How Many Go Boxes Are Too Many

He came outside because the snow was melting and an antenna needed a look. The go-box video had been in his head for months. He had been sick for a few weeks, almost a month, something like the flu and worse, and he was not all the way through it. The boxes had multiplied anyway.

The Box He Actually Takes

The one he uses is a storage box for a radio and a few parts. That is the POTA box. An 891 is inside. The cables are tucked down. The face is wrapped in bubble wrap. A mouse and a Digirig ride with it. The laptop fits on the lid. He never finished the version he kept planning: a screen on top, the computer built in, a faceplate with everything mounted. It is still a tub.

Ammo Cans and a Pi That He Cannot Read

Ammo-can builds are the next size. One of them is no longer set up the way it was. Plastic trays, some of them 3D-printed, held a battery and an RT95, and an antenna fit inside. Lid open, it was ready to go. Another can is a battery box, empty or holding spares when he filmed. A small battery bank sits in the same pile. He takes that one out with the 891, and it has carried a couple of activations.

The Thanksgiving 10-park rove ran on the pack he is holding up. Before that he was building his own battery boxes. This one showed up on Facebook Marketplace for about $80. He said that kind of pack was about $300 on Amazon. It is 280 watt-hours. He held up a 10 amp-hour pack, called its watt-hours 128, and put the 280 in the range of a 20 or 30 amp-hour battery. It has lasted multiple activations. He had charged it twice in the couple of months he had owned it. The rove made a third charge. He does not know how many cycles it had already lived.

A case on the seat was built as a cyberdeck with an SDR inside, a place to hang an antenna, ports, a keyboard, and a Raspberry Pi for power. The Pi runs Linux. The idea was a field computer. The screen is 7 inches. With glasses on, he still cannot read it. He built the whole thing and then stopped using it. A larger Apache case, the 4800, was the next attempt: trays, the 891 mounted inside, a mini PC, and a screen in the lid. He could not remember whether that screen was 17 inches or 20. Getting the trays to fit was a lot of work, and then he asked whether he needed all of it in one box.

The simpler version is a battery box in a 3800, the smaller Apache. A 100 amp-hour battery goes inside, with the parts to charge it from solar. He priced that battery around $300 to $400 and an inverter at another couple hundred dollars, in a 3800 case, and he was looking at building more than one.

Another ammo can, the one he called the fat 50, had held the Retevis RT95. The radio was out of it because he was delivering it to a friend. The rest of the insert still pulls out as a unit. He got the idea from a video on another channel and said he would link it. The builder’s name is Aaron.

The same thing happened every time. He finished a box and wanted a bigger one, more power, more gear. The rest of the truck bed, when he looked, was antennas, cables, and tripods, plus a spare ATAS. Reflective clothes are in there for hunting season, so he is visible in the woods.

The Truck Is the Next Box

A contractor’s cap got the gear out of the back seat. It is not finished. He put a bed rug in where the plastic liner had been, and then the cap became the go box. The power he bought for it is an EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus, on sale for $649. He said it has a 2200-watt inverter, AC and DC, room to add battery banks, a cigarette-lighter outlet or DC ports along the bottom, and charging from the wall or from solar. Building the 100 amp-hour boxes meant buying the case, the battery, and the inverter, then wiring them. This one was already built. He has another video planned just for it.

A 100-watt panel is under the cap. 200 watts of flexible panel is going on the roof of the truck cap, for this pack and the other batteries. In the bag with the panels was a heater and air conditioner. It runs on its own small battery or off the power station, and he said it will drop the temperature 18 degrees or raise it 18 degrees from whatever the air already is. A cot and a desk turn the bed into a place to sleep and operate. That is the next project. He does not want to live in it for a week. Short overnights are the idea. The plastic bed liner already came out for the rug, so the bed is somewhere he can sit.

It still did not feel like enough. He has been thinking about a cargo trailer as a command center, a radio shop, and a place to activate from, with a bunk. On days the trailer stays home, the cap is the camp. Pull into a site, climb in the back, and the truck is the station. A Slumberjack is on the way for the tailgate: a tarp that covers the back and opens into a screen house, so there is a covered place to sit outside the bed.

