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H.A.M radio on the road
#1
I see an antenna!


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YARC : Drunk in the Mud/Keeper of the Dingy/Ears [Image: L3000.gif]/Potluck Contributions Restricted
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#2
(04-07-2018, 10:08 AM)Putts Wrote: I see an antenna!  

Oh yeah, I set up my portable station and worked hams in California, Montana, Florida...other states. 

We had a really good afternoon opening on 20 meters to parts of Europe: Spain, Czech Republic, and Ukraine were 5-9+ but I was unable to bust the pileups with my limited power and small antenna.

I have a much more effective portable wire antenna and mast I can deploy, but since our stay was to be short and the weather was closing in, I didn't set that one up.
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#3
We’re gonna have to share a campfire one of these days so I can pick your brain about what I put in Putt for comms. I still owe you a beer for reading my damned thread over there.


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  • tx2sturgis (04-07-2018)
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#4
A few pics of my cargo trailer ham station...a bit messy but functional. 

The operating desk folds down so that the motorcycle can be loaded inside for travel. 



               

           
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  • Abnorm (04-09-2018), GotSmart (04-09-2018)
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#5
(04-07-2018, 03:38 PM)Putts Wrote: We’re gonna have to share a campfire one of these days so I can pick your brain about what I put in Putt for comms. I still owe you a beer for reading my damned thread over there.

lol....

I'm a member of a local contest group and we have used this trailer for some remote events....it works well. Our group, with or without this trailer, consistently scores very high in the contest results.

Having a trailer to operate from is much more comfortable than a tent, or a picnic table, but it comes down to a group effort and the skill of the operators....

For me, it's just a lot of fun to set up in some remote area and enjoy the hobby on solar power...with little to no locally generated RF noise from power lines, computers, chargers, neon signs, electric fences, whatever.

So any time you see one of my posts referencing RF noise from a piece of equipment, you will know why...in fact, I let GotSmart listen to the awful hash on the HF bands from my own inverter generator....it renders the receiver almost 'deaf'....

So yeah, it takes a while to get things that work well individually, to work well as a system like this. In fact, I chose the Morningstar Prostar 15m PWM controller specifically because it has a very low noise 'footprint' on HF...always a good thing for a portable ham station.
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#6
Does anyone still use CB's?  I have 2 Cobras packed up and am thinking of putting one in the van and one in a T.T.

I use to just run a hot wire from the battery and do a ground to the vehicle some where.  I'm thinking that may not be a good idea with a vehicle with a computer and all that other electronic BS. <<<<stuff I mean Stuff Big Grin  I've mostly driven "older" vehicles.  My Ranger was 25ys old when I traded it last year.  My 3rd Ranger, also had a '69 bought in '86 & a '73 that was a 1 owner.

I figured since you're into Ham Radio you be a good person to ask about the CB

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  • AbuelaLoca (04-09-2018)
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#7
CB's....

Well yes and no.

Truckers still use them in day to day chat and such on the highway, and for communicating with loading docks and such, and mostly on channel 19 of course.

But there are rarely any base stations or 'normal' folks on the CB except in large cities where a few holdouts can be found chatting away the hours, and of course, you can occasionally find a traveling group of hunters, jeeps, motorcycles, or RVers on one channel or another. 

They are handy to have when traveling, to find out about traffic problems or weather related issues ahead of you.

But randomly finding someone to talk to out in the boonies...not likely.

Just to cover this, cuz if I dont, someone will, there is still a bit of the old 'bootlegger', 'outlaw', out of band operation, people shooting skip on high power and modified CBs and modified ham radios, but that's not what you were asking about....and your radios probably wont do that stuff anyway.

And yes, red, positive wire to the battery or a spare terminal on a fuseblock is fine. Take the black wire to a vehicle ground if you can.
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  • AbuelaLoca (04-09-2018)
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#8
Back in the day, (late 70's) we did skip with unmodified rigs. Sometimes we would drive up one of the local mountains to get better reception.
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#9
Yeah we wandered around and drifted off-course....but its all kinda related to truck cap ownership...some people talk about canopies and cooking, others might chat about 4x4 off-road travel with a truck camper. 

This one supports my other passions: ham radio, drones, and motorcycles, in no particular order. 

I wanted to keep the narrower subject of this ARE truck cap within this broader thread...no real need or desire to start a whole new thread about it and divert others from posting in this one..or so it seemed to me. 

So....back to aluminum and fiberglass.....


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#10
(04-07-2018, 03:38 PM)Putts Wrote: We’re gonna have to share a campfire one of these days so I can pick your brain about what I put in Putt for comms. I still owe you a beer for reading my damned thread over there.

When and if you do make it out to Quartzite for next winter, keep in mind there is a gathering of nearly 1000 ham operators at about the same time as the big RV tent show, and the RTR. It's called Quartzfest, it's about a week long, and free to attend, as it's on BLM land very close to both of the other events. 

www.quartzfest.org
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