Official Colorado HAM and cheese thread

You should be able to reach the 145.145 repeater. That one almost always has people on it

 

Josh,

I will give that one a shot! Thanks!

 

Good reading about the ftm400, I am going to be ordering one this weekend. Probably going to order it through dx.com unless you guys know of a better spot that has them in the $400 range. Going to be pairing it wthw a magnet nmo mount and a Larsen dual band antenna. Will I need to order anything else to get it setup such as a main power filter?

 

I use HRO personally because they have a store locally here in Denver. Same price and you will NOT be disappointed with the radio! I elected to NOT go the NMO mounting and instead purchased a Caliraised Bracket for the back and ran the minicoax up along the bottom with wire loom to enter the cab area. I managed to SWR it at close to 1:1 and it is working like a champ! I'll have to get some pictures up this week to show you but I love it!

This is the antenna I went with:

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-000063

Mini Coax:

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-003639

Link to Caliraised:

https://caliraisedled.com/collectio...lle/products/05-15-tacoma-bed-accessory-mount

Not sure if they make things for the 07 but worth a call to them.

 

Good deal, any idea how long it will take HRO to ship or what their backorder times are? I am over on the Western slope so it will be shipped either way.
Fairly soon when the weather starts to cooperate better I will be building a roof rack and the antenna will be getting mounted on that. I am still open for options on the antenna, and will debate the diamond antenna for sure. Still leaning towards Larsen, mainly because that seems to be what most law enforcement and emergency vehicles use, which to me says something about the quality of them.

 

To be honest....everytime I have a "back order" item it comes within the week MAX. The only exception was the FT-70D I ordered a couple months ago when the Yaesu sale happened and it took 8 days.

When I ordered the FTM it look less than a week and had it shipped to Monument as I was really busy and lo and behold it was home and safe!

They also do a great job of calling you and letting you know when things will go out.

The folks are great there and always willing to help...as a new HAM Technician they are very willing and patient!

 

That's all good to hear, you talked me into going through HRO. On that note, any particulary recommended external speaker? Or would you guys say to just go with the yaesu one that they recommend? My truck isn't particularly quiet inside as the body has slightly taken some damage...
Or better yet, is there a Bluetooth adapter that will make the radio priority, and the music secondary? So I can just have the audio go through my car stereo?

 

I'm using Yeasu speaker mounted in DS footwell (for now), and I don't think it's loud enough, especially at higher speeds. I used to use a Midland speaker bought for a CB a while back, and I don't think Yeasu is much louder, but seam to be clearer and at high volume I don't hear distortion like with Midland.
I was considering an amplified speaker, but couldn't get a bearing on a good one, so I've decided on Yeasu. I think I'll have to figure out better mounting location, maybe that'll make a difference.

Good luck with your choice!

 

@Btnewman

 

Yeah, thought I would spread my question, I don't like buying things twice, and I like getting info from local guys, as well as outside the area.

 

Haha my bad. Just saw you were from CO. I just thought of here because I saw a lot of yaesu talk lately

 

Finally got my FTM-400 installed. Unfortunately, haven't been able to reach any Wires-X nodes.

 

What part of town are you in?

That 146.535 node is at the HRO store on E. Iliff (east of Quebec out there) -- the other two were kinda "local /QRP" 449.775 has gone seriously low power in southwest Lakewood, and the other one I listed before seems to have gone quiet.

The best source would be Yaesu. Yaesu has a real-time list of nodes (not all have complete data) https://www.yaesu.com/jp/en/wires-x/id/active_node.php If ya hit that table, and select to sort the "State" column, there should be about 20+ nodes; hopefully, one nearby that you can hit.

Shoot me a PM here, if y'think I can help or anything.

 

I'm up in Broomfield. Seems like it's a bit of a dry area. I see a node in Loveland and one in Thornton I'll give a shot.

 

I've got a

$40 Baofeng UV-5R Ham Radio Long Range Handheld UV5R Dual Band 3800mAh Rechargeable Two Way Radio Walkie Talkies for Adults with Earpiece,Speaker Mic and Programming Cable Full Kit (Black-1Pack)

Baofeng UV-5R and few funds, so I haven't gotten my mobile unit yet. But I'm wondering if I could get my Antenna/Mount and just run the coax to the cabin and hook up my HT while I wait to get my mobile unit. I'm hoping that when I get my mobile unit, I can essentially just drop-in replace it in place of the HT. Anything that I'm missing in my understanding that would make this harder than expected? (e.g. Baofeng coax, for whatever reason, is different than that on a Yaesu FTM-400 (current primary choice))

I'm getting antsy, and having reception inconsistently come in and out from the Faraday cage that is my vehicle is annoying. Plus I'll need to get the antenna anyway...

 

Should be able to use the same antenna/coax but you’ll need a specific adapter to go from the baofeng to the coax now. I forget the exact one though. SMA to

$38 PL259 USA Made PL-259 Improved Double Shielded RG-58u for FireStik Antenna K-8A 18-Foot Single CB/Ham Coax Cable

PL259 maybe? Shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars. Hit up HRO and they will know which one is correct.

 

This goes from the uv-5r to the same cable connection the ftm-400 uses.

$7 DHT Electronics Handheld Antenna Cable for Wouxun Baofeng Quasheng Linton - Adapter for UHF Base and Mobile Antennas - SMA Female to UHF SO-239 Female Connectors 6'' Pack of 2

DHT Electronics Handheld Antenna...

 

Check which end your HT has.
Edit: disregard

 

The

$50 uv-5r 8watt UHF/VHF radio with 2 rechargeable battery, portable radio for adults with earpiece, GV-771 antenna, compatible with BAOFENG programming cable (3rd gen)

uv-5r is sma-female. If it helps, I ran the uv-5r and my current antenna setup until my ftm-400 finally showed up in the mail.

 

So your link is correct