kidphc
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Posts posted by kidphc
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That is what I believe. The gasket should stop it from comming up the nmo.I'm not sure how to fix that, could it be an issue with the foldover hinge not sealing?
I did switch the lower section out for a spring. Might need to remove it and grease it up. That might atleast eliminate one possibility.
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I am not sure which. I believe it is comming down the center pin.
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It does have a gasket but looks like water is making its way past it.Haven't noticed with mine, but I haven't taken it apart right after rain. I'd say I'll check after the next rain, but it could be awhile here
I know I have a few rubber gaskets/rings that go on the nmo mount, though at this point I've forgotten which ones they came with. It seems the comet stuff (also have a sbb1), some of the tram, and the signal stuff use those in place of the oring in the base like Larsen do. The Browning uhf i have (1713bs) and the base loaded midlands (1/4 wave and 5/8 wave) use the oring like Larsen as well.
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Any one else notice water pooling up on the inside of the nmo and the underside of the antenna?
Just took it off to make some changes and there was about 4-5 drops of water on the inside of the nmo and underside of the antenna's nmo fitting.
Never had this problem with my Larsen/pulse antennas, they however have a rubber ring gasket. The Comet ca-2x4 doesn't. Actually, starting to wonder if it some how made its way down the hinge.
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Rear hatch mount pics with 3ft Wilson flex
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Bought a newused truck. A 2000 landcruiser. Been swallowing all my time.It's been a while. How did you fix your antenna bracket, and how has it been holding up?
I did a thing, Tarheel + Autocontroller + IC-705 got added to the wife's vehicle for vacation and trips.
Tough moving all the radio gear and such over. It is so much smaller then the burb, with very little space to mount anything.
Congrats on getting the tarheel installed.
Switched to a Comet 2x4sr, on Marc's comments about the antenna. Probably going to switch the pod light and antenna location. The Larsen was better on the inside and got less interference on the GMRS frequencies there.
Bit bummed the wife bought me a Hustler 102" whip and hd spring. Had to return it, turns out the hatch mount was designed for 3-4 ft fiberglass whips. The mount is fine front to back but rocks side to side. So I think a 102" might be asking for torn sheet metal.
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On 8/9/2021 at 8:57 AM, kidphc said:
Using stock, design the enclosure so everything was inside of 12" of each other.
Did you check to see if you have loose power connections?
Also make sure to run the firmware updates before install. I have been having issues with aprs, sometimes doesn't beacon. I see the packet in aprsdroid, just not on aprs.fi. starting to think it maybe a GPS lock issue on cold start.
The tarheel is what I had looked at for hf. Just with the controller and the antenna it would cost almost as much as say a ft917. So we'll outside of my budget especially as a tech with no hf privelages.
Would love a scorpion antenna, actually may die for one.....
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Figured out my issue with the APRS not beaconing. DISCLAIMER> I do not have the latest firmware update. I think it is about 2 years old. Yaesu makes it a pain to update. In the sense you need to open the radio and flip DIN switches. Currently, the way the body is mounted in the Land cruiser, it would take some time to get the radio out.
HERE IS THE SHORT FIX CURRENTLY. I simply remove ALL power from the radio for a few seconds. Luckily, I installed quick disconnect breakers on the power lines from the aux battery to auxiliary (fused power pole box) distribution box. Because reaching the andersons power poles beneath the radio would be just as bad as removing the radio.
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I like signal sticks. Lot more flexible than many other antennas.
In theory you could trim them down to gmrs frequencies (about ¹/hassle. For the 440 version). But don't find it necessary, or worth the hassle. Although the 440 version is about 6 inches, about the length of the rubber ducky.
Wonder if the baofeng is simply getting the front end overloaded from adjacent signals. Which would desense it, always had intermod issues with most of my baofengs. Minus the gmrs v1.
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Most of the 2/70cm and gmrs antennas are going to dc blocked. Some of the ones I looked at said I need to run a ground to the base of antenna (memory is really fuzzy been years). Ground plane can be over come with chicken wire, pizza dishes etc.
Is the coax going out the side of the house? If so you could get static build up that way. If so I would suggest a way to discharge the static (poly phasers).
