{"id":2595,"date":"2020-06-30T14:47:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T21:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2020-06-30T14:47:31","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T21:47:31","slug":"building-my-go-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/2020\/06\/30\/building-my-go-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Building my Go Box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>by WD0GPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first got my license, friends acknowledged that while it might be a nice hobby (for you old retired guys), the question always asked was &#8211; \u201cbut what is it good for\u201d?&nbsp; When I gave the standard EMCOM answer and got the standard \u201cthats what cell phones are for\u201d answer, I knew that I was not going to be satisfied with just an HT and a base station.&nbsp; YouTube provided some ideas, and being a good HAM I didn\u2019t want to get a \u2018canned\u2019 solution since building something would be more than half the fun.&nbsp; (Plus, I got to buy several new tools)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My wish list included the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Greater than 15Ah battery<\/li><li>Solar panel for field charging<\/li><li>At least 25W VHF\/UHF radio (DMR would be nice)<\/li><li>100W HF<\/li><li>Laptop PC for digital modes, logging, software updates\/codeplugs.<\/li><li>Ability to charge my AnyTone HT from main battery<\/li><li>Voltmeter<\/li><li>Headphone\/Speaker jacks<\/li><li>DC power ports (USB, powerpole, 12v cigar)<\/li><li>Light for night ops<\/li><li>Self contained except for antennas and feed lines<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We are gonna need a bigger box<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking around in the garage I remembered that I had what looked like an overgrown (17\u201d x 8\u201d &amp; 13.5\u201d deep) .50 cal ammo box.&nbsp; That ought to be rugged enough.&nbsp; The next big question was whether I could build an \u2018insert\u2019 for the box that could fit all of the components required to meet the above wish list.&nbsp; In order to determine that, I needed to know the exact sizes of the major\/large components.&nbsp; Fortunately the laptop I have was 13.5\u201d wide and fit nicely even with the lid on the can.&nbsp; The real issue was going to be the solar charging system since it would require a charge controller specific to the type of battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Power System<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My research led me to explore LiFePO4 battery options, which are maintenance&nbsp; free, rechargeable, lighter than lead acid, and available in an 18Ah size.&nbsp; I got the ML18-12LI 12 volt, which met the size requirements.&nbsp; Bioenno Power offers both a 12v LiFePO4 charge controller (SC-122420JUD) and a 28W folding solar panel (BSP-28) which when folded has a smaller form factor than the laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wanting to be as flexible as possible, I want to be not only able to charge the battery with solar and a grid charger, but also power the whole box with a 25 amp power supply when that makes sense.&nbsp; Using power poles to connect the battery to the main wiring harness makes this a simple setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Radios<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there are many VHF\/UHF mobile units available, I wanted to leverage the experience and available code plugs we use with the AnyTone HTs.&nbsp; The new AnyTone AT-uv578III pro offered all that, and included DMR,APRS,GPS, and the 1.25 meter band in a 50W radio.&nbsp; Another nice feature is that it has a crossband repeater function, which could be very useful in certain ARES scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Selecting the HF radio was also straight forward, since the wish list included 100W and space is at a premium the Yaesu FT891 popped to the top of the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Building the insert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fitting everything in and making it useable required building a cardboard model to determine the orientation and placement of the major components.&nbsp; Keeping all the wiring out of the way and having room for airflow to reduce excess heating problems was also a goal in the modeling process.&nbsp; After trying \u00bd inch plywood for the main structure, I was forced to change to \u00bc\u201d due to space requirements.&nbsp; I also used \u215b\u201d mason board for the shelves and faceplates.&nbsp; In order to save on current draw I used separate switches for the radios and the DC outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall I\u2019m very pleased with the result and look forward to using this unit for years to come.&nbsp; Coming in at a bit over 50 pounds (without antennas or feed line), it is not likely to wind up on many summits, but this Solar Generator\/Go Box, should more than meet most requirements I\u2019ll run into.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by WD0GPS When I first got my license, friends acknowledged that while it might be a nice hobby (for you old retired guys), the question always asked was &#8211; \u201cbut what is it good for\u201d?&nbsp; When I gave the standard EMCOM answer and got the standard \u201cthats what cell phones are for\u201d answer, I knew&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2,35,33],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ares","category-education","category-radios","category-articles","tag-go-box","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2598,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions\/2598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}