Category: radio

Items of interest

Interesting post on W2LJ’s blog about his PDA. I have an assortment of PDAs:

– Palm Pilot Pro that I got an upgrade kit for to make it a Palm III (new chip along with IR sync capability)

– Palm IIIxe which I bought on eBay. It works well except that it eats up batteries even when it is turned off. I have used this PDA with my Kenwood TH-D7 to do mobile 2m packet and PocketAPRS.

– Palm m130. This was the first PDA I had that allowed you to use an SD card. I have used this to program my TinyTrack APRS device.

– Palm Tungsten 3 (or T3). First PDA with wireless connectivity, in this case Bluetooth. Also has a slot for an SD card. I used this PDA for mobile logging, mainly taking advantage of the voice recording function… I’d have a mobile QSO, pick up the Palm T3 and record a voice memo of the time, freq, callsign, and any other significant info. At a later point I used that to update my primary log.

– Some variant of an HP PDA that has WiFi and an SD card slot.

Also have an assortment of keyboards, cameras, and other doo-dads that go with these.

I have the Palm T3 with me now… I’m guessing it needs to be charged.

K3OQ has a post about his upcoming trip to the Outer Banks. He also plans to activate The Bodie Island Lighthouse (USA-067). I had the opportunity to activate that light back in June of 2006. Beautiful area out there – very relaxing. One of the highlights of any hams visit to the Outer Banks is using the Outer Banks Repeater Association’s 2m and 70cm repeaters. I had a few great exchanges with Jack, W2EHD who lives in the area year around. The repeater system also allowed me to stay in contact with the XYL while I was off activating lighthouses.

N9IK’s Radio Blog has a new post about his completion of the Rock-Mite 40 transceiver kit. He’s got some great pics of his work. I hope to develop my building skills to that level. Very nice work. I look forward to hearing about the contacts he makes with it.

K9ZW tries to solve the age old question of the best way to organize QSL cards with his latest post. I’m curious to see how others keep their cards organized. I don’t have a ton of cards yet, but I would like a solid method of keeping my cards organized that will last for years and allow me to access them as needed.

As always – I enjoy reading your blogs. It keeps my interest in amateur radio strong even if I don’t get on the air as often as I’d like.

100 Nations Award

I read about this in an issue of World Radio from Jan 1999. I don’t know if they still offering this award, but it seems pretty cool.

100 Nations Award

In an effort to encourage personal communications among peoples around the world via Amateur Radio, Worldradio offers the Worked 100 Nations Award to those confirming two-way amateur communications with permanent stations in 100 distinct countries having a permanent, native population. The purpose of the Worldradio Worked 100 Nations Award is to demonstrate the unique opportunity Amateur Radio offers for communications between international borders to further worldwide understanding.

The W-100-N is not a radio sport award as such, but a token of achievement in communication. At the same time, it offers all Amateur Radio enthusiasts several features not found in other awards.
1. W-100-N virtually eliminates the need to work geographic areas heard only during DXpeditions. Almost all national entities have amateur stations consistently on the air.
2. W-100-N, then, will be of perennial interest. The advantage to those stations having worked a national entity long absent from the air will be minimal.
3. W-100-N is difficult to achieve, yet is within reach of all moderately well-equipped stations whose operators utilize good communication skills.

Rules
1. The Worked 100 Nations Award is available to any licensed Amateur Radio operator who can prove confirmation of two-way communications with government-authorized Amateur Radio stations in at least 100 different nations of the world.
2. No contacts with stations using reciprocal calls will count toward this award, such as N6JM/UL7.
3. All contacts must be with landbased stations. Contacts with ships, at anchor or otherwise, and aircraft cannot be considered.
4. All contacts shall be made from the same country.
5. Only contacts made on or after 01 January 1978 will count.
6. The application shall include the following:
a. Letter requesting W-100-N.
b. List of contacts in alphabetical order by prefix showing nation, station call, date, band and mode.
c. A signed statement by two other licensed radio amateurs, General class or above that they have inspected the required QSL cards.
d. A fee of $5 to cover the cost of the award.
7. All applications and requests shall be addressed to:
W-100-N Award Manager
Worldradio
2120 28th Street
Sacramento, CA 95818
8. There are no special endorsements to this award; however, endorsements may be made if the achievement bears such recognition. All modes and bands may be used. Upon approval of an application for W-100-N, a certificate will be issued and the issuance of the award will be noted in a future issue of Worldradio.

