Mobile Semi Truck Ham Radio Setup With John, WB4JB
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2023
- Mobile Co-Phased Antennas May Not Work As Good As You Think...Plus A Tour Of John's Ham Radio Setup In The Cab. I Even Get To Blow The Horn!!
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I saw the making of the video in real life. That was cool to meet everyone
What's nice about this is, as an owner operator, all that radio equipment is a tax write off! Well done! I'm a slip seat company driver and very jealous.
Good to see I'm not the only one to do Morse on a vehicle horn.
Yes. Me too lol de M0VFX
Thanks for the follow up. I was the one that actually asked the question about the two antennas. I still wish he would've mapped it out on a chart to show the direction how it goes out. I'm still under the believe that one good antenna in the center of your truck mounted on a good metal support for a ground plain is the best ...Thanks for the follow up. It was very interesting. I'm sure jealous of this guy set up. Hopefully one of these days. I can have radios in my truck like that.
You’re not wrong. It’s impossible for me to mount antennas on the center of this truck just simply due to height restrictions. If I had an option to mount with some good sheet metal under the antenna i would definitely do that. I have probably the worst possible ground plane where I have it mounted.
I was covered by our Local News during Field Day. My truck was a complete station and was the only air conditioned operating spot Ha Ha. APU supplied the air and kept the batteries up. An 1800 watt inverter took care of any A/C needs. On 9-2 and 9-3-2023 I activated Park K-1065 was in the campground in Picachu Peak Park in Arizona friday night and the Day Use Area on Saturday until the park closed, SSB and FT8 and FT4 440 contacts. I truck but I enjoy my hobby every day. What better way to make a living and live the dream. I have been a Ham since 1976 and been driving for 35 years There are more of us out there then you think. I am one of the few that run HF Motorcycle Mobile. I have an 1988 golddwing and have an IC-706 MKIIG mounted in it and share the Tarheel II or my Diamond sd300 screwdriver on the trunk. I cover 70cm to 80 meters There are pictures on QRZ of the Truck and Motorcycle. After I retire I plan on doing POTA full time and a majority will be the bike.
John is a great guy. He won my T-Shirt givaway at Huntsville.
Nice video Mike as always.
Thanks for the shirt. I’ll make sure to swing by and play satellites in the near future!
@@WB4JB Love to have you I'm in Palm Coast FL.
Nice installation, one all mobile installs can aspire to!
Thanks John for the experiment and the results.
As a dump truck driver I'm jealous of his set-up. I'd love to have a set-up like this but the rough terrain i drive across on a daily bases would reek havoc on nice equipment like this. My ham of choice in my grab and go bag in my baofeng, cheap and replaceable if destroyed....I know this first hand. I use to keep a X5105 for when i was parked and waiting but too much interference from the asphalt plant to get good results. Nice video Mike ty 73 de W8MJL
Okay. So now having viewed the video I can make a considered response. This may require a couple of replies as I am verbose and there are limited characters allowed per message!!!!
I 100% agree with regards to co-phasing 10/11 metres antennas. They really aren’t worth the dramas and, in fact are additionally concerning should you break/damage 1 antenna because the phasing harness is 75 ohm and with one antenna inoperative, effectively you throw BOTH significantly “out of whack”. I’ve used them, but for 11 Metres I now use a single fibreglass 6’ whip.
Tarheels ARE and excellent antenna and radiate well, however one would last about 15 minutes before it would shake itself to death in my work environment……and that’s no exaggeration. The vibration encountered on our extremely rough, corrugated dirt roads is probably amongst the most extreme one could encounter anywhere. Instead, my antenna is a Codan 9350 which is a similar style of antenna, but infinitely more robust. The limitation to the Codan is that it is rated to 125 Watts but, honestly, EVERYONE I can hear can hear me, so I’m not sure the extra 80 Watts available on the HX would make a scintilla of difference. 0:01
Like ol’ mate, my transceiver for the lower HF bands (80 - 10 Mx) is a Kenwood TS480 and, having used most makes and models in my environment, the 480 is head and shoulders better….particularly compared to most of the latest radios available, because of their simplicity of operation……all the modern gear just use way too many menus and sub menus for SAFE operation.
I use a hand mic in preference to a headset and my truck has an 18 speed fully manual, double overdrive RoadRanger. I only ever use the clutch to engage the first gear when stationary, but a foot switch would be a pain in the arse for me.
Otherwise, there’s more similarities than differences between his installation in a Freightliner and mine in a Kenworth T 909. He didn’t mention bonding, but if he gets as much signal out as he indicates, I think he’s spent as much time and effort on that as I have. Bonding is the key to both noise reduction and radiation efficiency.
Thanks for the real world experience on the phased mobile antennas 👍
Coolest ham video EVER! Local repeater was gushing about this video… Mike, old ass hams were gushing like little girls! Hahahaha Keep the content coming, man! Rad!
Awesome video, Mike!
Very COOL "Keep on Truckin" TXS
More of that please! Mobile walk (sit) around.
Woulda been neat to see him make a qso! Thanks 🙏 safe travels
k8mrd was having way too much fun😅
My wife's uncle retired from OTR driving years ago and had a monster Kenwood rig installed. Had a small paddle on his knee for CW while moving, and had been known to hook up to a chain link fence for antenna when parked. Accident free, thousands of miles, and loads of friends - who did not use a CB.
I have a hamstick and my G90 in the truck and also carry a 17’ whip to use when parked. And yes a cb also.
I need one of those to pull the RV!!!
Greetings to John from Estonia 🤘
Have fun
Got a TS-480SAT, it's a pretty awesome mobile HF rig -- have it on some shark sticks but currently working on moving it to an AH-4, I technically have the length to run a 17ft whip if they were rated for mobile use, but since they're usually telescoping they'll likely buckle -- so I'm just tuning a 102" whip hanging forward from the rear, should have it finished in a week or so, excited to see how that goes.
