Lipstick on a Pig: The 10 Don'ts of Vehicle Modifications

[cruiseroutfit]

Well, the same thing certainly could be said for you too.

LOL, I'm not complaining about the responses of others. I don't care what people use to talk with, I'm not likely talking to them. For all I care they use soup cans and twine to talk, I'm not relying on communications with them.

Let's not forget it was the OP that said "Don't buy a CB" , for the most part I agree but as with many vehicular/gear items, that opinion is based on my needs, blanket answers rarely exist. That said I still have a CB in all my rigs, I lead dozens of runs each year and its still mandatory to use albeit slowing at a pretty steady rate. I'd suspect that in another 2-3 years we don't use CB's on events such as the Cruise Moab SRS overnighter (~25 rigs) and really for good reason, we are often outside of reliable CB range. If I was just using it as a means of communication within my regular travel groups, I'd skip the CB and stick with 2M. It is somewhat humorous how a tongue-in-cheek article can draw so much emotion from all sides of the fence. Please don't mistake my reply with emotion, it's Sunday and I'm supposed to be vacuuming.

Great tech on the antennas, as I said earlier on in this thread if you already have a CB or don't travel with HAM owners, no reason not to invest in a nice CB setup. Different strokes for different folks. One note on antenna length, check with the events/organizers you plan to run with, some limit antenna size for group safety. TLCA events are ~54" length?

 

[DaveInDenver]

True point on whip length restrictions, spotters and spectators can get smacked pretty good. I personal run a Larsen NMO27 antenna on my front fender and it works as well as can be expected using AM-CW. Ideally it should be no worse than line of sight, like you'd expect on VHF. Just more prone to interference than FM and less efficient than suppressed carrier modes.

Amongst the club there is of course the snootiness of amateurs, but we have run a few licensing classes to prep people for the test and even proctored the tech test. We run at least one Ham & Eggs Run prior to Cruise Moab to tune radios, regardless if they are CBs or amateur gear. We've done pre-meeting antenna quick tunes.

We do try and accommodate all services, not just ham. A few club members had their tickets, the amateur service sold itself on trail runs. Simplex from Moab to Green River or hitting the Grand Junction Colorado Connection repeater and talking from Moab Rim to Denver via the linked state-wide system. People asked questions, we got a few interested and it snowballed from there.

 

[4x4junkie]

^^
Great points (and glad to hear about all being accommodated)

No doubt I have seen whip length restrictions mentioned among some groups, though most of the ones I've seen were for the purpose of eliminating full-length 102" whips. Those buying little 2 & 3-foot antennas are going well beyond what any reasonable whip length restriction requires. If an event organizer refuses to accommodate say, a 5-foot antenna, then use the longest one they will allow (and mount it directly to a significant metal mass as high up as possible, such as on a welded roof rack or on the roof itself).

LOL, I'm not complaining about the responses of others. I don't care what people use to talk with, I'm not likely talking to them. For all I care they use soup cans and twine to talk, I'm not relying on communications with them.

Your post was complaining about people complaining about the responses in this thread (or at least that's how I'm seeing it). Again I say we wouldn't have this thread if people could respect that different things work for different folks. I wouldn't tell people "Don't buy a 2M" because "you have to take a dumb arduous test to get a license", or, "because everyone on 2M are a bunch of snobs"... If someone is up for it and wants to do it, then hey, more power to him. The more licensees & members there are means all the better to keep the hobby that HAM radio is from fading into the sunset (anything to further reduce the risk of losing precious spectrum allocations to the big corporate interests that are vying for them).

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Again I say we wouldn't have this thread if people could respect that different things work for different folks...

You would have to take that up with the OP, he is easy enough to find around these parts

 

[southpier]

thanks for posting the link to the original list

 

[DaveInDenver]

Great points (and glad to hear about all being accommodated)

Despite the popular belief, most of us are somewhat human and willing to help our fellow club members, even reluctant appliance operators. I'm happy to teach the classes, tune antennas, program radios and be part of VE teams giving tests. I think the mindset that amateur radio needs to be exclusive and snooty will just lead to its irrelevance, which would be a great loss. So I don't mind just as long as people are willing to put in some minimal effort to understand and be good operators. Most of the guys get fed up with me, I tend to be tangential (I'm an Extra and an EE), but I just like talking about radios.

 

[Shortpipes]

I gave up reading the great cb-ham debate around page 8 (so hopefully it hasn't been brought up already,and I have both so I'm covered either way). The worst mod in my mind is outfiting your rig to be a zombie killer/apocalypse/tactical vehicle. I would rather become a zombie or die with all of the other un-prepared civilians than drive around in a truck looking like a fool.

 

[4x4junkie]

You would have to take that up with the OP, he is easy enough to find around these parts

lol I don't think there's much need for me to take anything up with the OP personally, this thread by itself speaks volumes about the overall general disagreement over his short-sighted comment.
I could maybe take him up on his Ford Explorer comment, though without a model year mentioned there may infact be some truth buried in that one. Certainly there were better examples available he could've used to make his point (the Pontiac Aztek comes to mind).