What makes a good ham blog?

There are about a bajillion ham blogs floating around the internet. What makes the good ones stand out? Here are the three main things I look for:

(1) Good writing. Who knew that some hams are actually very good writers? I’m consistently checking my very favorite ham blogs because I really look forward to reading what they have to say. The text is well written, well thought through and sometimes thought provoking. Some ham bloggers writing makes you feel like your right in the ham shack with them or maybe looking over their shoulder at the workbench while they are involved with a project. Their words paint the scene so vividly, you can smell the solder smoke.

(2) Original thoughts on a variety of topics. More than just a list of the latest DX contacts, score in the a recent contest, or what the local club is doing – the great blogs cover a spectrum of topics. Well written product reviews, stories about 1st HF contacts, learning CW and sticking with it, having an Elmer that changed your life, or a neat trick that is easy for all to duplicate and will save time and/or prevent frustration. DXpeditions are enjoyable to read about, even if it is just to the local park. The antenna that works that shouldn’t have. Painful lessons learned again and again. But always fresh and never repetitive.

(3) Good pictures/graphics. Not only are their ham bloggers out there that can write, they also have a wonderful ability to create sharp and engaging graphics for the internet. Sometimes humorous, sometimes technical, or just an image that helps further expound on the blog entry, good pictures and graphics can make a difference.

I’ll add a fourth – it doesn’t have to be all ham all the time. Many excellent amateur radio blogs include items from everyday life that let you know the blogger is not completely addicted to the hobby.

Big thanks to all you ham bloggers – I enjoy and appreciate your work!

Visalia man installs radio antennas to talk to son in Iraq

By Nick McClellan
Staff writer
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070811/NEWS01/708110360

Visalians driving south on Court Street just north of Caldwell Avenue may notice two skeletal misfits between the trees and houses on Oak View Drive.

But don’t mind them — they are there so a father can talk to his son deployed overseas with the Marines.
Or at least that’s what will happen after some further modifications.

Dan Woolman, who lives at 111 W. Oak View Drive and owns the 60-foot and 35-foot towers, first flipped the switch on ham radio at the age of 13. Now at 55, Woolman has resurrected his past enthusiasm for amateur radio in his retirement by investing more than $100,000 in top-of-the-line equipment and antennas.

“If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s ham radio,” said Woolman, whose call sign on the airwaves is W6ATR. “It’s been a lifelong avocation for me.”

Woolman is also involved in the Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System program, which sends messages to service men and women overseas.

He hopes that once he has placed an 80-meter antenna onto his larger tower he will on occasion be able to speak to his 18-year-old son Brett, who has recently completed his fifth week of training with the Marines.

“I’m pretty proud of my son,” Woolman said. “He’s quite a kid.”

Woolman also wants to use the setup to help other families communicate with their loved ones who are in the military and overseas. That communication is usually through computer messages, called MARSGRAMS.

New technology has largely diminished the useful role ham radio once played in keeping military personnel in touch with their families back home.

“It has slowed down now with the advent of cellular telephones,” said Wilbert Musselman, a fellow ham radio user in Goldsboro, N.C., who chats with Woolman on air. “But it’s still active and [we’re] doing a lot of computer correspondence now.”

Woolman’s friend Mike Meraz of Visalia advised him in the building of the towers.

One of the more difficult tasks, Meraz said, included the piecing together of each of the antenna elements on the ground and delicately placing and balancing them onto the boom, which is suspended in the air.

Though Woolman elicited some attention from the city of Visalia over the structural integrity of the towers, Meraz said the cement has been stress-pressured. Aside from tightening bolts to the boom that may become loosened by torque from the rotating antenna, the structures are sound, he said.

“If he wants to, he can drop [the towers] all the way down, and it can clear

the roof,” Meraz said, which Woolman does do when high winds risk toppling the towers.

Woolman added that the towers are designed to withstand 70-mph winds, which are not frequent in the Valley. Woolman said the 80-meter antenna, will enable contact with his son and further participation with the military radio program. It operates at low voltage so it will not interfere with any of the neighbors’ electronics.