Great video :-)
I missed meeting him at the pavilion. Maybe next year.
I used to had a CW chat with truck driver 1990's , have not heard them for a while now. HF would be nice in long highway, many rural place VHF no one to talk to even on repeaters. AG6JU
I also drive a truck. I would like to get a closer look at the screwdriver antenna set up. TIA.
When your'e on the downslide of a mountain pass in bad weather. Your'e gonna have your radio on CH 19. - 27.185 MHZ. AM . Your ears are gonna' be peeled back and listening for trouble. Someone 1/2 way round the world isn't part of your job right now. Talk to them later.
How do I set up a 10m antenna on my 2019 freightliner? Grounding? Can't get it to work
Nice set up!
Hello W8EJC Look up in QRZ I am 18 wheeler 2016 Kenworth T680 Tarheel II Yaesu FT-891 I run 10 - 80 When stopped run FT-8 also run 5100 and FT-300DR D-star Fusion. look for you on 30C got 71 countries on the tarheel II. Alsk very active on POTA and a member of YL systems on 14.332 Will watch for you on the road.
Double UHF antennas though. I could maybe do that for the GMRS guys
There’s only one UHF antenna
Damn it wish i know what u guys R saying
What UHF/VHF freq do Ham truckers monitor for local comms such as road hazards/shutdowns,etc.?
Typically CB would be channel 19 for that. Since I don’t have a CB, I monitor 146.520 and my GPS monitors real time traffic and weather conditions.
For vhf/uhf typically we’re on the simplex calling frequencies (146.520/446.000).
D star;, fusion, mobilink, dmr etc. Did he get everything?
Hey when I go, I go all in. I want ALL the things.
Nice rig. Where was the clutch and shifter?
Automatic!
Did not know you could get a big rig with an auto-trans.
"I dont go on cb. I play too much on hf" is just old indan phrase for " I unlocked my hf radios transmit so I don't need to buy a cb"...
Also working HF at a truck stop just sucks because reefer generators and APU's are RFI monsters
Although I am confused as this is telling me it’s a premier to be played in a few minutes,yet I’m reading comments as if it’s been in the wild for a few days. Can you tell I’ve not watched a “Premier” before????
I also didn't realize until a few weeks ago that you could comment on a premier before it happens.
My Patrons get early access to my videos, so there is that.
@@hamradiotube😂😂😂😂 it wasn’t a complaint, mate!! I’m just easily confuserated!!!!!!
Where's the CB? We'll the rig does have the MARS mod.....
That is awesome! Does John log his contacts?
I log all contacts except the ones made via the hotspot, on digital voice modes such as Dstar/Fusion etc.
@@WB4JB Outstanding.
I always get a chuckle when I hear people on DMR talking about logging their contact on the Zed :)
@@hamradiotube no I missed the tablet or laptop he logs on. I thought since he was mobile everyone should give him a pass on logging while driving.
@@ryank5tarwhen I’m parked I use a laptop. When I’m driving, voice memos and log later.
So I am not 100% sure about your antenna there but if that clear section is your coil you need to get it up and over the cab of your truck which is likely impossible with that high rise sleeper. The other thing you can do is to get it up as high as you can, and lean it forward at like a 60 degree angle or so, get that coil out in front of the windshield a bit so it isn't as obstructed and will possibly keep you from getting cut off completely when a reefer riding beside you. Also if you're wanting ground plane it's not hard to RF Bond a truck, just takes some time and a lot of ground braid. Edited to add that you're not wrong about all the nonsense on cb channels. So many people sit at home with massive setups and just blast repeat the same garbage all day every day across the country and it's just silly.
A plastic Freightshaker
A magnet sticks to it my friend although it does indeed shake the freight!😅
@@WB4JBhorses for courses!!!!!! On the job I do, you couldn’t consider a Freightliner …..BUT…… on Highway work I reckon those would be as good as anything…..and would turn a whole heap better than my T909 and have significant better vision. Great to see another trucking ham, mate. There’s no many of us, Downunder.
We use a lot of 2 m up here in Alaska I found the best antenna to be a tuned Laird half wave mounted on the spot mirror passenger side and if you want the whole band tram makes a 6/8 wave NO antenna....
KW had problems up here in the cold with all their drive-by-wire nonsense but you don't have to worry about that down there driving a Freightliner is like driving a boat...
@@bovineexcrement8635 which is exactly why we have no drive-by wire on any of our trucks that work out here in the bush, hence no blasted automatics and such.
Watched 2 minutes and had enough, good boy for not using 11 meters hmmm I wonder why you said that Mike? And this "trucker" doesn't know that his trailer is 102 inches wide and that would mean his mirrors would be wide enough for 1/4 wave spacing ? Not wasting my time watching nonsense. And by the way having 11 meters could save his life if there is a bad wreck ahead of him and he plows into it possibly killing innocent people and himself.
Well, you’re an idiot. 1. 102 inches is correct. That’s 8.5 feet. That’s also the width of my truck. Due to the construction of the mirrors, I can’t mount antennas out on the ends. They have to be mounted up against the door.
2. “Trucker” in quotations implies I’m not an actual truck driver, which clearly I am.
3. If you had bothered to listen more than 2 minutes I explain that 11 meters would be possible but anything lower frequency than that wouldn’t work.
4. You wasted plenty of time with your idiotic comment
5. Obviously you know everything there is to know and you’re a fan of CB. Good for you. I choose not to have it and I don’t give two damns if you like it or not. I pay plenty enough attention to not smash into the back end of a crash. If you have to have someone on a cb tell you not to run into a crash scene, you’ve got bigger problems and you don’t deserve to share oxygen.