for emergency responders is designed to take advantage of whatever power is available, that's why it has a built in AC to 13.8Vdc power supply. This setup allows the battery to charge also if there is a source of AC power. Envision an emergency generator coming on and going off during a catastrophe.

The battery booster ensures that the transceiver always sees 13.8 VDC from the battery (eliminates voltage sag when drawing a lot of transmit current). This is real important in an emergency for a mobile transceiver because many of them will start cutting out <11vdc. You should keep this in mind when you slap a battery on any mobile 50/100W radio with no alternator backing it up! The battery booster also has a low voltage cutout that can be set if you want to maintain a minimum battery voltage to prolong it's life.

This setup was never designed for the intent of long distance carry, it is meant to be easily deployable from your vehicle to a temporary command center. Keep in mind the traditional portable antenna systems to support these boxes regularly outweigh the radio container (the battery also fits that description)!

Added: If I were to build this type of go box I'd go toward the stackable systems because you can put all your components in subgroups and only take the systems you want for that outing. Example: http://www.tac-comm.com/ If protection for your gear was paramount put the whole thing in a pelican and take it out at destination.

If you want something to hike into the woods and set up a radio station you are going to be limited to QRP on a radio designed to be run from batteries. (My opinion - that's why I have an FT-817 with all it's accessories in a maxpedition backpack.)

[Mitch]

Ha! After reading about that go box again he doesn't have a traditional EMCOMM battery booster in there. It just charges the attached battery if there is AC power present.

My only other useful comment about that particular go-box is way too many fuses...


:o

[gil]

Different needs, different solutions:



Gil.