Communications -what do you use?

[Tom]

JGRubicon previously posted:

[Trevor?]

Max previously posted:

[Trevor?]

Max previously posted:

[Tom]

Antenna farm has a better price than amazon on the SS-680SBNMO

I purchased

Trevor? previously posted:

[Trevor?]

For the heck of it I dug around for 3/8-24 VHF/UHF antennas. It turns out I was wrong and there are a couple options out there after all.

https://www.dxengineering.com/search.../3-8-x-24-stud

The MFJ-1414 seems to get a lot of unfavorable reviews on eham but they're older reviews. It looks like the Hustler is 2m only, but it's inexpensive.

It's still a bit uncommon but options are out there if you're willing to give them a try.... but like any antenna the mount can make really make it or break it.

[Tom]

My SS-680SB…. work quite well on my jeep. The nmo is mounted on the spare spare mount. I have bonded it to my tub though. I have communicated with my FT8900R without a repeater almost 1/2 way to Limon from up on Miller Rock.

The other one is one right next to the passenger A pillar. I use that one for APRS and it does quite well also. Image to and from Mt Sherman trailhead. If you are not familiar each red dot is a successful position transmission.

[Jim]

Tom previously posted:

[Tom]

Jim previously posted:

[Trevor?]

There's always tradeoffs, and you can always try one location and then move it later. Tub mounting can be nice because you won't have to deal wth the hinge and the need for the cable to flex every time you open and close it.... but on the tire carrier I'm guessing you can get the antenna up a little higher which is good if it doesn't create any clearance issues for you.

Really the best location for a VHF/UHF antenna on an open top Jeep would be right in the middle of the hood.... but that's pretty ridiculous for non-radio reasons. In my opinion on a Jeep you're forced to make a lot more compromises with practical factors than on most other vehicles.

For bonding a lot of folks use flat-braid instead of wire. At these frequencies the current only travels on the surface of the wire and flat braid has more surface area than similarly sized normal wire. You can rip apart a piece of coax and flatten out the shield in a pinch... crimp/solder on a couple of ring terminals and use those little star-shaped lock washers to really bite into the metal to get a good connection and some self drilling/tapping sheet metal screws. You can use regular wire too, it's just less ideal. Better than nothing. I might try using a bunch of smaller insulated wires in parallel in a piece of heatshrink in that case.

At least in my radio tinkering, bonding like this has been more of a tool for chasing and reducing noise sources. I have personally had trouble trying to bond a bracket to my fender or hood to improve a UHF goundplane and antenna tune. I haven't really tinkered with something like a tire carrier though. With quarter-wave whips at UHF I only get a good tune with an NMO mount drilled through a metal plate that is at least 2x the size as the antenna is long (as in 1/4 wavelength in radius). You might not need to bond. Try listening and transmitting with the engine running and see if you hear any clicking or popping thats proportional to engine speed. Ignition and injection systems make a ton of electrical noise and depending on their size, shape, and location body panels can resonate. My Icom radio can receive airband AM signals so I think it's a bit more susceptible to ignition and injector noise than one designed to work with GMRS or FM signals only.

I haven't played much with collinear antennas like the ones Tom uses. Jim, if I remember correctly I think you shared the antenna you bought and it may be a collinear array too. I've wondered if some of them are more or less sensitive to groundplanes than 1/4 wave designs. There are so many variables with antenna installations that you really have to just try something and see how it works... be willing to tinker a little if you have to. A lot of folks seem to have different opinions on what is "good enough" as well which might one reason for some of the mixed opinions you may encounter when researching these topics.

[Tom]

I agree with everything Trevor has said so far on this thread Jim. I had simply read about the benefits for bonding so I did it at my initial install. Communications seemed fine so ran with it.

A thought Jim. If you could find a hinged antenna then perhaps a roll-bar could work.
They have hinged antennas for dual band ham so I expect gmrs as well.

[Trevor?]

On 2 meter VHF that bonding strap may have more of an influence on the quality of the RF ground and your tune. For CB its probably more necessary. For folks working 20, 40, or 80 meters mobile the vehicle is really too small as a groundplane I think.... you're usually capacitively coupling to the actual ground in that case I believe. I've really only just read about HF mobile though. My point is that different bands seem to have different levels of influence from various factors and it all seems to scale with wavelength. With UHF/GMRS I get the sense that you pay a substantial penalty for RF groundplanes that don't run right up to the base of a 1/4 wave antenna. For 2 meters not so much. Outside of 1/4 wave designs I have not tinkered enough to get a sense of how well that holds up.

I was able to get a decent tune on VHF using a dual band antenna on my front fender bracket, which sits about a half inch above the sheet metal of the cowl and hood which are bonded with copper braid in multiple locations. It would have been a 1/4 wave at 2 meters. I have it right at the hood-cowl interface to get it as far away from the A pillar as I could without having to remove it to flip the hood all the way open. It worked decent for VHF but not for UHF. I have since switched to a 1/2 wave VHF antenna in that location to get more energy out over the roof due to its length. When tinkering with a NMO magnet mount the tune of a 1/2 wave seems to be influenced less than 1/4 waves when it comes to location on a roof or hood. I still don't get a good tune with my magnet mount with UHF antennas, but it's a big, thick mount. I think those little magnet antennas that come with the midland mobiles are sized much more appropriately for UHF.

The only thing that I recommend folks here should really "worry about" would be to check your connections with a simple multimeter for shorts or opens where they are not supposed to be before you transmit. That's the most likely mistake one could make that could really damage your radio. Center pin of the connector to antenna element should be a short. Shield of the connector and your mount should be a short. Pin to shield should be open as well as element to mount. Be mindful that paint and coatings may hinder your measurement. If that's good than we can to tinker with grounds, bonding, mounts and other things.

These are just my experiences. I hope they are interesting and/or helpful to others.

[Tom]

I had no issues tuning either of my Comet antennas on either vhf or uhf.

[Mad Maxx]

Trevor? previously posted:

[Max]

I got my radio installed! Does anyone in the Denver or Boulder area have a VHF/UHF SWR meter I can use to test the antenna?

Also, does anyone have one of these programming cables I can use? https://baofengtech.com/product/pc-04-programming-cable

[Tom]

Max previously posted:

[Tom]

Settings for baofeng frs 6 privacy code 14.

Message me with your email address and I can send you a csv file for import.
Shared the file on dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/in7fa4zvl...nZ387qbWa?dl=0

[Tom]

Decent discussion

[Pineapples]

I never really learned much about radios because I just went with whatever everyone in my club from NJ was using. It was always a set it and forget it affair. I remember the club making the switch to GMRS radios. It was like one weekend we were all using CB and the next GMRS.
With that said I have a Midland MXT115 installed in my Jeep. Will that work for communications with you guys?
Should I consider also having my CB installed in the Jeep. I know I have it in a box somewhere in storage.

[Tom]

Pineapples previously posted:

[JGRubicon]

Circling back to this. I impulse bought a pair of Baofeng G11S, but one had display issues, so I returned them. I am ready to buy a pair again, or a vehicle mounted and a hand held.

Anyone have a current personal recommendation? I do like the notion of being able to program over a serial connection.

Once this project is finished I may look into a HAM license as well, I have some strong family history in HAM, and my father is a HAM as well, so I probably ought to in addition to it's obvious benefits.

EDIT: Disregard, I found what I was looking for.