Thinking HAM

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jonheld said:
There are ways of setting up an inexpensive 2m mobile in your truck. I'm just getting mine set up and am waiting to take the technician test in a week or so.
Several of our club members are getting set up as well. One guy is going with a 2m handheld (around $300). I purchased a Kenwood TM-271A which is relatively inexpensive and tiny, but well built. About $150. Done.
CB is fine for close quarters, but deterorates rapidly. I can't wait until everyone goes 2m.
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Yeah, that Kenwood looks about my speed. Are you going mag-mount antenna or something else?
 
1911 said:
Congratulations on your ticket!
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Thanks!:cheers:

1911 said:
Absolutely. Look for used equipment at a hamfest or at your local radio club. hams are always upgrading their equipment, kind of like 4WD folks.
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Local club has a swapmeet in September, but I'll keep my eyes open for a deal before then.
Butt
 
congrats!

and fwiw the only ham swaps i've been to have been less than amazing from a deal standpoint (for what i was after). lots of ham types are very proud of their stuff and "deals" could be hard to find, at least considering what new costs. this is my experience, but the crowd was mostly DX'ers and HF types. not much mobile to speak of. the most well stocked and busy guy there had a van full of vacuum tubes :eek:

hopefully you find what you are after, good luck!

oh yeah and eham.net has nice classifieds. they let you put in your search criteria and get notified when postings match.

:cheers:
 
Butt Ugly Chuck said:
Yeah, that Kenwood looks about my speed. Are you going mag-mount antenna or something else?
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From the recommendation of another member (Ramy), I went with a Diamond K400SNMO mount. Apparently this is THE mount for an 80 Series. It comes with 13 feet of very thin Teflon cable (RG316) that makes routing very easy. It mounts to the upper hatch on my 80 and the tiny connector and cable was able to fit through the weather stripping with a teeny hole. I had to disassemble and reverse the mount to make the cable exit on the correct side as I wanted the mount on the driver's side of the hatch for routing reasons. No big deal.

For NMO mount antennas, I got a 1/2 wave Diamond that folds NR770HNMOB, but here in the northeast it is likely to get destroyed by trees. I purchased a 1/4 wave Diamond NR72BNMO which is nice and low and still gives decent performance.

The Diamond stuff is expensive but seems to be very high quality. All said and done my setup was $300+ with 2 antennas, which I probably don't need.

I mounted the radio where my CB used to be on the back of the center console, but this unit is small enough to fit below my single DIN stereo. I may wind up moving it at some point, but for now it's fine and smaller than my old CB.

I replaced my 15 year old giant Cobra CB with an all in 1 Cobra 75WXST that I found on Amazon for around $80 with free shipping. The power supply and antenna connection are so small, it fits neatly under the shifter console.

At some point I'll snap some pix of the mount so you can get a better idea of what I'm rambling about.

In the meantime, I still haven't taken my exam so I can't use the damn thing yet.
 
Thanks Jon. Looks like a clean setup for the 80. I like the NMO mount, but the headliner of a 60 is no fun to mess with.
I have that Cobra 75WXST too, though I have something awry with my antenna install and can't get SWR under 3:1:o.
Butt
 
I didn't mess with the headliner at all. I ran it through the weather stripping, down the C-pillar, and into the left cargo area. I followed the fuel tank door release cable. Once it hit the floor in front of the wheel well, I ran under the carpet to the rear of the center console.

If your SWR is that bad and you're certain your antenna is good, then change the cable. Stay far away from the Radio Snack garbage.
 
Got a chance to snap a few for you.
First one is the mount from the outside.
Diamond Mount.webp
 
The cable passes through the weather stripping with a small hole. It is protected from the pinch weld by the remainder of the rubber and is out of harms way.
From here is runs into the C-Pillar and down and forward.
CableRoute2.webp
 
Jon - Nice setup. Where did you connect power and ground? I've got a 12v socket in my console, and wonder if I can just tap that.

Chuck - Congrats.

I got my license last weekend. KK4CKY. Still shopping equipment. Would love to go 50/144/440 but the cost goes up exponentially. I guess a 144 with wide Rx would work, so I could at least scan the others.

I'm still debating mobile vs HT. Power versus
 
The 2M draws a good amount of current when transmitting as compared to a CB. I ran +12/Gnd direct to the battery fused at the battery and at the unit. I have military terminals that make adding stuff easy.

Check the specs for whatever unit you're considering and run appropriate sized cable/fuses.
 
jonheld said:
The 2M draws a good amount of current when transmitting as compared to a CB. I ran +12/Gnd direct to the battery fused at the battery and at the unit. I have military terminals that make adding stuff easy.

Check the specs for whatever unit you're considering and run appropriate sized cable/fuses.
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Thanks for the tip.
 
mgeiger said:
Jon - Nice setup. Where did you connect power and ground? I've got a 12v socket in my console, and wonder if I can just tap that.

Chuck - Congrats.

I got my license last weekend. KK4CKY. Still shopping equipment. Would love to go 50/144/440 but the cost goes up exponentially. I guess a 144 with wide Rx would work, so I could at least scan the others.

I'm still debating mobile vs HT. Power versus
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You need to run power AND ground all the way back to the battery terminals. Use a min #12 wire, I use #10. You can get fine stranded wire at Summit Racing or a Marine supply place, don't use the stuff from the Home store electrical department. Fuse BOTH wires as close to the battery as possible.


HT's are useful in many situations but without an external antenna they are limited in what they can do as a mobile radio. Pretty much everybody I know that started with an HT went to a hard mounted mobile soon after.
 
jonheld said:
Can you explain the logic behind a fused ground?
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Short answer;
Because the antenna ground is connected to the radio ground and there is a potential for large current flow through that path.

I think that was covered in the ARRL tech study guide wasn't it?
 
rusty_tlc said:
Short answer;
Because the antenna ground is connected to the radio ground and there is a potential for large current flow through that path.

I think that was covered in the ARRL tech study guide wasn't it?
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The tech study guide talks about grounding antennae, but they're referring to towers. It doesn't mention fused grounds. In fact it would be the last thing you'd want. There is very little about mobile setups.

As far as "potential for large current flow through that path", are you eluding to vehicle lightning strikes? Fuses won't help in this case.
 
If the factory grounding path to the battery is inoperative, a direct ground wire from radio would become the backup ground wire. Since it's not capable of carrying all of that current, a fuse is necessary.
 
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