He said he offers filters to anyone who tells him they suspect the signals are responsible for interference.

Meraz, who will help him place the antenna on the 60-foot tower, said the two plan to install it this month.

As far as the reception on the airwaves to Woolman’s high-end hardware?

“By golly you have a good signal,” said one broadcaster.

# The reporter can be reached at nmcclell@visalia.gannett.com

KA6WKE: High Frequency Mobile Amateur – Primer

http://ka6wke.blogspot.com/

Introduction

My most popular mode of HF operating is running mobile. This page will focus on the installation process and touch upon the equipment as needed. Antenna and installation decisions are very important in the mobile environment — as a mobile operator you must face the fact that you’re stuck with less than optimal antennas and grounding system. My current operating position is in a 1992 Ford Escort station wagon. It’s a small car, with very limited options for mounting radios and antennas. In updates of this page, I will be including detailed photos of the completed installation. Above all this, the single most important task at designing a mobile station is planning. I have around 60 hours of planning and installation tied up on this project. What ever you do, don’t figure on doing a first rate installation in a single day. All you’ll end up with is a lousy system, busted knuckles and a bad feeling about running mobile. Start out with some goals in mind, you may come up with more:

1. Ease of Operation
2. Little Visible Wiring
3. Easily Removable
4. Minimum Amount of Holes Drilled
5. Short Power/Ground/COAX Runs

Note: My YL doesn’t drive my car, so if yours does, you’ll have a #6 through #100!

