But Wait... There's More!
After editing and uploading the above video, I realized I forgot to go through the smaller items I have in the small pocket of the chest pack. So those kind enough to follow me here, and curious enough to follow the link in the YouTube description get to see some more details than the rest!
Grab and Go Radio
That is one of the reasons for this setup. Everything needed for radio in one small, organized, easy to carry place. I'm a fan of keeping things in a modular, or an "all in one" kit. This falls squarely into the all in one wheelhouse.
Links for the goodies shown in the video
Chest Pack: FUPA XL by Original SOE
Yaesu FT-818 radio (Amazon affiliate link)
Jiffy Mini-Manual (Amazon affiliate link)
Bioenno Battery (Amazon affiliate link)
Maxpedition Entity Mesh Storage Panel (Amazon affiliate link)
RG-316 Coax (Amazon affiliate link)
Then main reasons why I purchased this radio was its rugged construction, size and form factor. While very happy with my Icom IC-705, I wanted a SSB QRP rig that lend itself more to backpacking. The 705 is an outstanding radio, but it just doesn't check all the boxes for me for backpacking.
When the 818 arrived, I noticed that it would fit perfectly into a chest pack that I already had. After looking things over, I realized if I got a few specific pieces of kit to augment the radio for the chest pack, I could have a complete QRP kit in a the chest pack, which was very appealing to me.
To make this an "all in one" kit, I purchased some of my goto items for portable radio RG-316 coax, and from PackTenna a 1:1 choke and the Linked EFHW antenna. While I like to have the redundancy of multiple antennas with me, since I was limited with space I went with my favorite antenna that could give me 4 bands on SSB without a tuner.
After recording the above...
I took the "completed" kit out on a hike in POTA activation. Of course no completed kit is truly completed. Over time and with use items get added and taken away. Some things are replaced by better options. Some are removed because you never need. Some things are added because what you do with the kit changes over the course of time... In in this instance, you just plain forgot to include it.
I discovered I did not have some laminated cheat sheets I like to have with for portable radio. Using a page directly out of The Tech Prepper's playbook; I like to have laminated 3x5" index cards with some good to remember info on them.
Link to The Tech Prepper's YouTube channel
If you're into the Ecomms or using amateur radio for prepping, you will want to check him out. One of my favorites channels.
Added to the 818 kit are the SSB HF band plan for Generals and a list of the area POTA park reference numbers.