Amateur Radio

[Paff]

As an Amateur radio enthusiast since the early 80s, I always like to have a radio of some description in my vehicle. How many people on here have got their license and have fitted a radio(s) to their truck? Must not leave out the 27mhz brigade :augie

What antennas/mountings do you use? I have a roof rack on my T2, so has anyone found a mounting to go on there?

Do you drill and fit antenna's? Where/how?

How/where do you mount your radio? Do you use the cigarette sockets to power or do you hard wire direct from the battery?

A 'how to' description and photee's would be very much appreciated

Anyone into packet radio/UIV etc?

73,
G1YRE/Steve

Cheers :clap

 

[briggie]

As an Amateur radio enthusiast since the early 80s, I always like to have a radio of some description in my vehicle. How many people on here have got their license and have fitted a radio(s) to their truck? Must not leave out the 27mhz brigade :augie

What antennas/mountings do you use? I have a roof rack on my T2, so has anyone found a mounting to go on there?

Do you drill and fit antenna's? Where/how?

How/where do you mount your radio? Do you use the cigarette sockets to power or do you hard wire direct from the battery?

A 'how to' description and photee's would be very much appreciated

Anyone into packet radio/UIV etc?

73,
G1YRE/Steve

Cheers :clap

im not allowed to fit a radio in my car permanently , so I have a ft 1802 ( 2mtr 50w ) wired to a dc plug , so I can take it out of the car .... also I have the best all mode all band qrp portable radio ....ft 817nd .my aerials are a diamond nsr 770hsp ( 2/70 ) , and the rubber antenna with the 817 , also have a atas 120a for when I get my 857d

but in response to your question .... its always best to hard wire your radio direct to the battery , with the inline fuses as close to the battery as possible :thumb2

 

[jims-terrano]

This is how I've mounted aerials, nice and firm. It's a truck mirror mounting with longer bolts fitted, think I had to elongate the holes for the bolts. However nowadays you can buy a mounting designed to fit the roof rails. Only disadvantage with mine is the aerials are never vertical as they tend to lean in towards the centre of the vehicle.
I used cig lighters that are fitted in the back of my truck to power radios and things, never ran on high power though. Used external battery for high power or running X Band repeat.

 

[jims-terrano]

This is the side view

 

[Paff]

.... its always best to hard wire your radio direct to the battery , with the inline fuses as close to the battery as possible :thumb2

??fuse on both neg & pos?

10w fuse?

 

[Paff]

Do I assume that you just run the coax in through a door and not drill an access point?

 

[jims-terrano]

Certainly Yaesu power leads come with a fuse in each. As for fuses, are they really measured in watts? Easy really to work out what amp fuses to use, use ohms law. To be honnest i couldnt tell you what size are in the 8800 or 857 power leads.

 

[jims-terrano]

Do I assume that you just run the coax in through a door and not drill an access point?

Coax at first i used self adhesive clips and clip coax in the door aperture and ran a loop down back of the bumper and in through the bottom of door aperture.

Recently Ive simply stuck self adhesive tie wrap mountings and just run down outside of the truck up against the door opening edge and in through the bottom again.

 

[briggie]

for example ...... my ft 1802 has 20a fuses in both + and - dc leads

 

[Paff]

Sorry my typo, should have been Amp for the fuse not Watt :doh

 

[Paff]

Jim - I have just ordered a mount similar to the one in your photee's above. Do I have to ground the mount? Don't was to scrape away paint from the roof bar. Could I make up a short earth lead and fit one end to the mount and the other to the hex bolt on the end of the roof bar?

Must be more licenced or CB users on here. How about a photee of you antennas and radio installations? My radio would fit nice in the cubby hole just in front of the auto stick. But TBH, I can't face having the radio/dash out all over again :doh

I think I will fit a cheap dual band handheld that I got from China - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WOUXUN-KG-UVD1P-Dual-Band-VHF-UHF-136-174-400-470-MHz-Two-Way-Radio-Walkie-/161334164717?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones_Communication_Ham_Radio_Receivers_Transceivers&hash=item259043fced

 

[jims-terrano]

Grounding is on my to do list for the Atas to work correctly. However upto now Ive managed without grounding on uhf and vhf kit as our old friend inductance works quite nicely in the same way as a mag mount. Personally if I were fitting a new setup I would stick a ground cable on.
Whe I fit my roof bars to the 05 plate Im going to see if I can fit a ground cable to the roof bars when I fit them.

Dont spend much time on ham bands these days as I need the aerials and radios for other frequencies but still use the same Ft8800 and Watson Dual Band ant. Did play with Dstar for a while, made for an interesting contact. I had walked up Penyghent and made a contact through the Huddersfield dstar node coming out in Folkestone with a german bloke mobile in Calais. It was dam cold but well worth the effort to see Penyghent in the snow.

 

[Paff]

Antenna

Fitted the antenna/mount today...

 

[Paff]

This is the mount I got, had to buy some longer bolts. Seems to be fairly straight, no lean in

 

[Paff]

I am using a cheap Chinese VHF/UHF handheld. Double sticky foam to stick the base/charger on the dash (no charge point on the radio).

 

[jims-terrano]

Nice and neat and I think your aerial mounting is better shaped than mine too.:clap:clap:clap

 

[briggie]

Fitted the antenna/mount today...

same antenna as me ..... diamond nsr 770 hsp :thumb2

 

[briggie]

this is my little radio :naughty .....all mode , all band :thumb2......and its totally portable if needed :thumb2........just read the specs :naughty:sly



http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft817nd.htm

 

[jims-terrano]

If its not Rustic and his like new old terrano its Briggie and his ft817 :lol:lol:lol

 

[briggie]

If its not Rustic and his like new old terrano its Briggie and his ft817 :lol:lol:lol

er excuse me ..... its not a ft 817 ....... its a ft 817nd :naughty:lol:lol