Radios

Some quick tips on mobile radios. Remember that the first priority of the mobile operator is OPERATING THE CAR! Kinda hard to explain to the insurance company you were trying to dodge QRM, they’ll be looking for ever for that type of car. As with most radio projects, the checkbook ends up being the deciding factor. Let’s add some other factors into the equation that will help lower the cost of purchasing a mobile rig. First thing I look for is simplicity! That’s right! No fancy spectrum analyzers, multi-function buttons, small knobs, switches and sliders. I’ve had three mobile HF rigs over the years — an older Yaesu FT-101E, Icom 745 and my current rig is a Yaesu FT757GXII. So far the 757 seems to be the best. I can easily memorize the front panel and operate the rig without taking my eyes off the road. If you have the means to purchase a brand new rig, then go for the Icom 706MKII or the Kenwood TS-50 or TS-60. The main thing I don’t like about either rig is the fact I like to monitor HF and VHF at the same time. The all in one rigs only let you monitor the current band. I also like a bright display. Unlike sitting at the home QTH, the sun can wash out most displays and render them useless while driving. So, bottom line, you can get by with a basic, no frills unit that may be a few years old. Be creative! I know the YL was glad I didn’t spend mega bucks for a rig!
Antennas
Nothing gets under a hams skin as well as the subject on antennas. There are many commercial units available, and some adventuresome ops make their own. I’ll just briefly touch upon antennas, as the best books available are Don Johnson’s books on mobile hamming. He has a new one out and you can probably find his older ones at hamfests, etc. In general, stay away from base loaded models, and don’t plan on using an antenna tuner. The monoband whips by Lakeview are excellent, and some of the best HF mobile antennas are bugcatchers or screwdrivers. Keep away from the bugcatchers that use stainless steel coils, too lossy. Lakeview makes a 40-10m bugcatcher, that I currently use. Check the antenna shootouts, etc. for performance of your particular type of antenna. Again, spend some time with Don’s books — he’s been there and it saved me considerable time on deciding on an antenna.
Mounting the Radio
A good sturdy, quick release mount is very important. It must hold the rig in place, plus make it easy to remove for storing inside, or taking on trips with a different vehicle. Most amateur radio manufacturers make excellent mounts. I think the days of custom building the dash to accept the HF rig are pretty much over. The plastic in today’s cars is pretty cheesy and has too many curves that make it difficult to build a face plate. The first step to determine where to mount the rig is to just sit in the driver’s seat and take a look around. Go ahead, stick your arms out, all around the interior! Don’t worry if the neighbors think you’re strange — just wait until the antenna is on! OK — you think you’ve found a location. Just a quick note: Radios have three sides to them — front panel, mount and connectors. So, you’ve solved two just now, the mount and the front panel. The next step is to get some books or whatever, and prop the rig up near it’s intended location. Get on your back and crawl over the floor as far as you can under/beside the rig and take a look at the location of all of the stuff installed under and behind the dash. Boy looks crowded, eh?? Well, for starters, don’t worry about the AC or heat blowing near the rig. In a modern car, that just can’t always be avoided. Some things to avoid are the car’s computer, blower motor(s) and running cables too close to an all electronic dashboard. Spend as much time as you need! This part is more important than mounting the antenna — IMO. If you can’t get the mount to be fastened to some good old fashioned iron behind the dash, I’ve beefed up the dash by using very large washers and multiple machine screws and lock washers. OK, this looks pretty good! Time to get out the Black and Decker(tm)?? NO WAIT there’s more…….
Running the Cables
You’ll need to look for locations to get the heavy gauge power and ground cables plus the coax out of the cab to the outside world. While you’re still on your back poking your head under the dash, look at the firewall to see if there are any locations to run the power cables to the battery. You’ll HAVE to run heavy gauge, 8 or larger directly to the battery. Let me say this again: you’ll HAVE to run heavy gauge, 8 or larger directly to the battery. There is no way around this requirement! Place fuses on both leads, directly at the battery. The heavy cable, if it should short out can carry enough current to possibly start your car on fire! Please, buy high quality cable that is gas and solvent resistant. The run won’t be long, so go ahead and splurge — you deserve it! Have you found a location to pass through the firewall?? Yes! OK, if it’s through a rubber boot — some cars have them to pass cables in and out of the cab, go ahead and CAREFULLY slice a small slit into the boot and shove your cables through. Just be careful not to rip the boot, or haul all of the other cables along with it. To attach the cables to the battery, I needed to replace my stock battery any ways due to age. I got the biggest battery that would fit into the battery tray (measure the tray first) and a battery that had both types of terminals — side terminals and standard top posts. Which ever pair you need to hook to start the car, you’ll have another pair free! Makes it nice and tidy. While at the auto parts store, get a tube of RTV silicon sealant and a pair of terminal ends for your radio power cables. A safety note: Batteries can explode! Follow all safety directions on the battery