AARC

I finally got to taking some photos of the 'toolbox' 2-m WinLink/AirMail system I put together the end of last month. Inside is an Alinco-DR135 2m radio, KPC3+ TNC, and an Astron power supply, extension cord, roll-up J-pole and a bunch of cables and stuff to connect it all together. I mounted the radio and TNC upside-down under the pull out tray with the handle on it that came with the toolbox. That way you can put the Mic, cables and all the other stuff that you'll be pulling out of the box as you set the system up right at the top all the time. (I've got a roll of string in there too so you can hang up the J-pole on something high. Picked up an 18 A-hr gel cell, and a device that will connect between the radio/battery/power-supply that will act as a battery charger and uninterpretable power supply (UPS) But I figure I'll put the battery and charger in a seperate box, as it will likely be deployed away from the radio in a 'maintain charge state' when I actually use it. Still have to make all the Anderson-powerpole cables for that, and figure a way to replace a 120AC-to-12V wall-wart currently being used to power the TNC. System works well standalone as a VOX radio, and if a laptop is available, you can even send emails using the WinLink network. (There are 4 'nodes' that I can easily hit through the W3AAC-5 repeater on the AARC tower, and I can throw directly all the way up to the columbia system W3CUJ-10 from Bowie. Looking forward to taking it on trainings around the area and seeing how easy it is to operate in the field. I figured I'd wait to put it in a Pelican case after I've had some practice actually using it. I plan to take an Arrow 'satellite' 2m/440 beam and a tripod with it wherever it goes.