Two Easy Extras for the Yaesu FT-817etc

Here are some pics of a cardboard front cover and tiny heat sink for the FT-817.  The subsequent 817nd and 818nd have the same dimensions and this'll work fine for them too.

The cardboard cover is good for keeping the knobs and screen protected when the radio is stuffed into a pack.  The rest of the radio is relatively tough-skinned, but a sheared-off knob or a busted screen could easily happen.  The cover relies for structure on some aftermarket Portable Zero rails (link; $72) that everyone working in the field with an 817 should have already.  The cover fits over the rails and the radio's face, like a cap, and is held fast with painter's tape.  You can make one in five minutes out of scrap cardboard and duct tape.  Be sure to make the top part long enough to cover the A-B-C buttons on the top of the faceplate.  Cost: free.  Weight: nil.



With that done, slip the whole thing into a gallon zip-lock bag for some scratch and water resistance.  Cost: $0.05.  Weight: nil.  Not counting the rails, this is probably the lightest and cheapest go-bag for these radios possible.  Ideas like this come from watching too many hiker youtube videos, where cheap and light are at a premium over durability and brand name.

This last pic shows the back end of the radio with a little stick-on heat sink.  It's blue, and tucked in on that frame extension next to the power port.  This corner of the radio occasionally gets warm when operating digital modes.  Be sure to clean where you're putting it before sticking it down; windex on a paper towel works.  A friend in the local ham club had to order a mega-pack of these to get the couple he needed and was giving them away at a club meeting last fall.  Cost: free (to me anyway; you can find'em on eBay and Amazon for cheap).  Weight: nil.  



Yes, these mods are small things that really are almost trivial.  However, they do add to the radio's packability, cost very little (even counting the rails), and weigh almost nothing.

To wrap up, a friend and I tried to set up in a park over on Henderson Point this morning, but we got rained out.  It was a good chance to scout out likely trees for antenna support the next trip, however.  There's always a next trip.