On The Road Again!

It was good to get back behind the wheel of my 2005 Toyota Tundra – although can’t say I am excited about paying to fuel it up. I’ve attempted to get a good HF install for mobile operations before experiencing limited success… with perhaps my biggest rookie mistake being an attempt to use the ICOM AT-180 autotuner along with my IC-706MKIIG.

I used Hamsticks and Hustler mono band resonators – it worked pretty well but I got tired of having to exit the vehicle every time I wanted to change bands.

My answer was to install a screwdriver antenna. I’d been planning this mobile install for some time, using lessons from my trials in the Spring of 2007 as well as a significant amount of reading and research (eHam, WorldRadio, CQ Magazine, websites). I decided on basing my mobile install around the Tarheel Model 75 “Stubby” providing continuous coverage from 3.7 to 34 MHz. The folks at Tarheel worked with me to get me going – responsive to my emails and questions.

The radio for this mobile install: my ICOM IC-706MKIIG. I’d originally purchased this radio when I arrived in Hampton back in the early Summer of 2005. The purchase was in part to motivate me to upgrade from Tech to General – which it did. That Summer I passed the written exam (Element 3) at a nearby hamfest for General. But I was not yet ready for the Morse (Element 1). It wasn’t until later that Fall that I was ready for the Morse… and barely passed too. I’ve been very pleased with the IC-706MKIIG; it is a great radio for a beginner, easy to operate, solid performance, flexible to use either in the radio shack, portable, or mobile.

To mount the antenna to my Toyota Tundra, I really did not want to permanently mar the exterior of the truck. I’d admired K4GUN’s install and thought his implementation of using the Geotool stake pocket on the bed of the truck was brilliant. I wrote Steve, K4GUN, concerning his install and he provided some great additional information concerning the challenges of the stake pocket mount. After working with Rick, WA6JKH, to ensure I was ordering the proper mount, I placed my order and Rick gave me a nice active duty military discount.

I decided to get N2VZ’s Turbo Tuner for ease of operation. Operating HF while driving is already complicated enough and I wanted to make tuning the antenna as easy as possible. Bill was very responsive and also provided a military discount.

I had ordered all the equipment while in Iraq, so everything was waiting for me when I arrived home.

The install took two days. Perhaps the hardest part was mounting the IC-706MKIIG under the passenger’s seat. Already installed under the seat was my ICOM IC-208H – my trusty VHF/UHF rig. I’d originally installed this rig during my circumnavigation of the continental US back in 2005. During that install, I only partially removed the passenger’s seat. This time I pulled the seat completely out of the truck which greatly helped me successfully position both the IC-208H and the IC-706MKIIG in the limited space.

Routing the feedline from the rig to the stake pocket mount was fairly easy, making use of the rubber grommet directly under the passenger’s seat and zip ties along the feedline’s path to the rear of the truck. Soldering the connections to the stake pocket mount was straight forward but it was a bit tricky feeding the line up through the bottom of the stake pocket.

Setup of the Turbo Tuner was a snap; I followed the provided instructions step-by-step, making sure I had the DIP switches positioned properly.

Mounting the antenna onto the Geotool stake pocket mount was made easier by using the HI-Q’s Giant Quick Disconnect. Payment was via PayPal and Charlie, W6HIQ, had it on my doorstep within the week. Thanks Charlie!

How does it work? So far, so good. More reports from the road are coming… and maybe a picture or two.

Headed Home

After a year deployment in Iraq, I am heading home.

I have not been keeping this blog up to date, but hope to make some posts here to describe my experiences operating an amateur station in Iraq (YI9MI). Other plans when I get home are to attempt a QSO with my dad (KD6EUG) – Virginia to California. My dad upgraded to General last year and we have not yet had the opportunity to have an HF QSO. I’m also going to install a Tarheel screwdriver antenna on my Toyota Tundra to enjoy some mobile HF while I am on the road this summer.

I am looking forward to getting back to the States!

