Backup Comms Kit for the Truck

A grab-and-go 2 m / 70 cm / APRS kit in a single MOLLE pouch, ready if I have to leave the truck or the truck's radio stops working.

Everything from the kit laid out on a cutting mat: a Yaesu FT-3DR handheld, a speaker mic, chargers, a coiled paracord with a red throw weight, a rolled J-pole antenna with a carabiner, and laminated cheat cards — Everything in the kit, laid out

This is my backup comms kit. It lives in the truck, and I grab it if I need to exit the truck, if the truck's transceiver fails, or if I left the house without a handheld radio, because then there's always one available.

What's in it

Yaesu FT-3DR handheld, 2 m / 70 cm with APRS
12 V and 120 V chargers, so it can charge from the truck or from a wall outlet
An external speaker mic
The stock HT antenna
A roll-up Ed Fong dual-band J-pole with a carabiner, so it can hang from a branch
An arborist throw weight with paracord, to get the J-pole up high into a tree
Laminated operation cheat cards

The open tan MOLLE pouch lying flat, with the radio, the chargers and the coiled cables in separate pockets and a mesh pouch on the left — The pouch opened up

The pouch opened from the other side, showing a mesh pocket, chargers with alligator clips and a coil of cable in a clear bag — And from the other side

The cheat cards

The cheat cards cover how to operate the radio. The thinking is that in times of stress, it's easy to forget how to perform even basic functions of a handheld, so the cards are there to help. They're laminated to make them weather resistant.

The J-pole

The roll-up J-pole is an Ed Fong dual-band design. Ed, WB6IQN, gave an antenna presentation to the Henderson Amateur Radio Club in 2023, and I bought the antenna from him afterwards. The throw weight and paracord are what get it up into a tree, and the carabiner lets it hang from a branch. I also built his 300-ohm twin-lead J-pole for 220 MHz: 220 MHz J-Pole.

Mounting in the truck

The kit's pouch is a Unigear Tactical MOLLE Rip-Away EMT Medical First Aid Utility Pouch, which I use for radio gear instead of first aid. It clips onto a MOLLE panel on the back of the seat, and the whole panel can be removed when needed.

The closed tan MOLLE pouch with a hook-and-loop patch, webbing loops and a carry handle — The pouch closed up

A black MOLLE panel on the back of a truck seat with several pouches attached; the tan pouch at the lower left is the comms kit — Mounted on the seat back in the truck: the comms kit is the tan pouch at the lower left

Links

My 220 MHz J-Pole About my APRS