Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Kiss Meg? haha
Congratulations

 

You have a rig yet?
Edit: nevermind. I see you have the right radio

 

Yeah, now I can play with it. . . . Will I go blind playing with it? Or get hairy palms?

 

Yes and yes

You doing APRS too?

 

Not yet, haven't had the chance to look into it.

 

@Watcher469
New setup in the truck. I did install the Blue Sea Fuse Block and 100A breaker along with 15A fuses for each device tied into the fuse box. There are two sets Baja Designs and the ICOM Radio for now. I know it looks like a nightmare but it all works

HAM setup is ICOM 2730A, Icom radio mount,

$59 Comet SBB5NMO SBB-5 SBB5 Comet Original 146/446 MHz Dual Band Mobile Antenna

Comet SBB5NMO antenna, Diamond K400 Lip Mount, Diamond coax extension cable, Icom handsfree external speaker, and all kinds of RAM mounts.




The lip mount did require a bit of modification to the hood. There is a rubber strip to stop water ingress and in order to make a metal to metal contact I did strip that rubber away and now the K400 mounting plate runs the length of the cut out on bare steel. I have some dielectric grease on the way to hopefully prevent the bare metal from rusting. The grounding connect is very strong.

I found that I can run the coax along where the windshield wiper tube runs. I also found a spot and cut out in the Rago ditch light mounts to secure the coax with a ziptie.

I did wrap all exposed coax in white electrical tape to help shield it from the hot SoCal sun.
This setup works well! I powered it up yesterday and the breaker did not trip and fuses did not blow so I must have connected everything correctly. As always the hardest part is running through the firewall and son of a bitch I ran the wrong ends through the firewall the first time and had to do it again. The only thing I wish I had done was spend a bit more for the Yaesu FTM-300DR so I could have access to digital as the 2730A is analog only. Do not get me wrong the 2030 is a nice radio!! So overall I am very happy with this setup!!

 

Your cab is bitchin. That steering wheel cover though....and you still have a warning sticker on your door

Other than the claymore in the steering wheel airbag I want to know where you got everything.

 

Working on my set up today.....Meso Customs black chrome delete in process. Taco Garage DMM and Hindi Garage Un-Holy mounts. Yaesu 2/440 and Baefeng GMRS/2/440. I also have a GoPro and Amazon Pruveeo dash-cam mounted. 73 de N4TRD

 

Dang, that is slick.

 

Every time I listen to the traffic on any repeater when I am traveling cross country.

 

Beautiful! Only diff is I did the Mars/Cap Mod on my Icom to get the GMRS and FRS freq and my Glock is in my backpack. Otherwise its an exact image lol.

 

hahahaha! I thought the warning sticker helped activate the rear locker....

 

if the wheel cover so you don’t get second degree burns from driving? Your location says Cali something so just curious.

 

lol too funny. my gf gives me shit about that cover too. the sheep skin, not condom, but steering wheel cover, well i guess it's my steering wheel condom does keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. honestly it is just flat out comfy and on long trips i like grippin a comfy steeerin wheel.

 

Sad. I have yet to experience this but hear it stated a lot. We seem to have a pretty good bunch of old dudes here. NM Mega Link, W1LA in LA, that one in Toquerville, UT, SDARC, San Juan Connection, Skyline; that all have been welcoming in my experience.

 

What ICOM are you running. My Yaesu FT5100 is 30 years old and was my dads, so I am not going to mess with it.... I do not even think I can mod it...... lol

 

I installed the Icom 2730A. Gigaparts is running a black Friday sale on them now. I just had to open the radio and remove two diodes with a pair of tweezers. That opened up RX and TX for all GMRS and FRS frequencies. Although technically it is illegal for me to TX on those frequencies because A. I do not have a GMRS license only HAM & B. The radio I have to too powerful to legally transmit on those frequencies. That being said the MARS/CAP Mod does allow me to RX and TX on GMRS and FRS if I choose. I looked up the procedure to do that mod on your radio and it is much more involved then the newer radios. Most all newer dual band HT and mobiles can be moded by removing a diode or two. And most HT's actually have an access hole right above the diode that has to be removed lol.

 

This message goes out to anyone who can help. I installed the Comet SSB5NMO antenna to a Diamond NMO Lip Mount on the hood. I am worried about moister getting in the threads where the antenna mates to the mount. Is there some way to stop that from happening? I see some antenna manufacturers using a rubber gasket to prevent this from happening. Anyone know of a gasket I can install or maybe some coax seal tape?

 

thats better than mine. I was given KO4JIB. Now to research a radio to install in my truck and an antenna so I can be cool.... I haven't played with my

$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 yet, I need to get a better antenna for it

 

Agreed. Utah hams seem to be pretty relaxed, but I've heard some stories from mainly back east buddies that make me sad for the hobby.