Amateur Radio / Ham Radio Install - N5MKH & WRQH258

A few questions about my pending Ham Radio install. It's a Quad Band (I only use dual) TYT TH-9800. I'm still figuring out where the antenna will go but the control unty will mount on the dash near the inductive phone charging pad (that apparently doesn't work with my iPhone 14...).

I'm looking to put the radio in the spot under the Drivers Seat. It is PRIMO for a number of reasons but:

1. Has any one done this? How did you fasten it? Does the radio lay loose on the carpet or did you put a bracket on it? Does it slide around much or the cables are stiff enough to keep it mostly in place?

2. The under seat air ducts are right there. Obviously blowing AC on it is beneficial. What about the heater? Does that cause it any issues with overheating? Shorten the lifespan? I'm considering if I do this I will mount the radio to one side more than the other and then block that side of the vent with RTV or Silicone or something.

3. Also I'm planning on running Seat Jackers soon. Does that added lift in the front create any issues in the back where the radio is mounted?

Any suggestions, ideas, best practices, pictures, and tips are welcome. I'd like to do this one and done.

 

Following… starting to look into adding a gmrs. With that said, is ham going to be a better choice in hilly mountainous terrain where line of site may be impacted?

 

Not familiar with that rig, but I put my Icom7000 body under my driver seat. I used adhesive velcro on the bottom of the mounting bracket. Sticks great.

(one of the pieces of velcro came off when I removed it)

 

I use a KFLo MOLLE overhead mount and have my 706mkiig face there. The main is installed behind the rear seats and using a cat6 cable I run the mic under the carpet and between the front drivers seat, mic sits in the cup holder.

 

Po-TAY-to / Po-TAH-to....

Amateur (Ham) Radio is broken into three tiers or levels: Technician, General, Extra. Each one requires a deeper level of knowledge and passing a test.
GMRS just requires your $35 donation to the government.

Both Ham at the Technician level and GMRS operate fairly similar equipment. Ham has access to more "bands" or frequencies and higher wattage, but there's nothing materially different that will set Amateur Radio Technician above GMRS in your mountainous hilly environment. Yes, if you summit a mountain and transmit from the peak, Ham Radio will be better but when you are in the valleys and canyons, basically anywhere you can look up and see dirt, it's all fairly similar. Kinda like the comparison between Android phones and iPhones - but you are locked inside a steel shipping container. It doesn't matter.

Where Ham Radio really starts to outstrip GMRS is when you get into the General Class license. That gets you access to the HF bands. These are the radio bands that can "skip" around the world by bouncing off the layers of the atmosphere.

You have likely seen pictures of Military Humvees with the antennas tied down before...

Most people assume that's to keep it from getting snagged on stuff. But out in the desert, what is there to snag it on? It's tied down like that because it changes the direction that the antenna is transmitting the signal. If the antenna is vertical like you are used to seeing for radio antennas, then it fires a signal out the sides in a horizontal pattern. But if you tip it over so the antenna is horizontal it fires vertically up at the sky. And in these bands the sky acts like a parabolic reflector that directs that radio signal back down and gives you about a 300 to 400 mile radius of communication. And since it is shooting at the sky, it doesn't get blocked by mountains.

It's like the difference between sniper fire and mortar fire. Snipers (Ham Technician & GMRS) shoot a straight line from where they are to the target that they can "see." But mortar fire (Ham General & Extra) is good ant lobbing the projectile or signal in this case over walls and in this example those walls are mountains.

So to sum up and answer the question, Will amateur radio give you an advantage over GMRS in a mountainous region? On the surface, not really. Maybe a little bit. But if you got a little deeper into Ham Radio and get a mobile unit capable of 20Meters, 40Meters, 80Meters and then put a big antenna on your truck, hell yeah you can walk right over mountains. But get ready to spend some dollars... You're looking at $1000 in gear, easy.
https://www.gigaparts.com/yaesu-ft-891-hf-6m-transceiver.html
https://www.gigaparts.com/tarheel-model-75a-white.html

 

That is a crazy good set up and an AWESOME radio!

@DeepFriedTaco - This is the kind of radio set up that I was mentioning in my post above.
@socaltaco has the ability to shoot over mountains if he wants.

 

Thank you! I do want to continue learning about HAM I have started studying for the license but based on the cost you laid out it seems futile for my purposes. What’s the point in putting 1k+ in my rig if I can’t get anyone else to invest as well. No sense if I can’t communicate with my friends, family, co-tacos.

 

Ham radio contacts can be world wide. The US is full of repeaters with dozens of active users pretty much in every state and they generally are friendly and ready to help. I have 4 different bands in my truck (yes it looks like a porcupine) there is all ways some one on and pretty much any area has an active repeater group.

 

Yep good old Icom Mine is mounted in the cup holder, poor old radio been used so much there are ware marks in things like the tuning knob! Latterly have worked the world mobile with a screw driver antenna.

 

This is consistent with my research and is great if I am solo and need help or if I need to reach outside of my party for some reason.

I am all for prepare for the worst hope for the best but for the price point and my current knowledge I think this falls outside of my needs.

Having said that any good guides for the 2023 ham license test?

 

https://hamexam.org/

 

That brings up a GREAT question that I should have asked from the Get-Go...
"Who are you trying to contact?"

If you are in the mountains but the people you are talking to are in your convoy on the trail, then GMRS and Amateur-Technician can be very beneficial.
If you have repeaters on those mountain tops, then Amateur-Technician can be beneficial because often times those repeaters have "Auto-Patch" that lets you use a Ham Radio to call a cell / land line.

I rescued a girl in a VW Tiguan SUV with low profile sport tires (two shredded) in the wilderness. We hit a high point in the road and I got to her dad's cell on Auto Patch and told him where to meet us.

 

You can buy a brand new decent duel band radio for a shade over $300

 

Personally I would skip the GMRS. A tech class license gives you a lot of very active bands to use. Too many people on GMRS that haven't a clue about 2 way radio or radios in general, and a lot fewer repeaters and spotty usage.

 

How's that progress?

 

Yes beyond a doubt 2 meters does work better than UHF and there are more repeaters