Oregon/Washington Craigslist Ads

I'm interested! always looking for ways to make life simpler!

 

Anyone looking for an Amp'd 2nd Gen hidden winch mount. New, never mounted. Bought it, coated it in rust proofing and then a coat of black tractor paint, but never got around to mounting it. $250 in Everett

 

@JordanTaco6

The curved base is 3D-printed and bought from a vendor on Etsy, KFloTacoma. Special request that he’d be willing to do again, although he sells a complete solution. I just wanted my dash mount to be entirely black, and his is black and silver.

The accessory rail I bought off Amazon.

$15 YakAttack GTSL90 GearTrac Light/Medium Duty, Black - GTSL90-BK08

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OUGO0HY The left arm holds and charges my phone. The right arm holds my GPS/ emergency beacon.

The screen visor is made for a larger screen. I cut the left side off to make it work. Amazon.

The lower mount that holds my radio mic is from TEQ Offroad.

The Baofeng radio itself sits in a charging cupholder cradle. Amazon.

The radio antenna is mounted externally.









Note I could have run power up behind the head unit, to a dual USB-C port mounted on top of the dash. I chose to keep power external for easy maintenance, and so I don’t have to drill a large hole in the middle of the dash to mount the dual USB-C port. But I second guess that decision all the time.

 

The top accessory rail and curved base are bolted to the top of the dash. I removed the head unit and drilled three small holes to do so.

 

I updated my original post (photos) to include the Etsy vendor’s name and a link to the RAM mount track on Amazon that I used.

@BigCountry762x39 @JordanTaco6

 

Bump
$700

 

what's the range on the Baofeng? any difference with "better" radios that you're aware of? thought a few times about doing something similar, but I have a retevis in my Tacoma, and have not installed the 2nd in my other wheeler

 

Several variables there: it depends in part on what antenna you use and where it’s mounted. The BaoFeng is 8 watts and I have a Midland phantom antenna mounted in the center of my aluminum camper top (aka. a huge ground plane), so the range is pretty great for GMRS. Because of my big ground plane I’m usually the guy with the most range in our group.

If I used a Midland 15 watt radio it would have about double the range for double the price, but I’ve never needed more range on the trail, and I would lose the option to go handheld with my radio.

Having privacy channels would be nice, and I haven’t yet figured out how to do that on a BaoFeng.

 

Not the OP…ive noticed the ability to reach out is better with the larger radios and better antennas. A 50w radio reaches the repeater I’m hitting easier and a little clearer than the 15w that I have mounted in my truck…but to be honest they both perform great. I’ve noticed the most gain with a better antenna. I’ve use multiple handhelds with the factory radio and they all seem to perform fairly equal. I’m no radio expert and have used zero equipment to back up my claims…just my experience over the last couple years.

 

With VHF/UHF antenna height, design and power are going to make the most difference in range. Since they are greatly affected by obstacles as well, height in elevation over obstacles (buildings, mountains, dense tree cover) also makes a huge difference. When it comes to handheld radios you are limited to 5w on 2m or 440cm, with GMRS it can be less than that (FRS for example is close to the GMRS assigned spectrum and usually is only .5w). Vehicle mounted radios have more power, usually 20-50w, but are also affected by antenna mounting position, grounding, engine noise, etc.

When it comes to the various handhelds the price difference is usually in build quality, warranty support if you have issues, waterproofness and ruggedness, but one of the main differences is front end (how the radios pick up signals). Most SDR (Software Defined Radios) pick up a lot of extra noise from the environment, and the difference in prices often equates to that radios ability to filter out that noise.

 

You can push 50w on GMRS (channels 15-22).

BaoFeng handhelds are generally 8 or 10 watts instead of the 5 watts of other handhelds, and the power is not restricted to particular frequencies. They are cheap and typically dual or tri-band, making them the most popular choice for handhelds with HAM operators and volunteer groups. But they greatly benefit from an antenna upgrade out of the box.

 

just was wondering if I've been going overkill with the wheeling friends. most of the time I'm pretty close over all. and i keep the Baofeng in my hiking bag, but the truck has the much larger radio.

but the last time I had to reach out I was the only on on GMRS and not a CB

 

Spotted in Woodinville

 

Also, spotted this Cheby in it's natural habitat.

 

id grab that stupid thing, swap the battery to a Milwaukee or a Dewalt and have some fun, with a kid.

 

What's overkill? GMRS is the way to go. The vast majority of wheelers around here use GMRS, more people already have GMRS radios for other uses like hiking, you can legally push FAR more wattage on the higher channels of GMRS than CB, and you have privacy channels. That said, if you’re in the Cascades (e.g.), the higher wattage may be of limited utility; “brute force” only goes so far. It’s more important to have a good high-mounted antenna, because the main limiting factor for range around here is going to be terrain.

In my case, my limiting factor was my aluminum Vagabond Drifter camper. Operating handheld while driving, I could hear everyone in front of me for a couple miles, but no one behind me. When I mounted an antenna on the top of my camper, all of that changed for the better. (For low-ish wattage (say, <20 watts), I really like the Phantom antenna on the middle of my roof; it’s only three inches tall but outperforms its height without getting too much up into the branches. It’s also on a magnetic base, so if a branch were to knock it over, it will likely reset to an upright position on its own. If you have a non-metallic roof, like a fiberglass camper shell, put it on a little square of galvanized steel, VHB taped to a cheap pizza pan to act as your ground plane. Then you can VHT tape the pizza pan to your camper shell. )

Definitely keep the BaoFeng in your wheeling kit. You can use it to go handheld while spotting, or pass it off to a buddy who doesn't have a radio.

(Edited after taking a second look at your truck setup in your profile pic.)

 

selling my all weather flooring, also have a dual battery box setup that mounts in the bed with aluminum weather tight battery boxes that I will get pictures of tomorrow if anyone’s interested.

 

You switched to carpet?

 

Race truck stuff. A half pound is a half pound and it can’t burn if it’s not in there.

 

Just eat less???