AEN5AC

During my deployment to Iraq, I wanted to setup and operate a MARS station. I know that MARS is not nearly as well used by deployed soldiers as it once was to send MARSGrams and use phone patches to talk to family back home. Access to the internet and AT&T Call Centers now enable most soldiers to stay in touch. However, it is always good planning to have a back up for communications – and a MARS station provides that. I have been through initial MARS training back in Virginia, completing the basic course and participating in local nets. It was good to get that training because it provided me a better understanding of how MARS functions and well as educating me on basic net procedures. MARS nets are generally not procedurally similar to how military voice radio communications function today. It was good to be familiar with the differences.

Applying for a MARS callsign to operate in Iraq is straight forward. I contacted Mr. Daniel Wolff, AEM1WF, in Germany. Mr. Wolff processed my application and assigned me my MARS callsign as well as provided me with the regional net plans and basic MARS information for operating in the region.

For a station setup, I am using an ICOM IC-7000. The rig is a reasonably priced, full-featured radio with a modest size that lends itself to portable operations.

The primary means of moving MARS traffic in the region is digital, specifically Pactor using the WL2K/Airmail PMBO (Participating Mail Box Office) backbone. To add a Pactor capability to my station I initially chose the Kantronics KAM XL. Although this TNC is only capable of Pactor 1, it can do the job.

I wanted flexibility for the power system. We our currently on the Iraqi power grid which is 240V. At some point my team may relocate to a US-controlled area where the power source could possibly be 120V. I needed a power supply that was capable of using both a 120V or 240V electrical source – the Astron SS-30M suited this requirement nicely. For power distribution, I am using a RIGrunner which uses the Anderson Powerpole connectors. I’ve had past success using Anderson Powerpoles; they provide flexibility of operation and a dependable connection. The power grid here is up and down – I needed a battery backup to provide sustainable power during the brief outages. The solution was an 18Ah battery tied in through West Mountain Radio’s PWRgate. The PWRgate automatically transitions from the Astron SS-30M power supply to the backup battery should shore power fail and does so without a drop of supplied amps. I’ve been in the middle of a connection with the regional WL2K/PMBO when the power grid dropped and the PWRgate kept my the power coming without interruption.

I wanted a simple, efficient antenna that provided coverage from 80M to 10M with a modest footprint and that I could deploy with minimal assistance. A 130′ inverted vee was the solution. I am fortunate to be at a location where our one-story building has a high 20′ ceiling. There was also an unused 30′ OE-254 mast already emplaced on top of the roof that I could use to support the center point of the vee. Some more scrounging around the camp rewarded me with additional support polls that I used to get both ends of the vee 35′ off the ground. The building and surrounding structures allowed me to orient the antenna NE/SW, leaving the sides to face NW towards AEM1US in Germany and SE to AEN5QT in Qatar – the two nearest PMBOs. I used ladderline from the center point down to a 4:1 balun and into the LDG AT-200pro antenna tuner.

Installing Airmail (version 3.3.081) on my PC was straight forward with good directions provided by “Airmail for WL2K MARS_Basic Training. PDF” and additional help from the Yahoo Group. The KAM XL TNC (version 1.07050) is supported by Airmail and configures all the Airmail software settings for you. I did a hard reset on KAM XL then configured the KAM XL’s XMITLVL setting via Airmail’s Tools>Dumb Terminal. I used the CAL command and then the T command (send square wave) to create a signal into the IC-7000. I incrementally increased the XMITLVL value until I peaked the IC-7000’s ALC meter into the red. I then backed the XMITLVL setting down one. I make slight adjustments of the XMITLVL depending on the band I am operating on.

With Airmail, connecting to a PMBO is relatively easy. Bringing up the HF Module and selecting Mode>Monitoring Enabled allows you to see all communications between the PC and the modem.

Once you select Mode>Monitoring Enabled you’ll see:
cmd= MON ON/OFF
reply=MONITOR was OFF/OFF

Close the HF Module window and then go back to Airmail and select the HF Module again.

