ULDXing Custom Hard Case

[tanger32au]

Some people who have known me for a while sometimes call me “the bag / case man”. This all started in 2006 when I purchased my first “Pelican” brand case, this was a 1450 which I used to store my radio scanners. Over the years as I moved on to amateur radio and then photography my “problem” with bags / cases only got worse.

Since being lucky enough to have Gary DeBock send me a 7.5” Loopstick Tecsun PL-380, I have been looking for a way to carry this and my other ultralight related radio and items. I have used a variety of bags and cases including a couple I have published the details of on my blog.

A well known saying is “cables only come in two lengths, too long and too short”; I have found the same to be true with bags and cases, they are either too big or too small. In regards to my own experiences with finding a suitable bag or case for my PL-380 I have approached this from two different angles, either something small enough to just carry the PL-380 or something much larger which will carry this and also my accessories and bits and pieces. The first option fits in well with the “ultralight” part of the hobby but means carrying another case for my accessories. The second option of a larger case is much harder to carry; I have tried both and have not been 100% happy with either option.

Recently I found a suitable “medium” size case online; this was a Pelican brand case. The problem was that it had a three month wait time as none were in stock. Based on this I set about finding another case of a suitable size. Jaycar sell the ABS Instrument Case MPV2, this is slightly larger than the Pelican case I was looking at (Internal: 300(W) x 218(D) x 105(H)mm, External: 305(W) x 228(D) x 115(H)mm) but still small enough. The problem I have found with these cases is that the foam is not great, after some use it breaks down and does not do a good job of holding items in place. My local Jaycar had one of the MP2 cases in stock but with the middle foam sections missing, given my plans this was not an issue and as such I was able to purchase this case at a discounted price.

My plan was to reuse the hard foam blocks out of my current case, add a divider and some padding to the bottom and end up with a custom case which fits everything I want to carry without it being too large. Over the past few nights I have worked on this, first getting the side where my two radios are to be stored and then adding the divider between the two sections, this is a piece of pine wrapped in bubble wrap and then screwed to the front and rear plus from the bottom, the case is still “water resistant” but I would not risk fully submerging it in water, it will easily handle anything I can throw at it.

Overall I am very pleased with how well this case has come out, I am able to carry and store all my ultralight radios and related accessories in one case, the customised inside holds everything perfectly in place. While this case was designed for ultralight dxing the same ideas could be used for amateur radio, radio scanning or any other storage need.

Photos can be seen here -> http://ultralightdxing.blogspot.com.au/ ... -case.html