Ham Radio Operators

Class 5. We had 4 total entries, we were leading until we tried to pass a slower car that started in front of us in a different class and we hit their right rear with our front left and bent the tie rod and arms. Took a couple hours for the team to replace all the bent parts but got the finish.

Purple is like a drug...I have been avoiding it as of late.

 

Brett - I monitored the KSC repeater last night and listened for your call sign - didn't hear ya but I may have just been in la la land and missed it. Heard some chatter about antennas and trying to reach the Tampa Bay area. Ok, this is off topic but just wanted you to know I didn't ignore your tip. Mike

 

Nice and Congrats! Im way jealous too lol. Glad you finished, how many guys can say they had the lead then broke and still finished in their first B1K?
Great experience, but now I'm sure your hooked too lol.
The 11s showed up strong this year as well.
Probably see a lot more budget class entries as the economy gets worse.

Purple at times can be good therapy, but some of us need a support group lol. Dont blame you for the avoidance. The Kangaroo court thread in the race section is another one lol.

 

No worries Mike! Feel free to check in anytime! The net is open to any and all licensed hams. I checked in early (3rd person) and didn't get in there after that. Steve (N4UTQ) was speaking about his interfering with his neighbors TV broadcast antenna and then a guy from Edgewater has been trying to pull in TV from Tampa Bay, lost cause imho.
With the economy going south, more and more people are going to dump cable, satellite and web streaming expenses and go with over the air TV.
That could present a problem for Hams interfering with those signals in the future.

OK folks, sorry for the off topic stuff, back to the regularly scheduled mobile rig rag chew.

 

Brett - moved this over to Off-Topic discussion...

 

has anyone installed the radio in the glovebox with the faceplate extension mounted in the console area? i found a good way to do this with my gmrs radio, but may skip that and just get a dual bander radio instead. wondering if it would get too hot in that area.

 

Could get hot during a succession of lengthy transmissions. Summer Sunshine will get that part of the 4Runner pretty warm also.

My home base Icom dual bander kicks the cooling fan on as soon as I key up in medium power.

So without cool air for the fan or heat sink to do it's job, it could be a problem.

 

thats that i was thinking as well. maybe just mount it on my center console molle panel instead.

 

This spot (link below) has worked out well for me, except you can't hear the radios speaker very well. So I ran an 1/8" cable to the auxport to transfer the audio to the JBL.
post #11

 

Bit out there/Off topic, but, ... I use my cheapO uvr5's on the trail, and now trying to get them to work with my peltors also. I have all the cables, PTT, and other ish coming. Actually just waiting on the PTT that is inbound as i type. Wondering if its going to work well or naw. Well see......

 

Hmmm interesting, like a race radio set up.

 

I don't know if the glove box is deep enough for a mobile ham. My ICOM wouldn't fit. It's rather "shallow" IMO. Don't want to just go under the seat?

 

I don't see the advantage of mounting the radio in the glove box. Our gloveboxes are small to begin with and the radio, even if if fits would take up too much room. I mounted the the Yaesu FTM-400 under the driver seat along with an external speaker. Plenty of room there and the control head is mounted with double sided tape to the lower part of the console where there is a fairly useless cubby. I tapped a hole in the top of that cubby to run the cable from the control head out of that space.

 

Nice clean install.
I've never used that cubby for anything consistently. Most the time it's empty.
My console however is like a junk drawer I'm ashamed to say.

 

Agreed. Whatever you put in that cubby slides out while driving.

 

And, i wanna talk to my boys, out in the dark, while larping

 

i didnt measure for any of the mobile units im looking at, just had the thought since i know my midland will fit in there, but you're right the mobile hams are probably too big. i often travel w my gf and her two teenage girls who shove water bottles (sometimes as a bonus with the lids not screwed on right! haha), shoes, etc under the seat, so im not sure that is the best place as of right now.

just spitballin ideas for the moment. i have a rago dash mount and would like to put the faceplate there no matter where i put the unit, so thats the end goal.

i appreciate the feedback about the glovebox size, i didnt totally think that through and would have been pissed if i had my mind set on that spot haha

 

I've mounted my Icom 2730A under the driver's seat (on a plywood slide-out mount) and mounted the control head in the cubby using a cellphone clamshell mount that allows me to adjust the angle of the control head. Forward facing external speaker also mounted on the plywood for better audio.

Radio is powered directly from the battery via a switch-controlled relay.

I don't like the idea of mounting sensitive electronics at dash level. First, it increases the theft potential, but more importantly, it exposes the devices to baking in direct sunlight.

 

If your radio is small as many modern ones are, you could actually suspend the radio from the underside of the seat so it's not resting on the carpet. There is plenty of room there; just. leave enough slack to account for seat adjustment front/back. I suspended my external speaker from the underside of the seat using zip ties. I did not do the same with the radio because on this Yaesu unit, I need access to the MicroSD card slot to program it.

 

The Sun exposure is real and extremely harsh in the Southern states. Here in the Florida Summer, if you don't have a windshield shade, you can barely touch your steering wheel for the first few minutes. I'm sure it's twice as bad in West Texas through the NM, AZ, Cali and Vegas regions.
Being cautious where you mount your gear is a head scratcher sometimes.

 

id probably take mine on and off for use as needed, but both good points to consider. thanks

 

Subd. I want to get into hamm but i have tried a coupe times to understand and can’t quite grasp it. Im not tech savvy and not sure what im missing but its not clicking. I have a few uv-5rs to get started im struggling. Luckily I have a couple neighbors that are licensed that are willing too help.

 

It is a tough test. I have a background in auto/aviation electric and it baffled me but if you go to the FCC website it will direct you to a practice test site where the tests are taken right out of the book (check Amazon - they have plenty of books to help you with the test). You can take the 25 question practice test as many times you want (free). I remember doing about 15 tests before I felt confident enough to take the real test. You really need a book to get you through it though.

 

Subd. I want to get into hamm but i have tried a coupe times to understand and can’t quite grasp it. Im not tech savvy and not sure what im missing but its not clicking. I have a few uv-5rs to get started im struggling. Luckily I have a couple neighbors that are licensed that are willing too help.

 

also check out hamstudy.org which is a free site where you can test and read explanations, etc. its been helpful for me, im gonna take my test this month.

 

Dave Casler's YouTube channel, Ham Radio Answers (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaBtYooQdmNzq63eID8RaLQ) is an excellent training site.

 

Yahoo! Just passed my exam today, now I gotta shop and build.

 

Congrats!!!

 

Congrats and 73s de N1DDS

 

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