Tampa Bay Area Tacomas BS Thread

Yeah that's how mine is also. Just not sure how much room he needs. Should be plenty though.

 

As long as we can get the meter attached and into a position where it can be read, it'll be fine. Besides, I'm letting you guys hook up the meter so if it's a PITA, you'll be the one dealing with it while the others are giving you the stink eye for making them wait, lol. You guys will also be doing the adjusting on the antennas, which may take a dozen or so adjustments to get it dialed in. Since we can't have people standing around the truck while were doing this, that means a lot of climbing in and out of the truck and to where you can reach the antenna.

 

Sounds good. How does the meter attach? I'll be sure not to forget the donuts so I don't get as much stink eye. Lol.

 

The slack in the antenna coax is the big thing. I have a 3' coax that goes from the meter to the radio, but we'll need the slack in the antenna coax to get the meter up to where we can fiddle with it.

 

It attaches via coax to the radio and your antenna coax attaches to the meter.

 

Oh ok. Sounds good. That shouldn't be a problem. I have probably 3 ft of slack underneath the console.

 

I can get to it but it's under the seat. I'll bring my little impact to remove it if needed

 

K, as long as you can get to it to screw the coax on. Again the critical thing here is that we have enough slack in the antenna coax to attach it to the meter and still be about to read and fiddle with the meter without having to lay on the floor in a weird position or something.

 

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Out of curiosity, you guys are all running Unidens? Do they have an RF Gain knob and do you know how to set them? I'm not real sure about that myself, but I do have a method that I think works okay. Not sure if it's how it's supposed to be done though.

 

No idea on how to do it, but I'll bring the manual with me

 

I have a cobra handheld they have a real nice uniden at loves that was 80 for half off

 

Haha, it'll be interesting to see how my method compares. I should have looked it up before, but I guess I never really felt the need.

I'm thinking the RF gain needs to be set for prevailing conditions. Some areas have more RF interference and/or traffic than others. What I do when I get to Citrus (or where ever I'm going to be operating) is turn the squelch all the way down and then I adjust the RF gain as needed until just when the white noise from the RF interference can't be heard. My Cobra 25 also has an analogue sweep needle I use as well--I adjust the gain until the needle just hits '0' on the scale (this corresponds to when the white noise disappears). After that, I adjust the squelch as needed to cut out the extraneous traffic (usually guys running big amplified base stations and such). That usually gives me pretty clear comms with the other trucks in the group.

 

First, start off by leaving your car turned-off (if the radio is mobile). Second, turn both the Squelch and the RF Gain all the way down (counter-clockwise). Third, turn the main volume almost all the way up. Forth, begin raising the Squelch very slowly and stop right when the radio gets silent. Finally, slowly raise the RF Gain until you hear static and noise, then turn it back down slowly just until the static and noise stops; this will let you hear only voices and not annoying static.

 

sounds pretty similar to how I do it, except the order in which the squelch is adjusted.

 

New Tacoma World member, and Tampa guy checking in. Just recently got a 2009 Tacoma 4x4 TRD Off-Road to replace my previous vehicle, Fiesta ST, that got totaled in a rear ending. Before the Fiesta I had a Subaru WRX and then a Forester, both I took on trails all the time. I've always wanted a Tacoma. I'm looking forward to take her on some off-road trails. I hear Citrus WMA is nice.

 

Welcome. We have our big Statewide Annual Meet coming up at Citrus in the beginning of February. You'd be welcome if you'd like to check it out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-2016-annual-citrus-meet.382269/

 

Welcome to TW from Clearwater!

 

Welcome!

 

So I won't be there Sunday ATV mudding instead.