Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

What bands? How tall of a FG mast do you plan on carrying? W8BUZZ has an awesome mobile http://www.buzzbar.com/w8uzzjeep.html

 

Any tips for mounting an antenna on a Relentless Fab Hood bracket? Other than drilling out the hole (CB sized) what do I need to know?

I plan to run the antenna cable down the firewall and back up through the floor under the passenger seat where the radio is mounted. Right now the cable runs out the grommet and up the rear of the cab to a magnetic mount but that can’t stay with the cab over camper I’m going to get.

 

I went with CBI because IIRC the relentless mounts to the hood and I didn't want my antenna tilting when opening the hood and hitting anything.
I drilled mine out for an NMO mount but they also make NMO mounts with much smaller ID, not sure the size but I think it may fit without drilling. Also make sure if going NMO that you have one designed for thicker mounting surface. My original wouldn't work because of the 3/16 steel.

 

Hadn’t considered the hood opening/antenna hitting the cab part. Already have the mount though so i might just go with it and see what happens. It doesn’t look big enough to use a standard 3/4” hole NMO mount, the antenna mount is 1 1/4” across so it would only have 1/4” of metal on three sides of the NMO hole.

 

If you’re talking about these, that is how I did mine. There are 3/8” NMO mounts which fit perfectly without any modification. I ran my cable just as you describe except on the drivers side to keep it opposite the stock radio antenna. Just make sure your NMO is meant for the thickness of the mount. I haven’t run into any issues with the antenna tilting with the hood like the guy above was worried about, but my antenna isnt super tall.

 

Not sure if it's there on the second gens, but I was able to run the cable through the fire wall on the passenger side. Also I was reading that someone went through the same opening as the AC drain, again on it was on a third gen so not sure if it would work on a second gen. Also make sure you have a good ground. I ended up having to run a ground wire on mine due to the powder coating.

 

https://www.amazon.com/PCTEL-Maxrad...e=UTF8&qid=1523235249&sr=1-4&keywords=3/8+nmo

That look like it would work? And then use a normal NMO antenna?

That could work too. I have the power/ground for my radio and fridge running through it now so it’s starting to get pretty tight.

 

Forgot to mention, they're not Relentless, but I have both my antennas on ditch light mounts and haven't had any issues with the antenna's hitting the cab.

 

Here’s some pics for you. No matter how tall your antenna is it will never hit the cab itself.

 

Not an ideal place to mount any kind of antenna other then a CB antenna..... lack of good ground..... www.k0bg.com is the BEST resource for mobile radio comm install....

 

I ran my coax through the AC drain grommet. Comes into the cab in the perfect location.

 

Silly question but could an antennae like this be left unscrewed unless in use?

 

Yes

 

http://electronics.woot.com has a 2-pack of BaoFeng UV-82 radios (new) for $45 today. They're owned by Amazon, and it's fulfilled by Amazon.

 

What is considered good ground? Is there a resistance value to stay below or is continuity enough?

 

center of roof
http://kv5r.com/ham-radio/mobile-antenna-placement/

 

A ground plane is not the same as electrical grounding. You're not looking for electrical continuity so much as metallic surface area around the base of the antenna.
Above link provides a good explanation.

 

Pretty bib dead areas in Canada for APRS.

 

time for HF-APRS.

 

Is anyone using a standalone aprs tracker (as opposed to one built into a main rig), and what are you using?

I'm thinking of setting one up in my truck, and don't want to use my main rig for it. The goal is to have something that just beacons while I'm out and about, but then I can hook up my phone (or a cheap android tablet) via bluetooth when I want to send/receive messages or track others on a map.

Was thinking of the tinytrack4 with gps and the bluetooth modules and one of the cheap baofeng radios so that it will still track even if I don't have an android phone hooked up to it, but sill allow the bluetooth connection when I want it.

Can't figure out if that's the easiest way to do it or not. Thoughts?