Thinking Inside the Box

I’ve been very happy with the soft case that came with my Elecraft KH1 Edgewood Package. It has room enough for the KH1 and most of the accessories I typically use with it. Although I’ve been very careful with the KH1, I somehow damaged the stock Elecraft paddles that came with it. I’m not sure how I managed to do that, but that prompted me to start looking into a hard case for transporting this expensive little radio.

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Fortunately, others have gone before me in this quest, so there are a variety of boxes that others have tried. KR8L wrote a blog post about using a Pelican 1040 case for his KH1. K4SWL had a blog post and an excellent video showing a bunch of hard cases suitable for the KH1. Somewhere online I saw mention of the Apache 550 as a less expensive option from Harbor Freight. Commercially, Tufteln sells a Pelican M40 case modified to fit the KH1 and its whip antenna.

Now that I had a mind-boggling array of options to consider, it was time for the next phase of my project: over-thinking and over-analyzing. 

While most KH1 users carry the bare minimum of items to get on the air. I, however, tend to over-pack. With the original soft case, I could carry everything I needed for pedestrian-mobile, picnic-table-portable, and stationary-mobile operations. Being a soft case, it has a little “give” to it when I squeeze in some extra items. So, for my purposes, I wanted a box at least large enough to hold everything I carried in the soft case.

After much agonizing, I settled on the Pelican M50. With exterior dimensions of 8.10 x 5.50 x 2.90 inches, it’s somewhat larger than others use. However, it easily holds everything I carried in the soft case—and then some.

Here’s what I have in there:

• Elecraft KH1 Edgewood package
• (2) 13-ft counterpoise wires
• (1) 20-ft counterpoise extension for 40M
• K6ARK Pressure Paddle
• N6ARA TinyPaddle & KH1 Adapter
• Earbuds
• Elecraft AXE1 40M Extender
• Tufteln Angle Adapter
• Tufteln Right Angle Adapter
• SO-239 to BNC-M adapter
• Right angle BNC adapter

I placed the KH1 on top of the counterpoise wires for some cushioning, but the KH1 still flopped around a bit. I found that placing a 3×5 inch notepad under the KH1 kept it in place with the lid closed. So, the notepad and a full-size mechanical pencil are now part of the kit. No problem, since they will get used for picnic table operations. 

Although I already have a bunch of stuff packed in there, I’m still thinking about adding a random wire antenna and maybe some throw line. I might just keep that stuff in my backpack, though. We’ll see.

So that’s what I wound up with. In typical fashion, I probably packed more than I should have, but the overall weight of my backpack hasn’t increased very much. Plus, I like to think I’m minimizing the possibility of forgetting something in the field.

72, Craig WB3GCK