Mounting location for amateur radio?

Guys,

I'm trying to figure out a good place to mount/install my 2M/440 radio. Was thinking of possibly doing it inside the little cubbie above the nav.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

cthomaschase said:

Guys,

I'm trying to figure out a good place to mount/install my 2M/440 radio. Was thinking of possibly doing it inside the little cubbie above the nav.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Click to expand...

That belongs in your storm chasing mini van with all the chain link fence on the windows and 47 spinning mini dopler radar thingies and 8 30 foot tall base mount bazooka lightning rod antenna.. HAhahaaaa.

Sorry, Mount it up by the sun glass holder. Its small right?
BDRAG

the radio is about 6"x8"x3"....that might be a good spot, would need to figure a good way to route the power and antenna cable.

i know, i know, amateur radio is really dorky, but we use it when we race in the desert. when i walk into the ham radio outlet, the old timers talk to me like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

<-- Amateur General license holder


Nothing wrong with Ham radio. These guys that make fun of it have obviously never been far enough out in the desert or high enough up in the mountains that you don't get cell signal anymore. I've been to those places and it's nice that 2m will punch out to a repeater in all but the most remote locations and that 40m will go even further.

I still need to find a place to mount my own radio in the Raptor. Honestly the part I'm struggling with the most is where to mount the antenna without permanently altering the truck.

what brand?
detachable head?
Sauder Electronics -
has alot of mounting hardware for antennas & such.
I'll be faced with the "where should I mount this"
and "what antenna am I going to buy" within the next few months.
I currently have an Icom 208H. It has the detachable faceplate.
I'm currently using a 'thru the glass-mount antenna.

Post a picture of your install when it happens.
I got the FCC license 14+ yrs. ago.
Hmmm, I never considered HAM radio dorky,
since those 'old-timers' are smarter than me . .

. . . wait . . i am an 'old timer' . . almost.
Good Luck.

Stepside said:

Hmmm, I never considered HAM radio dorky,
since those 'old-timers' are smarter than me . .

. . . wait . . i am an 'old timer' . . almost.
Good Luck.

Click to expand...

me neither, obviously because i'm into it as well...and you're right, those old-times have forgotten more about electronics and radio than i'll ever know. however, they can be at times somewhat condescending when they talk about radio (hence my comment about the Comic Book Guy from Simpsons.) all in good spirit.

as far as which unit, Im undecided, might do a detached face dual band from icom. i have my current 2M, but i want to upgrade a bit.

the other issue with location is that i might not want the radio in the truck year round, so it needs to be "swappable" easily

Now hold on boyz, I am just funnin here. Radio's are neat, I am just funnin with those that are 1000% ate up with it just like those 1000 % ate up with anything! AHhahaa.

I always listen to the storm spoters in bad weather on my scanners and have great respect for most of them. But I will say one of the funniest listens I had was once when there was some bad weather moving in and some jack asses were Bustin in say OH SHIT I am being sucked up and screaming and just acting fools. It would go on for a minute and stop. Then again with wind noises and such. It was ****** of the radio guys and they got into search mode for these hoodlems. HAhahaa.

They got close to finding them I think.

My wifes brother use to get into these contact contests. He even went and stayed in Granada to do a contest so everyone would want to talk with Granada. Kind of neat. I think he finished 2nd in that one.

BDRAG

all good BDRAG...that post was actually really funny!

No worries here. I am at peace with my inner dork.

I have some ideas, where ya located ? If in southern ca. Pci race radios does desert race radio stuff ? How big of an antenna ? 2 ft, 4 ft, 10 ft ? PM if you like