'No money' go-box.

Over the past few days, I've been working on a 'go-box' for HF, including digital capability via a Raspberry Pi.

This was motivated by my occasional struggles at the beach, trying to keep ahead of the incoming tide.  The problem was that I had the Pi computer in a backpack, which was connected to the rig by a single USB cable.

How it used to be: rig in one box, Pi in a backpack.

When I had to move, I had to move the rig box and the backpack together, without disturbing the connection and having to restart the Pi, which would mean lost WSPR spots.  I can actually move the antenna by several metres without disturbing reception.

There is a very nice Facebook page about go-boxes.  But this is a very America-centric page, where big money is spent on boxes that, in many cases, are so big and heavy that they look more like no-go boxes to me!  Their idea is something they can fling into the back of a car when hurricanes hit, whereas I'm after a single-purpose HF system where I have to walk the equipment to the beach.

Anyway, I decided to attach a piece of wood with self-tapping screws to the lid of my 25-year old plastic toolbox, then screw my Waveshare 7" screen onto that.  The Pi is attached by cable ties fed through holes drilled in the reinforcing of the lid.

This is the system, undergoing at-home testing on 14MHz WSPR.  As they say, it doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to work - and cost nothing!

All in one box now.