Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

My thought was to put a rack on my camper shell (as soon as I find a good used one) and install one of these folding Diamond mounts for my Icom 208H antenna. http://www.diamondantenna.net/k9000photos.html

 

I can't decide if I should mount this radio here, or under the seat.

 

I think I did... It is a NMO 2/70. And it has a coil half way up. My dealer recommended it and described it as 5/8 on vhf and two half wave on uhf.

 

If you a) don't have kids b) plan to leave the face attached to the radio... that is a good spot. However, if you have kids (or friends that ride back there and act like kids) and/or plan to mount the face on the dash "area", than I would mount it under the seat.

 

I have thought about those before. Very mixed reviews on them, people love them or hate them. One guy in my volunteer ham group has 4 of them on his SUV.

Do it and give us a review (every 6 months).

 

Sounds like a pretty easy case of unmount the dip switch, wire in a couple of wires to extend and mount the dip switch on the radio chassis.

Should take like an hour to do with a little dremel and epoxy work. Well, assuming it's easy to get to the back of the ftm-100dr pcb. Most of this really depends on how long it takes to disassemble the main radio chassis.

 

It looks like I need speakers for my new rig.

On Amazon.ca there are some small speakers for $16 but they get poor reviews. My local dealer has no ideas except finding some old computer speakers.

It seems the sensible location for the radio is under the seat. A speaker on each side of the radio tucked under the dash seems sensible.

Any recommendations?

 

barlowr put his in his center console where your right calf would hit the center console trim next to the shifter. he cut a square hole and mounted the speakers with L brackets and resin. That's a pretty slick location and will allow you to put in regular speakers. i don't put mine up above by ear on the pillar because i have an access can and I don't want the side curtains to kill a passenger, or me.

Some have put them in the headliner successfully too.

 

Nice idea, thanks! I just need some small 8 ohm speakers.

 

practically all cb speakers are 8ohm. just get any random ones. there are some reviews on youtube, but for the most part, the closer to your ear the better for the least amount of distortion from having to increase the volume too much.

if anything, you can also wire up a class d amp and use any speaker afterwards.

 

It's all surface mount electronics. Almost microscopic.

Get the small Roadpro 1082-c ones. I have them and they work really well.

 

Get a Hakko rework station off ebay or something?

 

Thanks. It's a nice idea, but too much work for me. I'll just make the mounting bracket removable somehow.

 

With my FTM-100DR being two days old, I figured it was time for some mods.

I'm super stoked to have successfully performed the MARS/CAP mod for two reasons. First, it's not published anywhere on the web, and second, the resistors are damn near microscopic!







Attached this little RF heater to feed-line, and verified expanded TX range! :

 

The Yaesu mic that shipped with the FTM-100DR had one issue I could not accept. And that is the PTT button was WAY TOO Sensitive!!! Too many times I found myself accidentally keying the mic.

I found other owners with the same complaint online, so I didn't see the point in RMA'ing the mic unless I wanted to send the whole radio back.

So I cracked it open and discovered that Yaesu (Actually it's a Vertex Standard mic, made in Taiwan) used foam instead of a metal spring for resistance for the PTT button.



I added some more foam and it's improved.

Kind of crappy to have to mod a brand new mic, but I saw it as unavoidable.



I'm happy with it now.

 

I have two Yaesu DTMF mics, one from my FT-8800r, and one from an FT-2800r, both of which the shield on the cables dried out and started cracking. Those had springs on the micro switch, but the Chinese knock off mics I purchased (to steal the cables from.) used foam similar to what you're seeing.

If it makes you feel better, my Kenwood TM-D700 mic has a problem where the hole in the front of the mic, lines up to a hole in the circuit board, with the element behind both.... Not lined up. tiny drill bit, and a whole lot of patience later fixes that

 

It's a great antenna! Counting yourself, there is at least three of us in this thread, that run the same radio+antenna. And it's 1/2λ on VHF and 5/8λ colinear on UHF. It's also very broadband. It hears really well outside the ham bands and it can be used for GMRS TX'ing as well. I had it on SWR meter and did some testing for GMRS and it did well.

 

I've seriously considered these for overland / road trip use.
I think, since I've already got the splitter for 2m/70cm I'm going to just go with two of these (one for APRS, and one for the TM-D700) http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/pctel-maxrad-mhb5802-755.html

And this guy for the 70cm mount
http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/pctel-maxrad-muf4502-839.html

 

lol Nice to know I'm not alone!

 

I like it! Both antennas are 1/2 λ, seem reasonably priced, 200W max power rated, and are branded as heavy duty. Any idea on whip diameter, maybe 0.100"? In my book, higher power rated usually means beefier conductor / coils, etc.

Do you have an antenna analyzer to tune the antennas?