Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

I toss my speaker under my passenger seat with the radio as well. Not sure the exact length of the mic. Works fine for me there though. The speaker is the one above.

3 people not including myself on my local repeater that I know run the TM-V71a. 2 run CAT cable. One has a woodpecker, the other hasn't so far.

 

So the mic cable is long enough for it to reach from under the passenger's seat? That's promising for me. And you can hear the speaker well under the passenger seat? I'm lost on your last sentence, "2 run CAT cable. One has a woodpecker, the other hasn't so far."

 

@BrotherBudro sorry, that's wasn't very clear. Of the 2 who run a CAT cable extension for the mic, one has an issue and it causes the TX to sound as if there's a woodpecker in the background.

 

After I read the sentence the 5th time, I think I started to smell what you were stepping in.
I think I'll just bite the bullet and buy once cry once, and any other fitting idioms for this situation.

Thanks!

 

Btw here are a few things that might interest you .




-Mic holder for under climate control knobs that goes into a switch blank
https://www.shapeways.com/product/9...ic-mount?key=b9ff5f3eacfd8d43045b8ec5c8d574db

--keystone blank for mic that goes into the short switch blanks below the HVAC controls
https://www.shapeways.com/product/22APYPH5F/short-toyota-switch-blank-with-keystone

-Replacement for driver side cubby with keystone holes and switch blanks
https://www.shapeways.com/product/D...switch-with-double-keystone?optionId=60950149

And what it all can look like
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/luckys-new-comms-ham-radio-install-pic-heavy.473757/

 

Regarding Kenwood mic cables, if you look closely the mic audio line (pin 6) will be a tiny coax or shield conductor in genuine Kenwood cables with the shield soldered to pin 5 next to it. I don't know if their extension kit cable uses the same special type but I would assume that to be the case. If you cut the cable it looks like this, notice the blue foil around the white middle conductor of the coax.



CAT 5 as a cable gave me terrible noise with DTMF microphones but was acceptable with a plain mic. It seems if there's any circuitry in the mic that has to communicate with the radio it can couple on the mic audio line.

So it may be hit or miss whether your particular network cable, mic and radio will get interference. Generally speaking if you don't get noise it's probably because you're lucky or it may come on eventually as the conductors shift. Twisted pairs should be more immune, so if the cable you use isn't actually UTP and is unpaired plain flat or the wires selected for pinning out the connector didn't keep pins 5 and 6 grouped on a twisted pair it may not work from the very start.

No amount of external shielding of whole cable or clamped on filters would make the noise go away, it was inside the cable for me.

 

I used this speaker:

$16 RoadPro RPSP-15 Universal CB Extension Speaker with Swivel Bracket, 2-3/4 x 4-1/2"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZIC18Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Works great actually. Single speaker for both sides of the transceiver. I have mine mounted to the center console on the rear cup holders - It's a spare center console I picked up at a salvage yard so that I could cut holes in it for my CB install. Radio is mounted to a plate that is mounted under the driver's seat via the rear seat bolts. With the radio turned up all of the way, it was sometimes hard to hear the conversation when using only the factory speaker in the transceiver. One speaker is enough for me - both sides come through it. Typically turn down the second side anyway if there are two conversations going on. It wouldn't matter if I had 1, 2, or a dozen speakers as I can't keep up if both are rangling on... Who said what, etc...

Face plate is mounted over rear view mirror to the plastic rear view mirror wire cable cover.

Cat 5 cable is working for me. I did need an extension on the microphone cable - Cat 5 as well. I spliced in a separate PTT switch on the Cat 5 cable (in parallel) and used velcro to wrap the switch around the shifter (6 spd). Microphone is currently mounted to a cell phone mount that attaches to the CD player in the radio. Picks up my voice well but may 'extract' the actual microphone element from the handset in the future.

 

I run mine under the drivers seat and lay the mic on the center console. No issues with using it.

