My shack in a box / go-box v3

I’ve been working on my “Shack in a Box” / “Gobox” for a couple years. The idea behind this is to have both my HF and VHF/UHF radios in a single portable case that can be used both from my desk as well as the field.

This setup allows me to run voice and digital modes on HF using a Yaesu FT-450D (hooked up to a Signalink) and voice and packet/aprs on VHF/UHF with a Kenwood TM-D710G. both radios are hooked up view Serial/USB cables to a Linux laptop. I use fldigi, direwolf, yaac and other applications under Linux to use the radios. I’m investigating moving to a RaspberryPi w/ wifi and screensharing to a tablet from the gobox, but haven’t made the leap yet.

Front view of my gobox showing microphones connected

I have tried a few different cases and settled on a 3U Shallow rack case, this discontinued SKB 3u shallow 1SKB-XRACK3 rack case. I originally used a 4U full sized deep rack case with a power conditioner with pull out lights, and full sized power management / distribution and battery charging. I found that this original setup was way too heavy and dominated my desk.

The 3U shallow rack fits under a desk riser nicely and is many pounds lighter. I moved my battery charger (a West Mountain PwrGate) to my battery box.

I found I had to “dremmel” the back a little to create half moon shaped cutouts for the serial and audio connectors.

Side view of the gobox with both covers off
Front view of the gobox showing airflow

My box contains the following items:

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