Stowing the AX1

The Elecraft AX1 comes in a cardboard shipping box, as you'd expect. Not exactly what you might have in mind for including in your backpack, tote or whatever you use to carry your portable ops equipment.

To my knowledge, Elecraft doesn't offer an AX1 pouch, so I had originally put mine into a soft pouch that was designed to store an external CD ROM for a laptop computer - if you look up above in the header photo, you can see a portion of it in the lower left hand corner.. Call me what you will, but I rescued it from a dumpster destiny. HiHi!  It worked, but everything was loose inside and I didn't like the thought of the AX1 jostling around inside it. I was concerned that maybe the telescoping whip might end up in a position where it might get bent. I wanted something that provided a bit more protection.

So I went to eBay and did a search on "zippered tool pouches", and found these. They were offered in three sizes and I chose "medium" which is 10 inches long by 6 inches wide by 2 inches deep. (25 X 15 X 2 cm).

I also purchased two kid's kite winders to store the counterpoise wires on. I knew that just having them wrapped up in coils in plastic bags would probably not end up well in the long run. I probably could have gotten away with the smaller case, but I do have enough extra room in there if I want to store a few pens or pencils for logging.

I'm a fossil. I log on paper and then enter the data into AC Log on my laptop or HamLog on my phone if I'm away from the laptop. I am proficient enough with a keyboard to be able to do it, but I find that computer logging while being on the air at the same time is too much of a distraction.  If I get involved in a Sprint like FOBB or the Zombie Shuffle or the Skeeter Hunt, I will miss out on making QSOs if I pause to enter each contact into my computer in real time.  Like I said before, I'm proficient with a keyboard, but I'm not a speed demon. And if I'm in a situation where the QSOs are coming in bang, bang, bang - one right after another, I'd get all bollixed up.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!