What did I just get myself in to... ;-)

So, after a bunch of "hemming and hawing", I decided to finally jump on the HF bandwagon, and get a decent rig. Only problem is: my QTH is extremely antenna-limited. So, I decided to build this rig out as a "backpack portable" (ie: operate at a park, or a place where I can float a temporary antenna), with the intention of permanent installation in my next QTH.

Here's part of the setup when I just turned it on for the first time this past weekend, over at TARC:



That, my friends, is my new Icom IC-7300. Haven't named it yet, but I'm open to suggestions! I have it plugged-in to my new TekPower TP30SWII, and made my first DX QSO!!! I made contact with P40WL (contest call for DK5WL) on 14.246.40Mhz LSB on 3/24/18 at 14:28UTC - made me happy!

The rest of the rig is:

• Super Antenna MP1DXTR80 - portable antenna that is supposed to be great on 40m-10m, but is also capable of 80m-2m (minus 60m). 
• Sandisk Ultra 32GB Micro SDHC UHS-I Card - for all SD-card related functions. Works great with the included Micro-SDHC-to-Fullsize-SDHC adapter
• Tactical Backpack - fits my radio, power supply, laptop w/ charger, coax cable, 50ft extension cord, logbook, with plenty more room inside it for other stuff. Also has MOLLE webbing, so I will be attaching the Super Antenna's MOLLE webbing to the pack's MOLLE webbing, to make less stuff to "carry"
• MPD RG8X cable with BNC connectors - decent weight cable with BNC connectors built-in, for quick set-up and tear-down

Now, I just have to make some more QSOs!