crawler#976
Expedition Leader
A Jeep roof will not act as a ground plane - it's non-metalic. I'd see if you can return the 5/8's wave for a 1/2 wave antenna.
2M Recommendations For Beginners Please!
- Thread starter Dave Bennett
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Saltriverfolk
New member
A mag mount on top will perform better than the spare tire mount. Maybe not as good as a fender mount. Maybe better depending on where on the roof. Aroof rack might also serve as a ground plane.
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lugueto
Adventurer
The roof is taken by the roof rack, it is aluminum, I might fabricate a mount and install it on top, I dont know if this would work?? but I do not want to drill the body for the antenna..
I will give a couple of setups a try with the antenna I bought and if it doesnt work the mount is NMO either way so swapping antennas should be cheap/easy..
I will give a couple of setups a try with the antenna I bought and if it doesnt work the mount is NMO either way so swapping antennas should be cheap/easy..
the kid
Juke Box Hero
ok so my ADhD is kicking in and i got part way through page 3 and just decided to post my question, sorry if im asking a repeat question or its been covered.
Im in SAR, and in the military so i have been around UHF and VHF, as well as HAMs... my questions is what is the difference in all of these; 2m, HAM, VHF, UHF, dual band ect...
the sheriffs office i work for just had to switch over all our SAR radios to dual band, because of some FCC rules ect idk, something about freqs being no longer available or changed something about them. in talking with a few guys in the SAR group about getting a radio for my rig, i have a portable hand held dual band, a Wouxun kg-uv6d v2, and its ok, but its range is limited, and so i want something with more power and greater range, and they sugested getting a dual band. anyhow one of them is kinda arrogant and really a jerk, not helpful and basically unwilling to help, and the other guys have moved to a different group, so talking with them has proved difficult. but what they had told me was that the icom and Kenwood radios i had been looking at are not "dual band" even though they say they are dual band... is there two types of dual band? i basically need a radio that will cross over into gov. systems like law enforcement and fire ect, as well as private corp and civilian. i have a CB and i know that that is totally separate so thats of no concern here. the other radios that i have been looking at is Yaesu's, Icoms and Motorola's... id like something that has good power 50w+ and preferably a detachable or remote face plate, but thats not a necessity as i have an open din in my center dash below my stereo.
so yeah some explination of the different radios or terms of the radios and there capabilities and or uses, as well as some recommendations on specific radios
-i currently do not have my HAM license but am going to be getting it soon, and i fall under the SO when out on searches so i can use anything they can as far as radios and freqs ect.
Im in SAR, and in the military so i have been around UHF and VHF, as well as HAMs... my questions is what is the difference in all of these; 2m, HAM, VHF, UHF, dual band ect...
the sheriffs office i work for just had to switch over all our SAR radios to dual band, because of some FCC rules ect idk, something about freqs being no longer available or changed something about them. in talking with a few guys in the SAR group about getting a radio for my rig, i have a portable hand held dual band, a Wouxun kg-uv6d v2, and its ok, but its range is limited, and so i want something with more power and greater range, and they sugested getting a dual band. anyhow one of them is kinda arrogant and really a jerk, not helpful and basically unwilling to help, and the other guys have moved to a different group, so talking with them has proved difficult. but what they had told me was that the icom and Kenwood radios i had been looking at are not "dual band" even though they say they are dual band... is there two types of dual band? i basically need a radio that will cross over into gov. systems like law enforcement and fire ect, as well as private corp and civilian. i have a CB and i know that that is totally separate so thats of no concern here. the other radios that i have been looking at is Yaesu's, Icoms and Motorola's... id like something that has good power 50w+ and preferably a detachable or remote face plate, but thats not a necessity as i have an open din in my center dash below my stereo.
so yeah some explination of the different radios or terms of the radios and there capabilities and or uses, as well as some recommendations on specific radios
-i currently do not have my HAM license but am going to be getting it soon, and i fall under the SO when out on searches so i can use anything they can as far as radios and freqs ect.
1911
Expedition Leader
2 Meters is one of several VHF ham (amateur radio) bands (see VHF, below).
"ham" is just a nickname for the Amateur Radio Service. Amateur as in non-commercial, i.e. not using it to make any money or run any business. The ham bands are denominated by wavelength, and include 23 cm, 33 cm, 70 cm, 1.25 Meters, 2 Meters, 6 Meters, 10 Meters, 12 Meters, 15 Meters, 17 Meters, 20 Meters, 30 Meters, 40 Meters, 60 Meters, and 80 Meters, and 160 Meters.
