Only few summits in Italy have tables or benches to install the rig for a comfortable activation. Normally the summits are rocky or with naked ground. In all cases the seat for the activator is on a rock or down on the terrain. So the rig is many times put over the backpack or on a flat rock and many activators keep in one hand the paddles and use the other to send cw (if the radio has an iron cover the paddles may have magnets to stand in position). I also used magnets with my previous FT817. Now I purchased an SW-3B (cw is my preferred mode) and solved the problem to have a stable desk to put on the complete rig (log & pencil, manual or automatic ATU, radio, battery pack, clock and paddles) with a thin magnetic whiteboard. All the objects have glued (or fixed with tape) on the bottom side one or two neodymium magnets to fix them on the desk or on another object. Also the plastic pipe to contain and protect the pencil! The battery pack has a built-in dc-dc regulator to maintain 12V also whith an output of 16-14,8V from the 4x18650 Li-Ion.
As you can see in the pictures the desk may stay horizontal or inclined so it’s comfortable to keep on the knees when seat down. Last activations were easy made with this “magnetic” desk.
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Very neat! Congratulations!
I love this, very nice. These small CW radios are such a nice form factor. This also helps to keep your equipment out of the dirt, dust and snow.
73 de JB
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