Click to enlarge
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mark Hirst, who writes:
Thomas,
I have been very impressed by the shacks featured on SWLing !
I don’t really have the room to accommodate such large collections, or to dedicate a special area to just radio.
I tend to perch a radio on a spare surface in the front bedroom, and then cycle through my small collection on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, returning the previous radio to storage to await its turn in a month’s time.
Since newer houses and gardens are typically quite small in the UK, I’ve always been thinking in terms of radio on safari, so with the weather starting to improve, I present to you my ‘shack’ consisting of a recently acquired IC-7100 inside a fortuitously sized toolbox. The radio runs in the bedroom like this too, usually connected to a Wellbrook loop when not transmitting.
The picture [above is of the] head unit in stowed configuration, as the lid of the box doesn’t quite clear the unit when sitting on the base. The space on top of the radio is then filled by the SOTA Beams antenna bag and other sundries. The battery travels separately in the backpack.
My plan was to never have to connect/disconnect the ethernet style cable between the two halves, looks like the plan worked !
You can see it in action here:
This is a brilliant kit, Mark–a great way to escape urban radio interference! The Icom IC-7100 is uniquely qualified for the deep case, too, since the control head can sit on top of the body while in use. The angle of operation is also ideal. Very cool–thanks for sharing!
The IC-7100 is a great radio, I have mine installed mobile, and I applaud your decision to make your kit in two parts, radios and power in separate cases… Around here, most hams making go boxes hit about 40 pounds (or more) and require two people to really carry them any distance…
I got two ’50 cal fattie’ ammo cases, one will have power, the other a small VHF/UHF radio and accessories.
In the USA we have “field day” in June, but it is a competitive contest of making as many contacts as possible within a weekend. ” radio on safari” sounds like a secondary vacation activity. How about a radio safari? where it is a principal activity. Maybe a tour operator specializes in it. Anyone know of any tourist radio groups?
There are vacation rentals that include average to contest-grade stations for renters to use, but I’m not sure how a radio vacation would really differ from a regular vacation, other than you sit around camp all day…
It’s just camping with radios, and for variety you could toss in ‘SOTA hikes’…
I was thinking of portable hiking/camping. The problem is when you go camping, a good portion of the time is used just for set up and take down of tents, cooking doing the dishes, and all the other “chores”. Mountain climbers use sherpas and pack animals. to assist. I was thinking of offloading the drudge work. I did plenty of that on field day.