He opened a second channel, Roaming with Kevin, for the build and the trips. Ham radio stays here. The camping and the cap go there.

Transcript

He is back to talk about go boxes. He jokes that he has an addiction and does not understand it. It has been a while. He has been sick for a few weeks, almost a month, something like the flu and worse, and he is not finished with it. The snow is melting. He came out to check an antenna and decided to record the video he had been sitting on for months.

Go boxes come in every shape, and they multiply the way radios do. As soon as he built one, he started another. The one he uses most is a storage box for a radio and a few accessories. That is the POTA box. An 891 is inside, nothing fancy, cables tucked in, the face in bubble wrap, a mouse and a Digirig with it. The laptop fits on top. He did not build this one out the way he wanted the others: a screen up top, the computer inside, a faceplate. It is one idea of a go box.

Ammo cans are the next style. This one is no longer set up as it was. Plastic trays, some 3D-printed, housed a battery and an RT95, and an antenna fit inside. Take it, pop the lid, go. Other ammo cans are just battery boxes. This one might be empty or might be spare parts. A small battery bank comes out with the 891 and gets him through a couple of activations.

He used that next pack on the Thanksgiving 10-park rove. Before it, he was building his own battery boxes. It showed up on Facebook Marketplace for about $80. The same kind of pack was about $300 on Amazon. 280 watt-hours. He holds up a 10 amp-hour and calls it 128, against the 280, and figures the big pack is maybe a 20 or 30 amp-hour battery. It has made it through multiple activations. Two charges in a couple of months of owning it, and the rove is the third. He does not know the seller’s cycle count.

On the seat of the truck is a cyberdeck with an SDR built in. An antenna attaches, other gear plugs in, and there is a keyboard. A Raspberry Pi powers it and runs Linux. It was supposed to be a field computer for looking things up. The 7-inch screen is too small. Glasses do not fix it. He built it, used it, and admitted it was not going to work for his eyes. A larger Apache case, the 4800, was the one he started with trays. The plan was the 891 inside, a 17-inch or 20-inch screen in the lid, he cannot remember which, and a mini PC. The trays took a lot of work. Then he decided he was forcing too much into the box.

A battery-only box is the other route. A 3800 case, a bit smaller, can hold a 100 amp-hour battery and the solar charging parts. Another ammo can is there. The fat 50 is the one that held the Retevis RT95. The radio is out because he is delivering it to a friend. The insert still pulls out as a unit. He got the concept from a video on another channel, which he says he will link. The person behind it is Aaron.

Every build stopped being enough. Bigger, more power, more gear. The pile next to him is antennas, cables, and tripods, and a spare ATAS. Reflective clothes are in there for hunting season, so he gets seen in the woods.

Then he needed a cap so the back seat could empty out. It is not ready. He found a contractor’s cap, put a bed rug in, and decided the truck was the go box. The power source he moved up to has a 2200-watt inverter, AC and DC, room for more battery banks, a cigarette-lighter socket or DC ports on the bottom, and charging from the wall or solar. He had been pricing big battery boxes. A 100 amp-hour battery was about $300 to $400, he was not sure, plus a 3800 case, plus an inverter at another couple hundred. Then he found an EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus on sale for $649, already built, no wiring. Another video on that pack is coming. It does what he needs.

Under the cap is a 100-watt panel. He has 200 watts of flexible panel that will go on the roof of the truck cap and feed this pack and the others. In the bag was the piece that sold him: a heater and air conditioner. It runs on its own little battery or off the power station, and it will take the temperature down 18 degrees or up 18 degrees from the air around it. A cot and a desk make it a go box with a place to sleep and a place to operate, whatever the weather. That is the next project. It does not stop. He has been thinking about a cargo trailer as a command center, a shop, and a POTA playhouse, with a bunk. When the trailer stays home, he can still camp in the cap. Pull in, climb in and out, and the truck does a short trip. He does not want a week in it. The plastic liner already came out for the bed rug so he can sit in the back. A Slumberjack is coming for the tailgate, a tarp that is also a screen house, so the covered space extends past the bed.

Anyone who wants the build can follow Roaming with Kevin. That channel is the framing, the trips, the camping, and the radio together. He closes by saying the boxes grow the way radios do, and they are never enough.