It's unfortunate there is no comments box or a link back to this thread from that article, which no doubt doesn't give anyone who comes across it much chance to see what other people's thoughts might be (they'd have to happen upon this thread on their own).
As of now, (for most people) the closest practical alternative to regular CB is FRS, but as many here probably know, FRS radios have severe technical restrictions governing the radio itself (the non-removable antenna being among them) and have very limited range. Maybe someday MURS radio will take off (this would certainly eliminate the noise problem CB can have at times), but right now, legal MURS equipment isn't all that easy to come by (and what is out there doesn't lend itself real well to an in-vehicle installation).

Despite the popular belief, most of us are somewhat human and willing to help our fellow club members, even reluctant appliance operators. I'm happy to teach the classes, tune antennas, program radios and be part of VE teams giving tests. I think the mindset that amateur radio needs to be exclusive and snooty will just lead to its irrelevance, which would be a great loss. So I don't mind just as long as people are willing to put in some minimal effort to understand and be good operators. Most of the guys get fed up with me, I tend to be tangential (I'm an Extra and an EE), but I just like talking about radios.

Dave, the snootiness of many is a very real problem and shamefully I'll admit was a big reason I never bothered to renew. If only there were more like you on the bands, I think the popularity of HAM radio would be a lot better. I know & hear of many others who either won't get licensed or have let theirs lapse for similar reasons.
I have had some thoughts of picking it up again just so I have the option available, but unless things have changed (this thread's existence tells me otherwise), I don't see myself becoming a regular on it.

 

[6x6pinz]

Here is my perspective on the coms. Our group (SWPA) wanted to have better coms then CB's so I started attending the local Ham radio club meetings. Never felt welcomed at either club and in fact felt looked down upon because I did not understand what the members were talking about (techy stuff). I know the Tech license is available and if you have been around HAM radios a while it is probably an easy test to take but for the average joe it just does not make sense. We brought in a HAM radio owner/operator to help us understand enough to get the Tech licenses but with no real interest in learning the ins and outs on the tech side of HAM we chose to stick with CB's. I realize there is a protocol for using HAM but the need to understand the technical side of it is just not worth the benefits if it is not going to be a hobby. The local clubs we have around here did not seem to want people who would not make HAM a lifestyle having any part of operating a radio. could just be the local guys but that is the only experience I have to go by. For now it will be CB's for local coms and SAT phones for emergency and longer range coms.

 

[craig333]

I use a little shorty on the Jeep. Works quite well.

 

[BIGdaddy]

When I picture HAM radio operators I picture sweaty fat guys eating cheese in their moms basement,,,,,

x2 hahaha...

 

[bftank]

i have to admit, and it is my opinion. until this thread came along i was curious about ham radio usage and other facets of that hobby. my grandpa was a radioman in the korean war. unfortunately cruisers attitude in general has turned me off of the idea and lessened any desire i had to learn more about it. dave seems like a pretty cool dude and some one i could chat with about it. for nwoods to say you need to have a ham license to be a serious adventurer is condecending, elitest and ignorant to say the least.



i have stayed away from this thread for awhile because of all the opinions being stated as fact and lack of respect for others. just popped in to see if anything relevant had been posted.

i appreciate your posts 4x4junkie and others, especially about the antennae's.

shortpipes i agree with the zombie mods statements, i believe every mod made needs to be well thought out. and serve a purpose. less thinking with the pocket book bling and more creative, and purposefully. i think metcalfs willys and 4xjunkies b2 are prime example of that being done. stuff doesnt need to be heavy and cumbersome to do the job, nor does it need to be blingy and expensive.

that is all.

steps down from soapbox

 

[pugslyyy]

i have to admit, and it is my opinion. until this thread came along i was curious about ham radio usage and other facets of that hobby. my grandpa was a radioman in the korean war. unfortunately cruisers attitude in general has turned me off of the idea and lessened any desire i had to learn more about it. dave seems like a pretty cool dude and some one i could chat with about it. for nwoods to say you need to have a ham license to be a serious adventurer is condecending, elitest and ignorant to say the least.



i have stayed away from this thread for awhile because of all the opinions being stated as fact and lack of respect for others. just popped in to see if anything relevant had been posted.

i appreciate your posts 4x4junkie and others, especially about the antennae's.

shortpipes i agree with the zombie mods statements, i believe every mod made needs to be well thought out. and serve a purpose. less thinking with the pocket book bling and more creative, and purposefully. i think metcalfs willys and 4xjunkies b2 are prime example of that being done. stuff doesnt need to be heavy and cumbersome to do the job, nor does it need to be blingy and expensive.

that is all.

steps down from soapbox

IMHO it's all about what your travel buddies do. I got my ham license when I was living in NorCal, doing a lot of trips with the Northern California Rover Club. One or two got 2-meter mobile rigs in their trucks and we saw how much better it was than CBs and over the course of about a year almost all of us had switched over. (This was pre-FRS days so that was not an option.)

I still like my CB for listening to the truckers / finding out about road conditions when I'm on pavement.

 

[bftank]

exactly

 

[bfdiesel]

Dido