My portable setup

[N8TGQ]

I dont do any of the xxOTA or SKCC stuff, but I do enjoy taking a radio to the park, walking or biking to get there.
That means keeping everything small and light.
I started back in the 90s with a Heathkit HW-7, then upgraded to the MFJ QRP rigs.
My last upgrade was to the original LNR MTR-3b. What an improvement!
After experimenting a bit, I built a pallette to mount everything. It all stays connected up and nothing can get forgotten or misplaced. I just have to open the case, connect the antenna wire and turn on the rig.
The paddles are made from strips of an old gift card and stained glass foiling tape. The winders are also old gift cards. I just use one antenna wire and wind it out to the length I need. Resonant points are marked with knots tied in the wire.
The case was designed as a portable hard drive case. I cut an old cutting board to size and held everything down with screws or rubber bands.
I hope maybe you can use some of my ideas!

[Rob-W4ZNG]

Very practical, and a nice combo of kit and DIY. Thanks for posting.

[N3NEI]

Thanks for the inspiration -- you've got me thinking about 'shack on a board' possibilities. (What about leaving some empty space on the cutting board for making a picnic sandwich? OK, maybe keep the food and electronics separate...)

The way you've repurposed old gift cards is especially clever and compact.

I'm curious about the QRP Guys EFHW tuner -- do you use a counterpoise with it? And do you find that you need to do much tuning once your antenna is deployed to a resonant point, or is it more for peace of mind, in case of an SWR mishap?

Also, can you offer some details about your battery setup?

[N8TGQ]

I tried counterpoises with the matcher, but never noticed any difference. The wire is is cut for 40m with knots at the 30 and 20 meter resonant points. The ears on the winder lets me lock the wire at any point. The 40m length also works well on 20 and 10.
Im just using 8 AA nimh battteries that gives me 10 volts. I can also use 7 alkalines with a dummy battery to get 10.5 volts. I also carry a 9v transistor battery as backup.

[N8TGQ]

The antenna isn' quite a exact match when I use it on 20, 15 and 10 meters. The tuning capacitor lets me dial it in.