and in your owners manual for the car. Go ahead and attach your new cable ends to one end of the radio power cables and run the other end around the engine compartment to the rubber boot you just sliced. Pay attention and keep the power cables away from ignition parts, exhaust headers or other electronic devices. It’s going to be a challenge, but keep at it, you’ll find a way. Use wire ties to keep it where you need. Leave the power cables about a foot longer than needed inside the cab — allows for some shifting of the rig to install the mount, etc. Use the RTV silicon sealant to ‘patch’ the hole in the rubber boot where the power cables enter. This will stop engine noise, water or fumes from entering the vehicle with the engine running and you driving. What if you don’t have a handy rubber boot! No problem, you’ll just have an additional step: You’ll have to make one! If you need to make holes through the firewall, be sure to check both sides of the firewall for attached equipment, cables, etc. It would be a real pain to drill through a brake line, or other device! Use a small drill bit first and then double check your location. Use progressively larger bits until you get to the size your grommets require. Use heavy grommets to protect the power cables, and run RTV around to seal up the holes. Did you notice that your rig has a ground lug on it?? Good, you’ll need to use it. So look for a place nearby that can go directly to the car body. For my install, I had a large bolt that supported the metal frame for the dash that directly went to the firewall. Make this cable out of 1″ tinned copper braid. DON’T RELY on any other cable to provide this grounding function — power cable or coax! If you’re close to a seat, the bolts that hold the seat to the floor pan make an excellent attachment point. Now is a good time to go ahead and mount the rig in it’s final resting place. If you can’t bolt the mount directly to some metal behind the dash, I used large 1-1/2″ washers, as well as lock washers to secure it to the side of my dash. Make all of the cables the correct length to reach the rig directly, solder ALL fittings and dress properly with wire ties. A properly planned install should show only a minimum of cables, and some don’t show any at all! Once all this is done, let’s conduct our first noise test. First, attach a dummy load to the rig and power it up. Start the car, turn off all other rigs/radios and crank the volume on the HF rig all the way up. Listen carefully — do you hear any buzzing or popping sounds coming out of the speaker? Rev the engine up a bit. Listen carefully — now start at the lowest frequency of your receiver and tune through the entire HF spectrum. Are you listening carefully?? If you do hear any noise, then it’s coming through the power cables, or possibly via a ground loop. Turn the rig off and disconnect the ground cable. Turn the rig back on — here any noise?? If the noise stayed the same, then the problem is with the power cables. You may need to install some bypass caps directly at the battery. Roughly 40,000 mfd bypassed by a .01 uf cap should help. Did the noise go away?? If so, then move the ground cable to another attachment point inside the car — you have a ground loop going. Once that is all done, take the new installation for a drive and repeat spinning the dial across the entire HF spectrum. You should be completely clean of any engine/alternator noise. Well, that wasn’t so bad now was it?!? It took only about 20 hours to complete just this portion of my install.
Mounting the Antenna and COAX
Start by taking a walk around the family wagon. Get the creative juices flowing! If you’re planning on running a screwdriver or the larger bugcatchers, you’ll need a very STURDY mount. Go get the copy of Don’s book you bought and re-read it on building antenna mounts. I have a smaller bugcatcher, so I went with a Hustler trunk mount that I modified for an additional ground strap. My antenna is guyed to the roof rack, so this mount only really has to support the weight of the antenna, not the wind load. Be sure to get the antenna as high up and away from the car body as possible. My bugcatcher coil is around 18″ from the roof line, well away from the car. I modified the antenna mount to provide a heavy ground strap from the frame of the mount to the hatch. Most antenna problems can be related to poor coax, small resistance at the mount, or too close in proximity to the body. Which every mount type you choose, remember that the antenna will be outside and subject to heavy wind loading. In my first attempt at installing an antenna, the poor thing came off on the freeway, at 65 MPH while I was driving into heavy winds of 40 MPH. The antenna shot off the back, ripped the connector right off the coax and upon contact with the freeway, shattered into a million little tooth picks of fiberglass. If there had been another car behind me, and conditions were right, the metal whip could have penetrated the windshield! Use a high quality ball mount, back braced as needed. Again — read Don’s books. I use RG-213 for the majority of my run to the back of the Escort. I have a small, ‘cheater’ stub of RG-58A/U cable that runs through the weather-stripping on the hatch. The COAX runs from there, under the rear seats, with a small section exposed over the carpeting, to the center console. From there it runs under the console to the back of the radio. Nice and neat. Please do me a favor — splurge again on some high quality COAX OK?? Oh, before I forget, I mount my antennas on the opposite side of the car as the tailpipe. Some ops run into tailpipe induced noise. If this is the only place you can mount your antenna, then ground the end of the tailpipe with some short braid. Should lick that problem.
