Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Holes in the roof - You got balls the likes of which I will never grow. Congrats on making the ultimate commitment. Looks like a Job Well Done.

 

That’s a lot of holes!

 

Send it. That's by far the best way to mount V/U antennas, structurally and performance wise. If I didn't store my truck in the garage, it would look the same.

 

it gets easier when you can practice on other peoples’ cars

I was an emergency vehicle upfitter for a couple years, so I made sure to make my mistakes there — great way to learn!

 

unrelated I’m sure but my ambulance always leaked

 

if the installer doesn’t seat the mount correctly or use the correct gasket with the antenna, yeah, that’ll happen… seen it too many times.

that being said, a properly installed NMO mount with a correctly installed antenna is a weatherproof seal — don’t even need silicone! I don’t think I could ever go back to another mounting method.

 

100%, I’m just giving you some grief. The NMO mount is absolutely the best way to do it.

 

I mean hey, if it goes wrong, I’ll get a drip feeder! Those hamsters don’t know how good they have it

 

I have thought that if I get an RSI Smart Cap I'll center punch that roof and put one up there.

 

Testing the waters. Anyone interested in a Yaesu FTM-400xdr? I've had it in the truck since I got it in 08-2020 and everything works great, except GPS. On my way back from a Race in July it sent it's last GPS APRS packet, but manually setting a location still works wih APRS(For Home/base station use). It still sees satellites but does not want to get a location lock.

 

That sucks.. I love my FTM-350AR... wish they still made them... Im waiting on the new Kenwood TM-D750.

 

You made me look at Kenwood again. Watched a quick video of them showing it off and the rep seemed a little fuzzy on details, seems like kenwood may be a little fuzzy on release date lol.

I just got looking again and the ftm-510 sounds cool, and has some new features like speaker and mic connection in the remote display unit which just make sense. It's crazy how the price of Yaesu just seems to stay high. People are selling the 400 and 500 for nearly the same price as the 510.

Another thought was to get an external GPS receiver like a Byonics gps5 or DIY, but that's more cables. So while looking at those I noticed there was a battery on the GPS modules. The ftm-400 has an FDK brand battery that the datasheet says is good for 5years, and it checks out at 0v after driving to get dinner with it on. Soo I'm gonna replace that and hope I'm good to go.

Still interested in selling if someone really wants it.