In my setup all the antennas coax lines are grounded to polyphasers in a dxenginnering outside box, which is grounded to the main electrical ground rod. The radios are bussed back to the dxengineering box. I don't like using grounding lines in the house, have seen some wonky electricals in houses we have owned. The point of bounding everything in a specific way is to make sure max ground potential is even. If the main grounding for the house is on the other side of the house. You may want to drive 8ft grounding rods ever 16 feet, and bond everything with 1-2 copper straps. If in doubt call an electrician.
A lot of the grounding work is to help discharge the static and help with common mode noises. Not really going to help with lighting in most cases, it just going to vaporize everthing in its path. Even in a properly grounded set up, lighting is going to do a lot of damage most of the time.
Common mode noise, which you will see more of on 10m. Most can be allieviated with air baluns or chockes.Fortunately, a 10m dipole hides well in most attics, barring metal shielding from vents, electrical and insulation.
Shockingly, most of the rfi you will experience will be comming from your house. The proximity to the antennas to the house electrical won't help. Everything from wall warts, led lights, stoves, washers, and tvs will have the potential to interference on different bands. Grab an sdr from a buddy and do a sweep to see what frequencies you will see interference. -
If you want really cheap. The rtsdr that I got on Amazon does an awesome job for listening. I would suggest building a long wire with a bias t or getting an active antenna. For like $20 it is hard to beat. I personally, perfer sdrconsole over all the panels.In terms of the above statement, a lot of reviews I read people thought the separate head of the 7100 made it better suited for portable use.
I want to thank everyone for their advice and I welcome any more additional comments you may have. I am in no hurry so I will take the advice and review a few more radios before I make a decision.
I think what I may do is get a SDRPlay and an antenna and just listen to what is going on. By listening hopefully I will maybe figure out what I want in a transceiver. Once I do get a transceiver I can always use the SDRPlay and a SDR switch as my pan adapter as mentioned above.
Thanks again
Biggest difference I found with the rtlsdr versus the rsp1a was that it takes less to overload the front end on the $20 dongle. Think baofeng versus a quality ht.
Including a clip of the Rsp1a versus the ft991a waterfall. Connected to the same antenna (no gain). The switch does degrade the signal a bit on the ft991a. When plugged in directly the waterfall is a bit better. The scp span frequency is set at 50khz, the highest resolution I can get. The radio gain is maxed out. The rsp1a is set to 6 rf gain and -35 if gain an -5 visual gain.
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About the tunernon the ft991a. Anything greater the 3:1 and then you are using a external tuner.
C4fm us nice to play with on the radio in 6m/10m. But since it was an older design it miss out on the ability to be a node even with the hri200. That is a sore point for me at least.
Personally if the amp and tuner was cheaper I would recommend a ic705. They are all when not on sale about the same price.
Why? You could use it as a base, mobile and a qrp field radio. You buy what you want/need.
It is really unfortunate that there isn't one radio that ticks all the check boxes from any manufacturer. All are close but just miss the mark.
Good luck on your choices. Dedicated hf with dual bander is what I say. Flexradio if you got the money for hf, with a maestro you can play with the radio at home from work. But I was a computer tech so I love technology and lean towards sdr radios they can hear so much more then the super hets like the ft991a. So much so that I can pick signals out with the rsp1a that don't show up on the waterfall of the 991a much less can be heard from the 991a on the same antenna.
Have you looked at the kenwood ts series? -
Really, both are great radios. It is really going to come down to DStar vs c4fm.
I am a tech. I have a ft991a.
The waterfall is nothing to right home about. Enough so I setup a quasi panadapter using a rsp1a and mfj sdr switch. Also did a catswitch because unlike the Icom 7300 the menu is a complete pain at times.
Both can be used for field work. Personally, the ft991a works better in my books because it is all in one box unlike the Icom 7100.
Also I'd didn't have a choice. Wife bought it as a gift and she didn't want to spend 1k on a radio that looke like an alarm clock.