RF Grounding
It’s important to have a good RF ground for the mobile operator. I took heavy tinned copper braid and bonded all of the doors, hatch and hood to the body of the car. Most people don’t do this, and it doesn’t cost much and only takes about an hour to drill all of the holes and screw it all together. I premade all of the straps first with soldered ends, and used sheet metal screws with star and lock washers to complete the grounding kit. I used a spring loaded center punch and small drill bit to drill all of the holes. If you can, try and put these ground straps INSIDE the weather-stripping of the doors. That way it will help keep moisture and dirt from getting at the screws. It made noticeable improvements in VHF reception, plus it will help improve your portable ground plane. Some people do go as far as bonding the tail pipe, but I’ve never done that. Bonding the tail pipe can help eliminate RFI, more on troubleshooting RFI ( or is it caRFI?? ) in the following section.
Noise Problems
OK, some pointers on dealing with RFI from the car. I must tell you, that I’ve never had any noise problems in any of my installs, but YMMV or you’re sitting next to a Volkswagon! The first thing to do is to determine where the noise is coming from. It can be power leads, bad ground or through the antenna. If you did a noise test before mounting the antenna, then the only place you’re getting any noise is through the antenna or feed line! Pretty easy don’t you think! Hopefully you won’t have to move the mount. You may have to build a better ground and verify that the large piece of metal you grounded the antenna mount to is also ground with a strap to the other parts of the car. Again, get creative, crawl in the trunk, take out the back seats, find that seam in the sheet metal! Place a ground strap right there, should hopefully fix the problem. After that is you still have noise problems, then try the ARRL Handbook, etc.
Test Equipment
I don’t use any real fancy test equipment when doing one of my installs. Just a good DMM, antenna analyzer and frequency counter. You don’t even need the last two pieces of equipment, but it makes the job SO much easier. It took me all of 7 mins to resonate and match to 1:1 my mobile antenna initially. A standard SWR bridge and your rig can be used to tune the system, just be prepared to walk a little. I will probably be mounting a small SWR bridge inside the car, as well as permanent volt/ammeter just for the radios.
Speakers & Mics
I have three rigs in the car with me — HF, VHF and a wide band scanner. I didn’t have enough room for three external speakers! I’m currently modifying a Ramsey Kit 2.5 watt audio amplifier to handle three inputs. Will put up the schematic when I have it complete. With only one speaker, I can have a real high quality speaker that will enhance reception under noisy conditions. I also have multiple mics for the two rigs. I may combine them into just one, but will let that be until later.
Operating Tips
Well, you’ve managed to get the HF rig installed and get that diamond necklace to your YL for carving up the family wagon. Now you’re wondering — how do I keep track of everything like in the home shack?? Pencils, paper, logs, propagation programs, greyline, clocks! Whew…. OK, here’s some quick skinny on keeping track of all this stuff. If you’re into software to help you out with propagation and greyline, then just handle this stuff prior to departure. Names, QTH, rigs, time and frequency of the worked station?? I carry a small tape recorder, like the type used for dictation to use for logging purposes. Sure helps keep the old eyes on the road. If your automobile has a clock, I changed mine to UTC time. Since it’s dark when I leave for work and dark when I return, I really don’t need to know the local time — if needed, I have a wrist watch! The other nifty tool for running mobile is a keypad for entering frequencies directly. The Yaesu 757 had a device called a QSYer that came along with my rig. I started using it to quickly hop around the band to switch to different nets, etc. It also switches the rig to the correct mode of operation, etc.
Maintenance
The last topic, wow, we’ve been through a lot so far! Routine maintenance of your installation. What’s the use of going to all of this trouble to put in a first rate installation, just to have it cut down by a little crud on the connectors?? At every filling station stop, I check the antenna mount and the coax running into the interior of the vehicle. I check the matching coil on the bugcatcher and the resonance coil also. Pay close attention to the battery connections. I keep a small set of tools and a butane powered soldering iron with me to handle cleaning these things off, etc. About once a month, go over all of your ground straps. If you’ve managed to keep them inside the weather stripping, you shouldn’t have too much problem with them. Keep your eye on the driver door one — it gets flexed the most and replace it if it starts fraying.
ShoutOuts!
Many thanks go out to the Commute Group on the Palomar Amateur Radio Club repeater, 146.73(-) PL1B for all their comments, and essentially listening to all of my questions about rigs and antennas for the last 3 months! The commute group consists of, Jim — KA2BLQ, Hal — KB6RY, Rod — AC6V, Harv — KD6QK, Bruce — KK6QT, Joe — KB9MWO, and many others!
Conclusion
Hopefully this has provided you with the incentive to get into HF mobile. I will be updating this page with some photos of my current installation to help clear up any confusion. I’ve been asked to break it up into smaller files, and I will get to it, but not until I’m mostly done. What you’re reading is work in progress! If you have any questions/comment etc, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