VHF = Very High Frequency. By definition these are frequencies in the range of 30-300 MHz, which equates to wavelengths of 10 Meters through 1 Meter, so they include (but are not limited to) 4 different ham bands, including the popular 2 Meters band. FM radio and old-fashioned TV broadcasts are also VHF.
UHF = Ultra High Frequency. These are frequencies from 0.3-3 GHz, which equates to wavelengths of 1 Meter to 1 cm. There are three ham bands in the UHF spectrum, including the popular 70 cm band. UHF also has public safety, government, commercial, pager, tv, FRS, and GMRS bands in the U.S.
Dual band just means any radio that receive and transmit on any two different bands - but in the ham radio world, it is generally used to mean only radios that use both the 2 Meters and 70 cm bands.
A lot of SAR's use government or commercial band radios; if yours does then it won't do any good to get a ham radio. But if your county uses ham frequencies then you can buy whatever you want off the shelf. There aren't any radios that do both in one radio (though many ham radios can receive the government and commercial bands, they can't transmit on them) because it's illegal to mix the different radio services with different licensing requirements.
If you study up for your ham license test, you will learn a lot of this. Meanwhile, I hope this is at least somewhat helpful.
1911
Expedition Leader
Yes, as I said above:
2 Meters is a VHF band and 70 cm is a UHF band. Every major ham radio manufacturer makes dual-band radios with both of these bands; many of them with extended receive (the ability to listen in on other VHF/UHF frequencies outside of those allocated to amateur radio licensees).
You need to find out exactly what ham or non-ham bands your SAR group is using before jumping in and buying a radio. If they are indeed using 2 Meters and 70 cm ham bands, then you have dozens of choices in readily-available dual-band ham radios. If they're using public safety or commercial frequencies, then buying a ham radio would not help you much.
Beentheredoingthat
Member
Many ham radios (dual band or mono band) can be "MARS / CAP mod" modified fairly easily to transmit outside the ham bands. Not for general civilian use, but permitted for users who are officially affiliated with a government agency, like 'the kid'.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
If he was allowed to use MARS or CAP he would have a license and/or training before receiving authorization. He'd also know that the CAP only allows a small set of specific amateur radio radios to be used because most of it has not been tested to meet NTIA requirements for use on government frequencies.
Neither MARS and CAP are FCC services in the first place and all civilian users including business, SAR, police, fire are governed by the FCC. The only government groups exempted from the FCC are Federal agencies, not state or local, and those that do are regulated by the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management.
It remains against the rules, FWIW, to modify a ham radio to be used outside the ham bands. In the case of some Wouxon and others that already have Part 90 acceptance they fall IMHO into a somewhat vague area because you do not need to modify the radio but do violate a few other Part 90 rules, such as having a VFO available to the end user.
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gary in ohio
Explorer
MARS/CAP mods are pretty much BS now a days... Just an excuse to out of band mod a radio. Both MARS and CAP moved to narrow band, few if any ham radio meet that requirement and are on the approved radio list.
Hello all!
I see this thread has been going on for awhile!
I have been using CB's for a few years and have got over the annoying hard to hear conversations. Some times I feel like I can just stick my head out the window and communicate better! I know non of my Off road/camping friends have gone the way of the 2M but I bet I can start a trend. Soon I will be installing a Vehicle control module system from Off road engineering llc, and I am going threw the process of planning my buttons and amperage draws. Soon I will also be looking to get something similar to a Yeasu FT7800 2m/70cm radio with a separation kit or similar. What can I expect for a max amp draw? I know my Cobra 29LX LTD came with a 3a fuse but that is only 4 watts. Is the transmit wattage of say 50-75 directly proportionate to the amperage draw? can I expect 4.5ish to 6.5ish on the draw?
I see this thread has been going on for awhile!
I have been using CB's for a few years and have got over the annoying hard to hear conversations. Some times I feel like I can just stick my head out the window and communicate better! I know non of my Off road/camping friends have gone the way of the 2M but I bet I can start a trend. Soon I will be installing a Vehicle control module system from Off road engineering llc, and I am going threw the process of planning my buttons and amperage draws. Soon I will also be looking to get something similar to a Yeasu FT7800 2m/70cm radio with a separation kit or similar. What can I expect for a max amp draw? I know my Cobra 29LX LTD came with a 3a fuse but that is only 4 watts. Is the transmit wattage of say 50-75 directly proportionate to the amperage draw? can I expect 4.5ish to 6.5ish on the draw?
1911
Expedition Leader
From my Yaesu FT-2800M manual, which just happens to be at hand - transmitting on full power (65 watts) it is supposed to draw 10 amps. They say to fuse it with 15-amp fuses.