This time when the HF Module is stared, Airmail connects to the KAM XL and makes the following setting adjustments (which you can see because “Monitoring Enabled” is ON):

2007/MM/DD HH:MM:SS KAM-XL modem initialized OK
cmd= XFLOW OFF
reply=XFLOW was OFF
cmd= ECHO ON
reply=ECHO was ON
cmd= XMITECHO ON
reply=XMITECHO was ON
cmd= TXFLOW OFF
reply=TXFLOW was OFF
cmd= XFLOW OFF
reply=XFLOW was OFF
cmd= TRFLOW OFF
reply=TRFLOW was OFF
cmd= AUTOCR 0
reply=AUTOCR was 0
cmd= AUTOLF OFF
reply=AUTOLF was OFF
cmd= CRADD OFF
reply=CRADD was OFF
cmd= MAXUSERS 10/10
reply=MAXUSERS was 10/10
cmd= CRSUP OFF/OFF
reply=CRSUP was OFF/OFF
cmd= LFADD OFF/OFF
reply=LFADD was OFF/OFF
cmd= LFSUP OFF/OFF
reply=LFSUP was OFF/OFF
cmd= ARQID 0
reply=ARQID was 0
cmd= ARQBBS OFF
reply=ARQBBS was OFF
cmd= PTHUFF ON
reply=PTHUFF was ON
cmd= SHIFT MODEM
reply=SHIFT was MODEM
cmd= SPACE 3000
reply=SPACE was 1600
cmd= MARK 1400
reply=MARK was 1400
cmd= SPACE 1600
reply=SPACE was 3000
cmd= INV ON
reply=INVERT was OFF
cmd= MYPT AEN5AC
reply=ok
cmd= MON OFF/OFF
reply=MONITOR was OFF/OFF
cmd= PACTOR
reply=ok
cmd= MYPT AEN5AC
reply=ok

Next, select the callsign of the PMBO you are trying to reach. Combined with the integrated ITS HF Propagation software, it is easy to select the best frequency to attempt a connection. Airmail has the ability to control your rig directly and adjust the proper frequency and mode prior to transmitting. Adjustments can also be made manually by using the dial frequency/mode being displayed in the lower right corner of the HF Module window.

When trying to connect, Airmail will make several 1 to 2 second transmissions attempting to raise the distant PMBO. I adjusted the IC-7000s MONITOR function to allow me to hear and confirm that the data is being transmitted. The following is displayed in Airmail’s HF Module window when you initiate a connection:

2007/MM/DD HH:MM:SS Calling (PMBO’s callsign)

cmd=PACTOR (PMBO’s callsign)
reply=ok

Upon connecting, something like the following appears in the HF Module window:

2007/MM/DD HH:MM:SS Connected to (PMBO’s callsign)
(LINKED TO (PMBO’s callsign))
1AEN5AC (This is your callsign)
(Pactor1: )
[WL2K-2.1.8-B2FHIMT$]
Welcome to…. (info concerning this PMBO you connected to)

The Following are a list of frequencies that this PMBO scans.
Please note that not all these frequencies can be used from all locations.
Please consult your Netplan for proper usage in your area.

(PMBO’s callsign) last contacted the Central server 1 min ago.

AEN5AC de (PMBO’s callsign) QTC 0 Msgs 0 bytes>
[AirMail-3.3.081-B2FHIM$]
; (PMBO’s callsign) de AEN5AC
FF
(PACTOR STANDBY)
2007/MM/DD HH:MM:SS Disconnected from (PMBO’s callsign)

Airmail uploads outgoing mail before it downloads incoming mail – the process is automatic.

Despite heavy QRM and QRN, Pactor is able to get through with just a 100 watts. Pactor 1 has a slow data rate, but can get simple text emails through quickly. I have recently upgraded the TNC to an SCS PTC-IIusb Modem with Pactor 3 capability. The PTC-IIusb provides a more stable connection and better data rate transfer.

Future plans for the station include mounting everything in a road case for easy portability.

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.

Cleveland, OH to St. Louis, MO

Another long day and lots of rain. I left the hotel in Cleveland around 8:15am and found a place to park near the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and put my antennas back on. I put on the 40M Hustler to see if it would make a difference with the problem I was having with the Icom AT-180 tuner. I rolled out and tested the radio with the Hustler antenna but encountered the same problem as before.

I headed over to the AES store in Cleveland. The store was well stocked – equivalent to what I’ve encountered in an HRO store, although I think AES had more magazines and books. I purchased an Icom AH-4 longwire tuner and a LDG 4:1 balun.

