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Portable HF
Station "Grab and Go" Setup Idea
by Rakesh ~~~~ VU2RAK
New Delhi,
India
Here is my arrangement of a portable HF station using Icom
IC706MK2G + MFJ small SMPS Power supply + Mini CW paddle + Auto Tuner and
a front speaker all in one "Grab and Go" package. See photos below.
 HF Portable at use in home.
Radio is Icom IC706MK2G, On top is MFJ's Little SMPS
MightyLite MFJ-4125 power supply, above that is LDG Z-100 auto tuner.
All these are tightly tied to radio using several turns
(wrapped) with about 1 inch wide cloath (Silky) black ribbon.
One can use some other material or some other means to attach all
these to radio. The advantage of this is that in case you need to
remove all these items from radio, you can just un-knot the ribbon.
One can use some Velkro type of arrangement as well. Also on radio
is a small home made CW paddle. The paddle bottom has 4 small magnets
glued to it by using suitable quick drying adhesive. The use of magnets is
for sticking paddle to radio's metal top cover near speaker grill.
I had a Diamond 8 ohm external speaker spare, so I have tied that
also to the SMPS by using black color strong thick cord.
You
also can see that I have used 2 fans (externally) on radio. One is at the
back and other is on the left side of the radio. I found that the left
side of the radio gets as hot as the back heat sink section. (I think
there is a regulator bolted to this side of the radio and this
could be the reason for the left side also getting that hot).
After
using small computer fans at these two places, radio runs cool even
after long operation on SSB and CW with full 100 watts. Both fans are
connected with main DC power cord and are connected with a fuse.
You can use an Icom made leather handle for the 706 in place of my
home made aluminum handle seen in pictures, but I found that my home
made handle is very strong, and is easy to grab.
The DC cord for
the supply to radio is fitted with 2-male Banana plugs, one green for
-V and red for +V, which go into the binding post sockets at the
back of the SMPS.
In case of emergency operation
or where there is no power available, or if someone wants to oprate
the "Grab and Go" system with a battery, you can unplug the DC
cord banana plugs from the back of the power supply and insert them
into a charged battery (see the picture). This way the system can be
operated with both AC power or battery.
The
micrphone is also tide to the top of LDG tuner, using black
thick cord . So when you grab and take radio with you, you do not
forget anything as all is attached with the radio. So just Grab and
GO---- Don't forget the antenna!
The system works well,
specially with front firing speaker, the received audio is very clear on
SSB and CW....
 Side mounted handle! "Grab and Go"
 Rear View showing battery and cooling fan. Note
fan on right side also.
The battery shown below, is a
normal sealed lead acid computer UPS type, 12/V at 7Ah. One can use a
bigger, more amp hour battery also, but that becomes heavy.
Charger is simple. I have extended plus and minus battery connecting wires of my
computer UPS and have soldered a male 2 pin plug (see photo
below).
 Battery and
connector charging arrangement connected to computer
UPS.
So, when charging is required, I simply
plug in this 2 pin connector on the battery, (upper left section of
battery in photo above), which is fitted with a matching female socket,
(using a few wraps of black elec. tape). This way I charge my battery
using my home PC UPS. When battery is fully charged, it gives near
13.V. Therefore, I have not bought or made a separate charger. In
fact I have two of these batteries, one always remains connected with
computer UPS.
 So here it is.....Grab and Go!
I hope it gives you some ideas! 73 VU2RAK Rakesh
New Delhi,
India
If you want more information, Please let
me know... vu2rak
>>>
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