Just wanted to show you my new QRP go-pack, designed to be extremely portable for use in my back pack. It consists of a YouKits HB-1B tranceiver, a ZM-2 antenna tuner (Z-Match), 10 cell NiMH battery pack, Palm Key portable paddle with magnetic mount (the FT-817 model), pair of in-ear headphones, 2 x 10m random wire antenna (one goes into the next tree, one goes on the ground as counter poise), some thin nylon line to mount the antenna, and a golf ball with a hook as a weight to launch the antenna.
The antenna, although not ideal, is sufficient to establish contacts all over Europe. The golf ball is a little bit on the light side – it’s not able to pull the nylon string over a branch of a tree, so I will probably replace it with a heavier object (lead weight from fishing supplies?). The battery is just a collection of 10 separate 2700 mAh AA cells that I put in a standard battery holder. The new types of NiMH batteries have a pretty low self depletion rate, especially if you lean towards the new Panasonic Eneloop cells. Compared to an equivalent lead gel accumulator you save at least 50% of the weight. The standard battery holder is less than ideal with respect to resistance between the cells, but since I operate QRP with limited amperage, the losses are negliable. On the plus side, it is pretty easy to exchange a single cell that went south … try that with an inline soldered battery pack!
Generally a pretty capable portable pack! Any comments or ideas on how to improve the set?
Like your kit! Building something similar: Just received the YouKits HB-1B 2018 Mk4 (a few upgrades, but mostly the same) with internal LIPO pack & charger from Vibroplex, used Elecraft T-1 ATU, similar antenna 2 X 10M (ordered a 60W endfed matchbox from an eBay guy), same Palm paddle, standard earbuds plus mini USB external speaker and a small oblong top/bottom storage box from Container Store for adapters . All stored in a Harbor Freight Apache 3800 case for park ops. …For backpacking I’d prefer your storage box idea (much more compact). What container and where did you get it, please? 73s, Michael KZ5MSE