Battery, Mic, 2m J-pole, Logbook, BNC to PL coax and 817 fit perfect and survived the past years without problems.
With a bit of Tetris I can squeeze the FT1 handheld in too. Did that for my flights to JA.
My wife keeps trying to beat the deviancy out of me, but somehow every time she tries it just gets stronger
Apart from the usual childhood japes which carry on to today in grown ups I can’t remember anyone thinking I was odd for being left-handed, although some would say I had other oddness drowning that out!
Fortunately, FT817 function 19 [Normal / Reverse CW Paddle] takes care of that. My Palm Nano was pre-wired [by SOTAbeams] to suit the KX2 but thanks to this function, it works with the 817 too.
[BTW: I’m a leftie but taught myself to twin-paddle with my right hand]
On the left side on the bottom the FT-817, above a short coax, a long coax, headphones and the 2 m antenna and pencils in the front. On the right side the microphone with compressor, two current balun, a bag with a 20 m long OCF dipole and three strings (40 m over all) and a weight to throw a string plus a small box for adaptors. The dipole is ok without ATU on 40 m, 20 m and 15 m.
The access is easy through the front “door”. There is enough remaining room in the rucksack for things needed during a long mountain hike or for more equipment (PA, accumulator) for a shorter hike.
I am naturally right handed, but many years ago taught myself to paddle with my left hand. Nowadays, if I try to send right handed I find it nigh on impossible !
In the past I had a FT-817 and I built a plywood rack for it, so that I could operate without removing it from my backpack (I added connectors in the front side); it was useful in wet condition.
Details in this other thread:
And a spanish PDF with details downwards in my webpage:
It was a challenge for me to pack FT-817, because casting has sharp edges on the back of radio. It made holes in close that I used to pack FT-817. I wish to have this discussion when I used FT-817. Sold it.