Mobile radio

mmmmm HF. It used to be my thing a number of years ago. An efficient antenna with minimal reflected power and a good ground plane is the key to these low power (CB) radios. DO any of you use sets with single sideband functionality?

 

Meh, my uniden was tuned by Bud down at Bells CB, talk back, Palomar SL41 mic and tuned 4ft Firestick. Talks as far as I need it to on trail.

 

I don't have in my rig yet. CB or ham. But I'm going Ham when I do.

 

I have one of those in my Jeep. Its a good radio and with everything on the handset it's slick to mount. But the speaker in the handset isn't very good. A remote speaker really helps.

 

@Flytmech Can you explain a little more about how you mounted your CB? I plan on doing something very similar (Maybe not the mic jack part). From the pictures it looks like velcro, how well is that holding up? Thanks.

 

The cb is held in with velcro and has held up very well. I pulled the driver seat out and ran all wires under the carpet. I pulled all of the center console out. Drilled holes(step drill bit) in the bottom of the console for wires. The holes are directly under the their respective cb connections. The cb sits flush in the bottom of the console. I also ran an external speaker forward to the cubby hole at the end of the center console at the dash. Drilled the external mic adapter hole and ran the connector. Mounted the cb and connected wires then reinstalled the console.

 

I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd try to ask any ways. Where can I get this SI41 Palomar mic? searched Amazon and Ebay and neither of them have this...

 

Just saw this. My radio has SSB. I can get 20-30 miles on that pretty regularly and 500-1000 when the skip is just right (which is pretty often). I still wouldn't count on it for an emergency, but it's nice to have. I am adding a handheld ham and mag antenna for emergencies. Maybe I'll move up to a full mobile ham rig, but this is mostly to test the waters.

 

Looks like they stopped making them in 2017: https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/palomar-sl41-microphone.520097/

 

Do it. The repeater world kicks ass.

 

http://www.bellscb.com/
Great service also

 

Never mind sold out, discontinued. But contact them and ask them what you need, Bell has excellent service.

 

cool, Thanks!

 

This is excellent. I think this is exactly what Id like to set up, too. It sounds like a perfect set up. Meanwhile, get working on my Ham license...

 

Just food for thought . The 11m band (cb) is a wider band and doesn't work as well in wooded areas . So if you're in a wide open area it's great.

 

Honestly, if I could do it all over again I might get much smaller CB (like the cobra 75WXST) for traffic updates and chatting with friends on road trips/offroading and spend more of my time/money on a nice VHF/UHF radio. I originally got the CB/SSB for emergencies, because I didn't realize how easy the ham test was. Each type of radio has it's purpose but I don't see a ton of emergency use for the CB, it's really just for communicating with friends that don't have the ham license and truckers on the interstate.

 

CB is pretty dead around here except for truckers. Ham community is wide open though with quite a few clubs around this area. I went with a 2m/70cm and DMR setup.

 

New to the ham game, can you tell me how you use DMR and why you like it? Trying to plan a nice mobile setup.

Thanks

EDIT: Roll Tide.

 

Hit it Murph !

@medic2230

 

Basically with DMR the world is open to you. For mobile you can use a local DMR repeater or a hotspot that connects to the wifi off your cell phone. Likes? Well audio is pretty much crystal clear because it's all digital. If I want to contact someone in Australia all I do is switch the radio over to that channel and bump the PTT and I'm connected to them. There are groups or conferences on there for just about anything you want to talk about or to. With DMR as far as signal goes it either works or it doesn't. There isn't the static from a distant station like on analog. I guess in a sense if you want to be able to go worldwide without setting up a high freq setup and big antenna's then thats the way to go. If I'm in say Canada I can connect my little hotspot and use my radio to talk to all the local guys here at home from anywhere in the world. All I need is wifi or on some even a wired connection to the internet.

Since I have my handheld (HT) as a dual band VHF/UHF and DMR I can use it on local repeaters also wherever I'm at. For my rig in the truck I just have a dual band VHF/UHF (2m/70cm analog) and a roof mount antenna which I run a local repeater on one side and APRS on the other side. With APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) I can send a message to any other ham out there on their radio running APRS. You can also send a email through that system. What it also does is it shows my position on a map online so I can be located and broadcasts to other radios around me that I'm here and available to talk on whatever freq I'm monitoring at that time. There are also mobile dual band/DMR radios available. But, mainly I like it because of it's diversity and ability to use anywhere I can get internet. Where I live I'm just outside the coverage area of the local DMR repeater (like it stops in my front yard- one step forward I'm in and one step back I'm out) so the jumbo spot (hotspot for the radio) gets me in to talk with the local guys on DMR inside the house. Before that I'd have to go out to the truck and use the mobile radio for nets and to talk on analog. I think DMR radios just are really diverse and can do a lot with more options for you.

We've been using DMR radios at work for a few years now and I've gotten use to the clarity on the radios so when the option was available for a amateur setup I was all in.


Here's a good explanation of DMR and how it works.

http://www.chrishoodblog.com/welcome/wb4ulkpage/columbus-ga-dmr-tutorial-page/