Few times I’ve taked my X505 or X6100 to SOTA and IOTA trips . But after upgraded firmware on X6100 fall down just right on the summit, I decided that nothing could be more reliable than Yaesu or Icom. Of course, the FT817 has less options, but it’s a very reliable rig .
I’ve install Three in One, a Yaesu FT-817, Tracer 10Ah battery and PA to one enclousure, get such a SOTA portable setup with 80-100W watts outputs. Obviously battery may not last for 3 hours to be on the air, but no ones sits on the summit whole day.
A nicely engineered project for sure Sergey - I hope the cooling is sufficient within a closed box. I suspect the whole case with linear probably weighs about the same an an FT-857 Armin.
I wondered myself how much does it weight :), checked, it turned out to be less than 3 kg
Considering that FT857 weight is 2.1 kg, but this is without a battery and a protective case It seemed to me that it makes sense to enclose everything in one enclousure.
I’ve just replaced the original fans in PA to more powerful and quieter Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX, Premium
the original ones worked like a dozer
Sure, any equipment can overheat if you CQ continuously for 20 minutes when it’s 30 degrees outside
but in England it is cool even in summer as well as short qsos during SOTA operation will not overheat the PA
so as not to fuss at the summit with connecting PA, battery… and after finish, disassemble it all I wanted to make everything just like “plug and play”
On summit or island there is never enough time.
Considering you have a 10A Tracer battery in there, weight wise that’s very good Sergey. Amazing bit of 3D printing. I’ve no idea how you create those enclosures out of a plastic solution. My printer paper only! I’ll watch out for M0MSV and give you a shout if I hear you.
but I like to create some thing.
First, I drew a sketch on piece of paper,
then ordered all other parts in Amazon, assebled and get such result in 3 weeks. Modern 3D printers doing really fantastic job I could’t imagine.
Great job on the case and the video showing your previous invention. I love my 818 and have been working slowly but surely on improving it’s performance and portability. I am hesitant to put it in a case because I like the adaptability of not carrying certain pieces, plus I always work QRP.
I bet that was quite the job. I helped a friend last summer elevate his SteppIR onto his 100ft tower. Thankfully he has a wire hoist with a hand winch installed on that tower. Guess who drew the short straw and hand to work the crank? At least I wasn’t up top reconnecting it
