Ham Radio

[BlauMax]

Thanks Fred.. Yes, I'm aware of the intertie.. but never use it. BTW, are you at all involved with the SWI ARC ? Fun group with a lot of activities. Meet at Bob's Restaurant just off the 84 and Franklin in Nampa

[Parafango]

Originally Posted by BlauMax

Thanks Fred.. Yes, I'm aware of the intertie.. but never use it. BTW, are you at all involved with the SWI ARC ? Fun group with a lot of activities. Meet at Bob's Restaurant just off the 84 and Franklin in Nampa

I know Bob's and used to meet there with the REACT guys.
When I'm on, it's mostly on the VOI ( Voice of Idaho) repeaters.
Maybe it's my crappy dual band antenna on my car, but
The one on War Eagle doesn't come in as well as it did when it was located on Cinnabar Mtn. The one on Shafer butte is OK and the one at Snowbank is under utilized. The repeater book ap shows a LOT of repeaters in the area, and I have most in my Yeasu 8800's ( I have 2) but don't use them as much as I could.
The HF antenna showing in my QRZ photo is no longer connected although it is still standing. I have a G5RV that I would like to install, so I'm looking for a warm day and a high enough place to put the top of the "V".
Maybe I'll catch you on the air during one of my trips into Boise.

[pbacks]

Originally Posted by BlauMax

WA7WS here. I love to operate POTA using a FT-891 with and LDG tuner. Up until now I was using Shark hamsticks on a triple magmount along with a 2/440 antenna and sometimes 220.
However, I now have a high roof Sprinter and will have to figure an entire new game plan as the roof is WAY too high to change antennas for HF. Considering an ATAS antenna for HF.. or a vertical or a EFHW.

I have ATAS 125 and have used mobile with FT100 many times. Been 10 years since I was active on air. New to rving but have FT897 in Freedom Elite 2018. Will try to get on in the spring. KC0JCQ Paul Backs

[texntenn]

Hello, new member here and a ham. I am glad to know ham radio is represented here. I am an extra class and ham radio goes on all my trips. I'm really into POTA (Parks on the air). I have VHF/UHF and HF in the truck.
My go to radio for POTA is the Elecraft KX3. Antenna include SOTA Beam wire and Wolf River Col vertical.

73
Jeff
WB5WAJ

[dons2346]

Jeff, did you build your KX3 or get the factory wired radio?

[texntenn]

I did build the KX3 from their kit. It was very easy and a lot of fun. I have used it a lot for my portable ops and POTA. It has one of the best receivers I have heard.

Jeff
WB5WAJ

[morse]

I operate ham radio daily from our motorhome. The HF bands are full of activity across the U.S. and with the high sunspot numbers the next few years worldwide communication is doable with 100 watts and a basic antenna. I operate 75 - 10 meters using an Icom 7100 radio with a roof mounted screwdriver antenna bonded to the metal substructure in the roof. I'll attach a few photos.

WØHM

2016 Newmar Ventana

2014 Honda Tow Car

[Sam 3]

I have a male cousin that has been into ham radio for 30yrs. DH and I went to a swap meet so he could get tubes for his floor model antique radio restoration. We ended up winning the door prize of a hand held radio(heavy). We gave it to our cousin. He talks about doing contests and sending out post cards. During times of hurricanes and natural disasters he has helped out. I know he had a ham radio in his car because he had a long commute for some of his working career. Our RV parts guy just got into ham radio. DH restored his grandfathers radio that was purchased at Sears years ago. Fun to have a hobby.

[Robert H.]

Awesome Roof Mount. I had planned to do something similar (I already have a Tarheel) They sell a mount that isn't anywhere near as sturdy as yours. Any chance you have the palns?

73
Robert

[morse]

I built up the antenna mount to handle the weight of the Scorpion screwdriver. There are no written plans as I designed and built it on a picnic table (photo attached), then mounted it on the motorhome roof. The Scorpion and my first angle aluminum piece it bolts to (moving weight) comes in at 21 pounds where a Tarheel screwdriver and its first base piece (moving weight) comes in under ten pounds, so a lighter duty lift is fine. To my knowledge there's not a motorized mount I'd recommend at the current time. I have quite a few RV friends that have used the Tarheel Lift and Lay mount and most have had motor failures due to water intrusion. I also had Tarheel Lift and Lay failures due to the same reason. The IP rating of the linear actuator Tarheel uses isn't sufficient for outdoor use without a lot of modification which is probably more work and expense than it's worth. I've been there and done that so if you would like details I could provide. If you have a Tarheel screwdriver and need a mount it might be easier to use one of their manual mounts.

Just some thoughts.

WØHM

2016 Newmar Ventana

2014 Honda CR-V tow car

[Max Headroom]

Originally Posted by Kiddo

Any Amateur radio operators here on the forums?

I have my general class and travel with a Yaesu 891 using a SuperAntenna for my set up.

73 de
W3NRN

I have a General, KE0NNI

I do some HF from home, and I take a 2 meter/70cm HT with me on the road, but mostly for emergencies. Right now my HF rig is down with a power supply problem. Probably some bad caps.

[dons2346]

Here is my power lift. It raises a Shakespeare 393 marine antenna which feeds a SGC 237 tuner and a Icom 707MK2G. The lift was designed and sold by K7PED (SK). The original was aluminum but I had mine powder coated because the XYL didn't want to see the ugly thing on the roof.

[RiskyVenture]

We are curious to hear about your experiences with ham radio while on the road. We've set up a combination ham station/mobile office aboard our rig "RiskyVenture" (a Minnie Winnie WF331G Class C), and I wanted to share our setup and learn what others have done.


Our camper has a bunk room configuration that proved perfect for creating a dedicated ham shack and office space. This feature was actually one of the main reasons we chose this particular model. Since it's just the two of us traveling, the bunk space would have gone unused otherwise - it seemed like it was practically calling out to become an office/ham shack!

For the most practical and non-intrusive modification, I repurposed the upper bunk as a desk (see photo). Using a small foldable bar stool, the upper bunk sits at the perfect height and provides ample flat desk space to accommodate multiple ham transceivers, computer, printer, router/ethernet switch, Starlink equipment, and even a small bookshelf.

I've installed a simple wire rack to hold a couple of HF transceivers, power supply, and potentially an amplifier. The rack is mounted to a solid wooden board so I can easily reposition it to find the optimal operating position depending on our setup.

Would love to hear how other RVers have incorporated ham radio into their mobile lifestyle! Check out our setup at https://www.rvriskyventure.com/

73's from the road!