New portable setup for my IC-7300

Last summer I cycled a lot from park to park with my IC-705 and telescopic mast, with various experiments in terms of antennas.

I have had a lot of fun with this, and will certainly expand this further for next summer season.

The only thing I really missed is the simplicity of setting up something simple besides experimenting with antennas, and then running some QSOs and participating more with average stations.

This made me decide to start a completely new project.
I wanted to get back on the road with my IC-7300.
Alone on the bike with that large 19″ flightcase had built earlier was absolutely not an option.
Of course, the battery system I had made for this cannot be taken on the bike either.
This entire concept had to be put back on the drawing board.

1. The IC-7300 had to be compact, rigid and safe in a backpack, so that I could easily take it with me.
2. The battery also had to be much more compact and lighter.

To realize this I had to make concessions.

First I started thinking carefully:

“When I’m always on the road, what do I really use in terms of devices and antennas?”

I soon realized that I always prefer resonant antennas. And actually never use the external antenna tuner.
Deltaloops, Dipoles, even verticals I have build in the past where always resonant mono/multiband antennas.

I also noticed during all my outdoor activities that the battery consumption is not too bad in terms of mAh, even without solar panels.
So conclusion: I only need the IC-7300 and only a smaller battery.

One of my favorite shops in the Netherlands is ACTION.

In the past I have bought several bags there especially for fishing. (see also my lasercut designed frame for the IC-705) This was fit in such a fishing bag.

Homebrew Manpack for my IC-705 and accesoires

The ACTION replaced that type of fishing bag for another one, more like a backpack some time ago. More elongated and narrower.

I always had in mind to buy 2 of those bags again, but nothing ever came of it.

Now that I was working on this plan, I really wanted to have those new types of bags. And what do you think? Sold out everywhere around here!

Until recently, I happened to be at an ACTION. And damn! There was a whole pile of these bags available at this store!
So I immediately took a few extra with me 🙂
An extra with these fishing bags are the beautiful storage boxes that you get with them. Always handy!

The height, width and depth were exactly what I was looking for for my project!
With a nice sturdy solid rigid frame around the IC-7300 this would be a perfect fit.

So no sooner said than done, I made a frame from aluminum diamond plate. This is nice and tough and not easy to bend, but still quite light overall.

I used the entire depth of the bag. This is due to cooling and ventilation.
And also the option to leave the bag upright with all wiring connected.

The bag has a front pocket, where I made a hole on the inside that goes directly to the inside of the bag.
The power cable and the antenna cable now run through this. I can roll up the power cable + antenna cable and store it perfectly.

Now just the battery.

I had calculated for a LiFePo4 battery of around 20Ah.
Coincidentally, during my search I came across a 30Ah battery from the ECO-WORTHY brand. I was able to take this over for a reasonable price. It is 1KG heavier than the originally calculated battery of 20Ah, but I couldn’t pass up the 30Ah for the price I had to pay for it.

By coincidence I still had a nice compact camera bag that I had once bought for the IC-705. But it was too tight for that.
But now a perfect fit for the battery + battery cable and battery voltage meter. And nice and compact!

Today September 21, 2024 I tested the set. it was 22 degrees Celsius outside, and quite sunny, with little wind. A nice test regarding warming up in the bag.
I have been QRV for over 4 hours on 40m, 20m and 10m and was able to make quite a few contacts.
Later I moved the radio out into the field in more sunlight, and I noticed that the inside of the bag didn’t really get much warmer than normal.
But the most important thing is that today I was able to effortlessly make nice contacts with a simple half-wave end-fed antenna with a 100W radio.