73
Mark

email: ka6wke@amsat.org

Toyota Tundra Mobile Installation

http://www.eham.net/articles/17265

Steve Clifford (K4GUN) on August 8, 2007

I recently purchased a new truck and installed two radios. The install went so well that I thought I’d post an article with details on what was used and how it went.

First of all, the truck itself really helped make this possible. It’s a 2007 Toyota Tundra 4×4 with the 5.7 liter V8. I chose the Double Cab model over the Crew Max for a couple of reasons. First, the bed is 6.5′ long instead of 5.5′ on the Crew Max. The Double Cab also has better storage under the backseat, as we will see shortly. The truck also has two small holes in the back of the cab that are covered with rubber plugs. The holes are not large enough to fit a 259 connector through and require unbolting the rear seatbelt and pulling off a plastic cover.

My first project was to install an auxiliary battery. For this, I chose an Optima Yellow Top size 31. I put it in a cheap battery box to which I installed a Rig Runner 5 outlet panel. To charge this, I needed a battery charging system. I did a number of searches and found one that is sold through an eBay store. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120146674911This is the one of only two parts that I didn’t install myself. I work at a car dealership and had one of my technicians install it. He had no problems and the instructions are very clear and simple. The kit includes everything you need to hook up the spare battery. The unit isolates the main truck battery for the first 5 minutes after start up before it allows current to charge the auxiliary battery.

The battery itself is mounted in a toolbox in the bed. I decided to get a steel box instead of the normal aluminum because of the weight. Steel boxes will rust quickly if scratched so I applied a coat of spray-on bedliner.

Battery in the tool box:

Battery isolator:

Next up are the radios themselves. I installed a Kenwood V708A and an Icom IC7000. Both fit in the center console of the Tundra. I’ve had people ask me about the heat from the Icom and so far, this hasn’t been a problem. I’ve been keeping an eye on the temperature indicator and it hasn’t gotten too high. If this becomes a problem, I’ll put another hole in the bottom of the console and install a fan.

The Icom head unit is mounted on the center console with a Portagrip model 717. For details, see page 38 of the current HRO catalogue. The Tundra has an auxiliary plug for audio and I ran a short cord from the head unit into this plug. The factory speakers make for very clear HF audio. The only down side to this is that I also have Bluetooth which interrupts the radio whenever a call comes in.

The Kenwood head unit is mounted in the overhead console. It’s also a Portagrip but the model 726, which is a much shorter arm. The wires are run through the overhead console and around the windshield. The Kenwood supplied cord was not long enough to make it all the way to the base unit. It turns out that this cord is nothing more than a modular phone line with a special plug on the head unit end and a regular phone connection on the base unit end. I used a regular phone line coupler and extension line to get to the head unit. Because regular phone line is not shielded as well as the Kenwood cord, I used a DX Engineering Ferrite bead. I don’t know if I needed that, but I have no RF issues so I’ll leave it. Because the Kenwood requires the microphone to be connected to the head unit, I had to drill a hole in the console to get the cord out.

Here is the Kenwood in the overhead. Since taking this picture, I have routed the wire inside the console. It doesn’t hang out now as is shown in the picture.

Here is the console with both radios, a storage bin and my other truck accessory

Here is another shot with the storage bin removed. The bin does not crush the wires. I drilled the hole to get the wires out.

The wires are routed to the back of the cab. The Tundra comes available with a storage bin under the back seat. I ran the wires under this and then routed them to the panels with the hole to the outside.

Next is the antenna system. For HF, I went with a Tarheel Stubby 75 with a fold-over for the 5′ whip. I originally had it set up with a Tarheel cap hat, but removed it when I discovered that I couldn’t tune 40 meters with it on. Strangely, I could tune 75 and 20, but not 40. I did not get any type of auto tuner for the antenna and instead just used the rocker switch from Tarheel. It works well and is easy to tune. I may eventually get a Turbo Tuner but am not in a rush for that.

I don’t plan on using the UHF or VHF very often on the Icom but I did want an antenna connected so I put a magnet mounted Diamond NR770 on the tool box. Because the connector would not fit through the hole in the truck, I had to cut it off and reattach it once it was routed into the cab.

The other antenna is a Diamond SG7900, which feeds the Kenwood. It’s a big antenna but actually looks small next to the Tarheel. It also has a fold-over for parking garages.

Last, let’s talk about the antenna mounts. At first, I thought I could get away with one of the rubber friction stake pocket mounts. I attempted to install one and quickly discovered that the stake pocket was just too big. I then contacted Geotool. Geotool makes several mounts and they are specific to different trucks stake pockets. The new generation Tundra takes the same mounts as the Ford so if you order from him, don’t get the older Toyota mount.

The Geotool mount is very solid. The coax is routed through the body of the bed and is soldered directly to the mount. It bolts to the bottom of the stake pocket and if you scrape off the paint, you probably don’t need additional grounding. I scraped paint but also installed grounding straps. Here is a link to Geotool: http://www.geotool.com/antmount.htm Be sure and tell him if you need this for HF or VHF use. The bases are different and I have one of each.

