Alabama Goes to Moab - Trip Planning Thread

no kidding!! that guy has a sweet setup! is it SC'd?

 

Nah not SC

 

If you know how to weld! I've soldered wires and that's about it.

 

strictly a toy then? how the hell does he get around on 40s..

 

Geared correctly. It's his DD.

 

Holy lord DD? Good for him! Well I guess we have the guy with the gumption to try whatever looks sketch

 

goodness gracious. I would never want a DD on 40s, but that's just me. Sweet truck though. I'm so pumped to see all the different truck builds on this trip. Seeing what everybody else does is always so fun to me.

 

It's the owner of sos concepts rig. He will try anything haha

 

for sure! he has to be the guinea pig!

 

For anyone thinking about a rear HC from Eddy I say do it got a swing out for being made now.

 

Yes!! Well good for him man I like the rig look. Not my style but that thing should be a crawling machine. I was thinking over a lot of the logistics of the trip today and said he'll if half of the people show up we will be 5 deep rolling down the road. If and when we link up with you SC boys we will be 8-10 deep in a single convoy. Convoy speed will be no greater than 65 and fueling and everything is going to be a nightmare. I am going to be in a fairly large convoy headed to expo and was in one with earthbound overland a couple weeks back. They are a pain we seriously need to nail down comms. I know everyone likes CB's because of ease of use but I would seriously like everyone to look into a cheap ham setup. The clarity and range is 10x that of a CB even on 2meter public GRMS channels. There are setups to be had for under $100 or like me I spent almost $350 on my head unit. But I can monitor 2 bands at once can act as a repeater and have quad band capability

 

Well folks, I'm in Utah...and it's spectacular. I got to drive an hour and a half out of salt lake city to where my site walk will be and the state is just perfect. Mountains and scenery everywhere. I cannot wait to bring our trucks out here...I'm driving around in a dang Cadillac XT5. Can't complain though as it was a free upgrade because they had no more standard cars haha

 

BaoFeng UV-82HP High Power Dual Band Radio: 136-174mhz (VHF) 400-520mhz (UHF) Amateur (Ham) Portable Two-Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z52HP10/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kRpVxb4CPKMHW
This is a good option the output power is great and will have really good reception. I can talk in the Alabama woods talk for 3-5 miles talk clearly on 2meter channels in my radio and .5-1 mile on my handheld

 

I'm a HAM also I think the problem here is that most people aren't going to go get the license needed for 2 meter or GMRS comms (still need a license for GMRS).

What we can do legally is everyone agree and pick a baofeng model radio and when we all meet up for the pre-trip meeting I will bring my laptop and programming cables and program everyone's radios to the FRS frequencies so no licenses are needed.

This is my suggestion

https://www.amazon.com/BAOFENG-BF-888S-Transceiver-Illumination-Flashlight/dp/B007F7MZ04

$14.00 and you get 5 watts of power and I can program everyone's radio to FRS in just a few minutes when we meet up for pizza and a beer or something to go over details of the trip.

 

Also during the pre-trip meeting I will bring my SWR meters and we can have a CB tuning party so everyone's CB's are working as well as they could be.

 

What CB do y'all recommend?

 

My bad I said GMRS and I really meant FRS lol. Yeah truly though whatever we pick we honestly do need to host a tune party. And everyone get together les get all comms right and go over the small stuff. There should be a required list. I.E. First aid kit straps winch or means of self recovery hi-lift small crap like that. Enough water for 2 people for 24hrs at all times.

 

I just installed this Anytone Smart CB but it does require a little bit of soldering know how to make it work right.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/0906-oh-look-another-expoish-build.440445/#post-12980514

If you don't want to tackle that a lot of people here install a cobra 75 because it's very compact but you don't have to get that fancy. Regardless of the CB the most important part is a properly grounded and tuned Antenna.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005N5WW/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_6

 

I use a Midlands 75-822 for its compactness and portability if I'm out of the truck for any reason. I've been using the one I have for about 5-6 years without issue in either configuration.