Ultralight DXing: DIY - Stealth Ultralight DXing Bag
Since I got my 7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 late last year I have been looking for a good and practical way to carry it around. When I first got it I was mostly just using it at home so it lived on my desk or in a large plastic crate. As I started wanting to carry it out and about for my portable ultralight dxing sessions I tried a few different ways of carrying it.
Firstly I tried a couple of different hard carry cases, these were big enough to carry the radio and all the other bits and pieces I needed to carry but they were large and made me look out of place, going against the ultralight part of the hobby. Those that were carried by hand were big and bulky and the ones I tried carrying in a back pack meant having to unpack my backpack to get them in and out, this was not always possible to do in a safe manner.
Next I looked at using a digital camera bag, this worked well for carrying my radio but meant I had to also carry another bag for my camera, log sheets and other bits and pieces. Recently I found a camera bag online which would have ticked all the boxes, sadly this is now no longer being sold and no replacement is being planned of the same size / shape. I thought I must have been able to find something suitable.
Yesterday morning while I was in town shopping I stopped by "SMIGGLE" which is a shop my wife likes to shop at. While I was looking around I noticed that they sold some canvas bags which would be a suitable size and design, the only problem being that they didn't have any where to store the Tecsun PL-380 safely. I did have an idea and purchased the bag anyway.
On getting home I sat down and played around with a few different ideas. The final designed I came up with from this process is below:
- I took a plastic container which fits the Tecsun PL-380 with the 7.5" lookstick. I purchased this for $4.50 from the supermarket a couple of months ago.
- I cut the container all the way around until it was just deeper than the radio.
- I cut the top side of the container off so that the radio can be slide in from the top.
- Next I lined the inside of the container with bubble wrap on all sides and added a strip of foam to the bottom and both sides to hold the radio in place.
- I then cut the lid down to the same size as the container and attached this to the container with heavy duty tape.
- Next I installed two bolts which go all the way from the front of the container, in the foam and out the back, a nut was then attached to both of these bolts at the back and the tension on these set to allow the radio to easily slide in and out but also hold it firmly in place.
- Finally I made two small holes in the back internal lining of the bag and pushed both the bolts to the back pocket, this is where I attached two plates and nuts to hold them and then finger tightened the nuts.
I now have a stealth ultralight dxing bag which holds my 7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 firmly in place, has enough space for everything else I need to carry, does not look out of place and finally is easy to carry while out and about undertaking portable ultralight dxing sessions. It can also be placed inside a backpack if I need to for longer walks. It does everything I need for a total cost of around $50 and a couple of hours of my time designing and building it. The bag can also be easy converted back to normal in less than 30 seconds with only two small holes in the back internal lining.
Photos
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HKeLPHEZ-...fvg/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(1).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LoHYhZ-dV...XCk/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(9).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DiC-FK2wu...Jo/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(10).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YQ4Hpxtvl...Tc/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(11).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-975SoUNZ8...-k/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(12).JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BYOrG0RXk...uU/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(13).JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTqSUQeqy...is/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(14).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w_duLaYPr...Lw/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(15).JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YF2m2GSXH...UmP6M/s1600/0_Stealthultralightdxingbag_1.JPG
Since I got my 7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 late last year I have been looking for a good and practical way to carry it around. When I first got it I was mostly just using it at home so it lived on my desk or in a large plastic crate. As I started wanting to carry it out and about for my portable ultralight dxing sessions I tried a few different ways of carrying it.
Firstly I tried a couple of different hard carry cases, these were big enough to carry the radio and all the other bits and pieces I needed to carry but they were large and made me look out of place, going against the ultralight part of the hobby. Those that were carried by hand were big and bulky and the ones I tried carrying in a back pack meant having to unpack my backpack to get them in and out, this was not always possible to do in a safe manner.
Next I looked at using a digital camera bag, this worked well for carrying my radio but meant I had to also carry another bag for my camera, log sheets and other bits and pieces. Recently I found a camera bag online which would have ticked all the boxes, sadly this is now no longer being sold and no replacement is being planned of the same size / shape. I thought I must have been able to find something suitable.
Yesterday morning while I was in town shopping I stopped by "SMIGGLE" which is a shop my wife likes to shop at. While I was looking around I noticed that they sold some canvas bags which would be a suitable size and design, the only problem being that they didn't have any where to store the Tecsun PL-380 safely. I did have an idea and purchased the bag anyway.
On getting home I sat down and played around with a few different ideas. The final designed I came up with from this process is below:
- I took a plastic container which fits the Tecsun PL-380 with the 7.5" lookstick. I purchased this for $4.50 from the supermarket a couple of months ago.
- I cut the container all the way around until it was just deeper than the radio.
- I cut the top side of the container off so that the radio can be slide in from the top.
- Next I lined the inside of the container with bubble wrap on all sides and added a strip of foam to the bottom and both sides to hold the radio in place.
- I then cut the lid down to the same size as the container and attached this to the container with heavy duty tape.
- Next I installed two bolts which go all the way from the front of the container, in the foam and out the back, a nut was then attached to both of these bolts at the back and the tension on these set to allow the radio to easily slide in and out but also hold it firmly in place.
- Finally I made two small holes in the back internal lining of the bag and pushed both the bolts to the back pocket, this is where I attached two plates and nuts to hold them and then finger tightened the nuts.
I now have a stealth ultralight dxing bag which holds my 7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 firmly in place, has enough space for everything else I need to carry, does not look out of place and finally is easy to carry while out and about undertaking portable ultralight dxing sessions. It can also be placed inside a backpack if I need to for longer walks. It does everything I need for a total cost of around $50 and a couple of hours of my time designing and building it. The bag can also be easy converted back to normal in less than 30 seconds with only two small holes in the back internal lining.
Photos
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HKeLPHEZ-...fvg/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(1).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LoHYhZ-dV...XCk/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(9).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DiC-FK2wu...Jo/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(10).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YQ4Hpxtvl...Tc/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(11).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-975SoUNZ8...-k/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(12).JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BYOrG0RXk...uU/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(13).JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTqSUQeqy...is/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(14).JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w_duLaYPr...Lw/s1600/0_StealthUltralightDXingBag+(15).JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YF2m2GSXH...UmP6M/s1600/0_Stealthultralightdxingbag_1.JPG