While I’m very happy with the installation, which is very clean and tidy, the real proof has been the performance. I’m still quite new to the hobby so I often don’t really know what to expect. I have a station in my house and have some power line noises that I’m trying to work out. I was stunned at how much I could hear on the mobile unit. Not only could I hear, I could be heard. I immediately started trying to jump into some DX pile-ups and was happy to see that I could get through fairly easily. In the first week, I hit Argentina, Ukraine, Moldova, Cuba and several Central American stations. I got signal reports from 5-8 to 5-9 with a couple reporting 10 over 9. I even heard a Japanese station, but didn’t have time to try and make contact. All of this while driving 70 miles an hour down Interstate 95 in Virginia.

This radio is working so well that I often will turn off the home radio and go sit in my truck for an hour or so. It doesn’t do much for my gas mileage to be sitting there idling for so long, but the joy of the hobby is worth it.

gerryk – Bringing tech to the West

http://blog.gerryk.com/

Nice new blog… and I really enjoyed this post:

First proper HF QSO
July 21st, 2007

Now I have a proper dipole up, albeit not all that high, at about 15ft, signals are coming in very strong on all HF bands. Now that could mean a great antenna and matcher on my part, or, is more likely, a mediocre antenna system but huge signals from stations with massive beams and amps in the 100w plus range.

Going on what I was hearing today, though, it seems to be a combination of the two. I heard plenty of 100 watt, G5RV at 60ft people, as you might expect, but also a few putting small powers out, like one gent putting 30w into a random wire who was chatting to another putting 5w into a resonant dipole. Both were 5/6 to 5/8 which boosted my confidence no end, given that my max output with the FT817 is 5w. I listened around the 40m band and, ok, it wasn’t completely crowded, but there was plenty going on all the same. I listened into a few chats and whenever I heard one wrapping up, got ready to pick up the open station after the other went QRT.

Time after time, I waited for a QRZ or CQ and went straight back with my call, but when I unkeyed, generally heard a booming 5/9+ signal, or, more commonly, a few, coming back to the calling station, drowning my little signal completely. Frustrating, you might think, but, to be honest, I enjoyed tuning up and down the band, listening not just to people ragchewing or notching up QSOs, but the atmosphere too. The weather has been almost tropical of late, by which I mean tropical rain rather than tropical sun, and that sort of weather means thunder. Not thunder I could hear with my ears, unless you consider the added hearing aid of about 66ft of wire hanging about 15ft in the air. With that to pick up the discharges, the thunder sounded like feet crunching in gravel, in amongst the ever present hiss.

I didn’t spend a couple of hours throwing rocks into the branches of trees just to listen to clouds blowing off steam, though, I did it to talk to people far away with a tiny amount of power, and in among the big guns it just wasn’t happening. I tried tuning down to the 80m band, but apart from some very weak signals, it was dead as a morgue. I tried 20m. Not anywhere like 40m, but a few here and there. I tried catching loose stations at the end of a QSO, but again and again was rendered inaudible by what one QRP op called a pocketbook op. Those with deep pockets rarely have problems being heard, but, a well placed whisper can be like a shout, so I stick to my rather small guns on the power output. I tried 15m, and it’s pretty silent too, until, up at 21.190MHz I hear a clear voice calling CQ 15! He repeated his call a number of times while I frantically rematched the dipole with the Emtech ZM-2. Finally got a nice low SWR, switched back to USB and heard him still calling CQ. I keyed up, and as slowly and clearly as possible gave my callsign. “QRZ? QRZ, that station.” he said, and I was in. I repeated my call, almost shouting it into the mike. “Echo India 8 Delta Foxtrot Bravo?” he replied. I reread my call, “Echo India 8 Delta RADIO Bravo, Echo India 8 Delta ROMEO Bravo” and this time he got it. “EI8DRB from Charlie 3 3 Portugal Panama” he returned, mixing up the phonetics as hams often do. He gave his QTH as Andorra and his name as Pedro. Andorra! That’s nearly a thousand miles away! On 2.5w and a dipole 15ft off the ground, surrounded by trees, that’s not a bad achievement.

He gave me a report of 3/5 and I gave his as 5/5, we bade each other good DX and 73 and went about our business. He also said I could QSL via QRZ.com, and within the next few days, Pedro in Andorra will be getting a postcard from Galway confirming our brief QSO. I don’t think he fully realises the significance of this to me. To him, I was just another weak station for him to log, for me, it is the beginning of an adventure.