 

I've seen that thread before but kind of forgot about it. I'v already bought that Shapeways cubby switch mount, but I was dumb and got the one that holds 2 fat switches. Now I've used up all the fat blanks in my truck. So now my plan is 1. Try to find a keystone mount inside of one of the narrow switch blanks. 2. Hope the mic cable is long enough for operation from hooking up to the body under the seat. or 3. Buy the double narrow + keystone cubby cover from shapeways.

I like where he has mounted the speaker and I might do something similar on mine. Thanks for the refresher there!

 

This is good to hear, thanks!

 

Is this worth purchasing?

I know with BaoFeng HT's I seem to occasionally get Alternator noise

 

Got the new License Plates in the mail today!

 

Using an

$14 Roadpro RP-108C 2-3/4" CB Extension Speaker with Swivel Bracket

external speaker mounted way back in the passenger footwell, radio body under the seat, faceplate on the dash. Had to use a generic Cat5e cable and a female/female connector for the control cable to reach, but the mic cable reaches just fine. I plugged the speaker into speaker 2 so that I get the left band out the speaker and the right one out of the radio itself so I can differentiate.

More details here in my build thread (ignore the faceplate location, I've moved it twice since then): https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cheuers-no-lift-build-and-adventure-thread.527445/#post-16929476

 

1.3.1: they're combined by the TM-V71A in the menus so you only need to use port 1.

2 & 3: you can use commodity cat5 wiring and connectors, but you have to make the cables yourself. Don't buy premade Ethernet patch cables. Instead of standard pinout for Ethernet, you need to keep the pairs next to each other. I.e. pair 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8. So it's NOT like a patch cable. A patch cable will work, but the audio paths end up not twisted with a ground wire which can possibly cause interference to become introduced. Patch cables do work for some people, YMMV.

I mounted the RF chassis behind the rear seat of my DCLB and ran my own wire extensions for both control head and mic. I believe the chassis gets better cooling there, then under the driver seat. #asstalk.

The control head needs a 6p6c connector. I forget the pinout, I just copied the little short wire included when the head is attached to the RF chassis.

 

Ooo good stuff. Behind the front row or rear row of seats? I need to get that done asap. Waiting to finish my aux fuse trays before I run new power leads / power poles, and want to go behind the back row.

 

Thanks so much for your help guys! Looks like I will only need a extension cable for the head/body and not the mic. I'm going to try to find a similar speaker mounting location as @cheuer but on the driver's side. I think I've got it all figured out. Now to just find the money for it all....

 

Now on the the antenna install...

I was originally planning on mounting a Laresen NMO 2/70B antenna on a ditch light bracket (like my CB antenna, pictured below but on the passenger side) because it was roughly the same height as my 3ft Firestik and I like symmetry, I already have a ditch light/antenna mount I can use, and it looks like the Larsen is flexible enough to where it wouldn't need a whip or something similar.



But after looking at this diagram I'm wondering if I should mount somewhere else for better performance. Additionally, @SD Quicksand mentioned that every 1db of loss = 20% loss in power, so the Larsen would get me -2.4db in the ditch light location which is 48% signal loss!
Also, another forum member mentioned the concerns about RF exposure at 50 watts that close to me. I probably will rarely be using 50 watts, but it's possible and I don't want to end up glowing from radiation or something.

I won't be drilling a hole in my roof, so we don't need to go down that rabbit hole.

Should I keep with my original plan of the 3 foot(ish) Larsen on the ditch bracket, or would I have better results with a shorter antenna mounted like @Lars below? It looks like I would have to shut the coax in the door (the rear passenger door is the least used so it's not a huge deal BUT still) I don't love that idea, but if I get better results then it might be worth it. What antenna could I put in this location with a similar "door jam" mount?

 

I ran a mag mount antenna before drilling the roof. Ran it through the rear door and would get water inside on mine when it rained. May just be my door seal but it happened even when I moved it around some in the door seal. Roof NMO really isn’t bad and is waterproof. They make plugs for the hole if you ever remove it.

 

I like the door mount as well

 

I thought I saw someone who made a bracket that fit under the 3rd brake light and allowed for mounting without drilling. I don't know if that will still give good ground plane but it might be worth looking into.