Back in the parking lot I disconnected all the cables on the AT-180 and then reconnected them. That seemed to have fixed the problem…. because 40M started working without issue. I had a nice QSO with Stan, W??JMV, who was operating from his attic radio room on the Jersey shore. I then checked into the ECARS net, the NCS had a nice solid signal. I then worked 20M talking to England, Serbia, Czech Republic, and Italy.

When I was about 5 miles east of St Louis a tremendous rain started coming down – I had to pull over on the side of the highway. It was the worst downpour I’ve ever seen. Tomorrow should be an easier drive.

Hampton, VA to Cleveland, OH

I left yesterday at about 10:20am, having done a poor job packing and generally having any semblance of organization. I ended up dumping a lot of extra stuff in a footlocker, piled everything in the backseat of the truck and headed out. Not more than a few feet out of the driveway I answered a CQ from Andy, W2QIQ. Andy has been a ham for 66 years (as opposed to my 6 years). He served in the Army during WWII in Europe, starting in Egland, making his way through France and ending up in Berlin.

My radio started acting up on 40M. I was using my Workman Hamstick tuned for the 40M phone band. The Icom AT-180 gets a good match right away bringing the SWR down to a 1:1. But then after I’m transmitting for about a minute, the Tune light flashes for about 10 or 15 seconds and then the Tune light shuts off and the power drops and SWR goes up. My first guess is that the radio and tuner need to have a better ground. But the matching impedance range for the AT-180 is only between 16 and 150 ohms, so that could be the problem. This is only a problem on 40M.

My TH-D7A APRS kludge seems to be working well when there is a digipeater. When I was on I-77N coming across the West Virginia/Ohio border, I accidentally pulled one of the power leads. I didn’t really notice it because all through the Smoky Mountains the APRS coverage was nonexistent. I got a few hits through Charleston, WV and then it (maybe) tapered off after Charleston or maybe I had pulled the power. When I was approaching Canton, OH, I knew something had to be wrong, because it was such a large area it would have to have a digipeater. That’s when I noticed the power was disconnected. I reattached the power and there was tons of APRS traffic.

Had some nice QSOs along the way: KL7GKY, EB7xx, YU1XA, and KB5YAY.

The dog ate my SWR

Was having high SWR on 40M and I checked my ground out of the shack window to the grounding rod. I knew there was something wrong when I saw the braided grounding cable slack… I looked closer and saw it was no longer secured to the grounding rod. The dog had chewed through it.

I guess it serves as a reminder now that Springs here to get out a check the antennas, cable runs, and grounds.

Monday ham radio

I made the trip over to Ft. Story this morning to activate the Old & New Cape Henry Lighthouses (USA 122 and USA 121). I wanted to accomplish a couple things:
(1) activate the lighthouses. I’ve activated them in the past with limited success and wanted to give ARLHS members a chance to earn the USAARS Lighthouse award.
(2) test out my mobile setup using my different antennas.
(3) attempt to use a logging program on my Palm Pilot.

I ended up having five contacts – all on 40M even though the noise level was pretty high. I called CQ on 20M for quite some time but didn’t get any takers. I think I had two or three ARLHS folks qualify for the USAARS award. For the antennas, I started off with a trio of Hustler coils. The antenna went up quick on the 54″ mast and I had already tuned them to be a good match for the ARLHS calling freqs. I then switched to the Hamstick-like Workman antennas, first for 40M then 20M. No real difference in results. I’m going to stick with the Workman Hamsticks when I’m actually mobile and use the Hustler coils when operating from a fixed site. Using the Palm Pilot for logging is not easy. Adding headphones with a boom mike might help. Using the Palm Pilot takes two hands so it requires setting down the handmike, inconvenient for fast paced operation.

Back at the home QTH I rolled up on 20M CW and got an answer to a CQ from DL4SEW, Stefan in Stuttgart. There was a lot of fading but I was able to get most of what he sent. This was my first QSO with Germany and my second with Europe.

Back in the mobile and heading to Fort Monroe, I answered a CQ on 20M from YU1XA in Serbia. He gave me a 59 plus and was surprised I was mobile. It is just pretty cool talking to Serbia while driving down the road.