Any reason an all mode versus a dedicated hf radio and dualbanner? If you are into 2m/70 ssb work or satellites a 9700 and 7300 would be awesome minus the $$$
Asking because I found with 2m/70cm ssb work alot of it is the same 10 guys unless you get luck with antenna height (no hoa) or tropo.
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Fabulous site. Hoped it helped.Still researching..... Many thanks to all who have chimed in. Initially I'm considering a Comet 2x4SR NMO on a Gamiviti fender mount and see how it meets my needs/expectations. Also considering mounting the RTT slightly different so that I can get some roof space. When I finally commit to some configuration I'll post up.
KidPHC: thanks for the link, I'm on 'Mud all the time, too much actually.... (REDrum) You have all kinds of antenna goodness on your UZJ100! Cheers!
I did see a long time ago on expedition portal that one guy on his 80 had prinsu (actually think it is what started prinsu) build a rack that had ears on the back of the rack. Specifically, for his 2m and aprs antenna. He had the same problem with his rtt.
You could accomplish something similar depending on the rack you are using. At least on the 100 the roof rack screws go though the entire roof.
Should note i changed the configuration of the massive metal hood mount. I brought the antenna inboard and flipped the mounting ear and moved the pod light outside towards the fender, as well as dropped the pod mount lower.
I wanted to get the nmo coil to be a little less obstructed by the pod light. It seams by the seat of the pants to have helped. Might be pseduo pill effect. If it did help I wonder if it because more horizontal groundplane (hood) underneath and not next to it (fender) or was a bit of height.
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Have had the chance to upload the photos.
Here is a link too my lc100 thread on ih8mud.
Using a massive metal hood ditch mount (photo was before I mounted the ditch lights) for the 2/70 and a trailer tailor hatch mount for my 10m/11m antenna.
Both are on the driverside, both are worth the money imo. May swap the 10/11m antenna for a little tarheel.
Post in thread 'Kidphc's 2000 LC100 attempt to rebuild, maintenance and rebuild/build up.' https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/kidphcs-2000-lc100-attempt-to-rebuild-maintenance-and-rebuild-build-up.1263236/post-14088632
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Could be. I get to a repeater that is about 45mi on 70cm. Was surprised to hear it in the mountains of wva, about 85 miles at point.Based on the 2700' mountain between us, there is no LoS, unless I misunderstand that term. As to atmospheric ducting, I was able to make contact again a few days later and plan to try again today to rule that out. When I make contact, I'm going to ask them more about their setup. Maybe they have a 1,000' tall tower.
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Localized tropospheric ducting.. or incredible repeater setup with a good line of sight to you.So I travel up and down the coast of CA so I programmed my KG-1000G with a bunch of the open repeaters on my routes so that I can possibly use them while traveling. After I finished the programming I found that I was able to hit the nearest one (almost 70 miles away) and talk to the person there. I was frankly baffled. (He confirmed his location in San Luis Obispo, which is on the other side of the tower from me). I plan to do a bit more testing to confirm that it wasn't a fluke, but how would one explain the ability to talk to a repeater 70 miles away and through a 2,700' mountain? I'm basically at sea level and the tower is about 1300 feet. It is operated by Rugged Radios, apparently. I'm on a Wouxun KG-1000G with a Midland 6db antenna mounted to the roof rack of my Jeep.
One tropo event we were talking to people in NY, about 275 miles from the repeater. Only last 30 minutes but was awesome.
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No matter what antenna you choose a gmrs antenna is going to be too short to clear the roof line. What that means is skewed radiaton pattern and loss of range. As well as irradiating you and your passengers a bit at high power.
On my landcruiser I mounted the 2/70 ham antenna to the hood mount on the driverside. On my suburban it was mount smack in the middle of the roof. It had much better reception and less picket fencing.
I plan on adding another 2m/70cm antenna to the roof.
Pics welp going to have to wait.
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Don't forget an automatic controller, unless you are tuning stationary by ear. 300 or so.[mention=2261]kidphc[/mention] Yea, looking at Little Tarheel II/Baby Tarheel again. It would be an option for hatch lip mount.
[mention=2213]marcspaz[/mention] Removing the scanner in position 2 is a non starter. That thing has gotten me out of so many headaches while traveling. Getting a screwdriver would add 6-80 instead of just 6. This is my wife's car, and the two antennas up there are nearly invisible, and I'm not really interested in swapping out radios, as she has the hang of this one, I don't need to muddy that water.
The idea of the third hole was I would trust it with a whip while on the trip, but then pull the antenna and cap it, not worry about anyone seeing it to tamper with. With a screwdriver, I could pull the antenna for the week, and reinstall for the return trip, but the whole mount would come out after, I don't need anything visible where one could tamper or have reason to mess with her car.
I never intended to play around on FT8 mobile or anything like that, but it would be nice to have a setup that could be used in the future for POTA.
I think all this points me back to spending $600 on a screwdriver antenna. Height above roof line would be more desirable as well (XYL approal).
A side benefit would be the coax connector could be use when camping etc. To throw up a wire or if your really keen on it a 1/4 multibander (dxcommander).
Really about how much you are going to use it and why.
Plus with the tarheel and extra cables it could be moved to your daily driver.
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Personally, been tossing the idea of a second antenna on a tilt (motorized mount) for an ID 5100a. Here is what I kinda have come up with.
Currently, the ftm400 is connected to an antenna on a hood mount. I have a ditch light bracket on the rear driver corner for a 10m/11m antenna.
I have thought for a second ditching the 10/11m putting a little tarheel with ic705a and a diplexer to both to a the motorized 2m/70cm antenna and the tarheel. Problem is this will cost almost 2k.
Point being, have you considered using a hatch mount and maybe a small screw driver with a diplexer to another antenna? Seems like you would be gimping yourself and the radio by limiting it to 6m. Negative outside of cost would be that it would be more of a permanent install.
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Most 1/4 wave for gmrs are about 6". Most 5/8ths are 16".
I would advise against fender mounts etc. Unless, clearance makes it really a "I have to".
The increase in gain won't make up for the fact you will have biased radiation patterns and shielding from the cab. You might find you lose quite a bit reception and what you get has more picket fencing. In honesty all installation mileage varies.
So any 1/4 antenna might fit your needs and wants, especially if you magnet mount is nmo style and not funky like Nagoya magnet mount was
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Owner of this place will answer your questions adn likely have it in stock. Recommend calling instead of using online ordering. He's a Ham who has been doing this for over 40years. Loves to do UHF/VHF simplex. Think he is doing microwave work now adays. Wealth of information.
lInk to coax https://rfconnection.com/belden-9913f7-cable/coaxial-cable/
Has everything you need. It is like the bat cave of ham, I mean tubes, switches almost everything. Some of the stuff has thinned out due to the inability to attend Hamventions but you ask he probably has it lying around.
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Correct for vhf coax is more important than the antenna or radio. Losses are going to be crazy at about 8db over 100 feet vs lmr400 at 2.7 over 100 feet.Thanks for the input also. I have 50’ of RG-8U for the house on a 5watt HT. I know there is a lot better coax, but it was going to take 3 months to get any, so I bought the coax mentioned temp. To just get the show on the road. So I’m sure I’m loosing a bunch on the coax for sure. I guess a SWR tester is next in my purchases.
Remeber 3db is equivalent to doubling your power.
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Nah doesnt have to cost a bunch more, find the tallest tree closest to the house. Sling fishing line and hoist the antenna with the coax attached as high as you can. Chances are it's 30 feet higher then how you have it now.Sounds good, next experiment. It’s just money, right?
Not much has changed with antenna theory in the past 5 decades. Especially, for line of sight services like gmrs.
Depending in how you are going to use it. I see a tower in your future. Lol
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Generally, if you can see the antenna not even.I was thinking that if I had a more powerful mobile with an antenna in the car vs a HT in the car I would be able to receive and transmit a bit farther on both ends. Being that I would have a better antenna on a mobile unit. ?
You'll gain more $ for $ if you get the antennas up higher.
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Comet Antennas CA-2X4SR and water.
in Amateur Radio (Ham)
Posted
Pretty much what I did. I pulled the spring (which had water drops). Greased the crap out of it. Looks like that section is sealed anyways.
Then greased the hinge area which is not easy.
We shall see.
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