Mobile Amateur Radio Station K5DH/M

K5DH license plate


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My mobile station is operational on the 40m through 2m amateur bands and the 27 MHz Citizen's Band. I commute an average of 32 miles each way to and from work. Because of the heavy traffic and seemingly constant road construction, my commute averages an hour each way, and even longer if the weather's bad or there's an accident on the highway. If I didn't have a mobile station, the time I spend commuting would otherwise be wasted. So, instead of stewing about the traffic conditions or listening to depressing news reports on the broadcast radio, I happily tune the bands in search of contact with the outside world! It's a great cure for "road rage". My first choice is the HF radio. My 2m FM operating is generally limited to Skywarn and other public service activities, although I do dial up the local repeaters for a chat from time to time. On road trips, I'll often have the 2m rig tuned to 146.52 MHz, waiting for possible calls from other motoring hams who've spotted my license plates or antennas. The CB radio comes in very handy when the traffic gets heavy. Listening to the truckers talk about traffic tie-ups helps me figure out an alternate route when my normal route is backed up.

THE VEHICLE:
My vehicle is a 2003 Ford F-150 XLT extended cab pickup truck. It's roomy, quiet, comfortable, and built Ford tough, and it has plenty of space for installing radios. As I mentioned above, my "mobile shack" is operational on 40m through 2m. All of my amateur radio antennas are installed on the diamondplate aluminum toolbox that I have mounted across the front end of the pickup bed. My CB antenna is installed on the left front fender.

HF transceiver:
On the HF bands and 6 meters, I use the fabulous Icom IC-7000 transceiver. At the moment, I'm not making use of the rig's 2m and 70 cm capabilities, although I may add the necessary antennas at some point. I mounted the rig's front panel at the top center of the dash, above the CD player, using the factory separation kit. The Icom mount is attached to a homemade metal bracket arrangement that is in turn attached to the plastic dash panel. The control cable passes through a vinyl grommet and disappears into the dash, continuing down through the dash to the left side of the floor, behind the kick panel, into the cable raceway along the left side of the cab floor, emerging behind the rear edge of the driver's seat, and then up under the seat to the 7000's main chassis, which sits on the floor under the driver's seat. The microphone is located on the left side of the center console, within easy reach of the driver, but completely out of the way when not in use. To accomplish this, I used connected an Icom OPC-647 extension cable to the mic jack on the rear panel of the 7000's main chassis, and mounted the other end of the cable to the side of the console. DC power comes directly from the vehicle battery via #12 AWG wire. The antenna feedline comes up through the floor under the driver's seat via a rubber access plug that Ford conveniently put there.

The control panel is angled toward the driver's seat for the best viewing of the display. With the control panel mounted where I have it, I can easily see the display and access all of the controls without taking my eyes completely off the road - an important consideration when driving in the dangerous Dallas rush hour traffic. The panel can also be swiveled around to face the passenger seat.

I listen through a Radio Shack 4" CB-type external speaker. The speaker's mounting bracket is attached to a plastic drinking cup (from Razzoo's Cajun Restaurant) that fits in either of the two drink holders on the F-150's center console. The speaker is easily removable when I'm not using the radio - I just lift the cup out of the drink holder and lay the whole thing on the floor.

My HF antenna is an Outbacker Perth with the matching OB-SB spring and base. I've owned this Outbacker for many years and have used it on three different vehicles. Although it wasn't cheap, this antenna is as tough as they come, and it performs very well for me. I have the 3-1/2 foot stinger set at a point where I can simply select a band tap from 40 through 10 meters without having to adjust the stinger. I'm not a fan of 75 meters, so I haven't bothered to set up the antenna for that band. The OB-SB base is mounted on an aluminum L-bracket that's bolted to the truck's toolbox. The bracket was salvaged from an trucker-style CB antenna. On 6 meters, I use a WD4BUM Ham-Stick antenna. It is mounted on the right-hand side of the toolbox on an aluminum L-bracket, also salvaged from an old CB antenna.

2 Meter FM transceiver:
My 2 meter rig is a Kenwood TM-261A 50 Watt FM transceiver. I've owned it for many trouble-free years. The 261A's receiver is virtually immune to intermod. I can drive around anywhere in Dallas and not hear a peep from out-of-band signals (and believe me, we have plenty of high-powered VHF pager and radio transmitters in Dallas!). The TM-261A is an outstanding choice in a 2m FM transceiver because of its low price and superb performance. It's been discontinued for a while now, but good used ones can be bought for $100 or less. I highly recommend the TM-261A. The external speaker is a 4" Radio Shack unit of the same type that I'm using on HF. My 2m antenna is a classic 5/8 wave Larsen NMO-150. It's hard to beat a commercial-grade Larsen for performance, dependability, and durability.

Citizen's Band transceiver:
My CB radio is a 1980s vintage Cobra 146GTL 40-channel AM/SSB unit. It's rather scruffy looking, but it works quite well and I don't have much money tied up in it. It has a decent receiver with astonishingly effective ANL and noise blanker circuitry. And in case you're wondering, the radio is 100 percent legal and has not been messed with. My CB antenna is a professional grade Hustler HQ-27. This classic antenna has been around virtually unchanged since the early 1970s. Once again, it's hard to beat a commercial grade antenna for performance, dependability, and durability. It is 56" tall, center-loaded, and made of stainless steel. The antenna is mounted on the left front fender near the cowl on a commercially-made stainless steel bracket that was specially designed to fit 1997 - 2003 Ford pickups and Expeditions.

INSTALLATION NOTES:
The DC power leads to the radios and the coax cable for the 2m and CB antennas pass through a rubber access plug in the firewall. I just cut a slit in the plug with a hobby knife and ran my wires through. Both the positive and negative leads are run straight to the battery. I have fuses in both the positive and negative leads at the source end to protect against fire in case a power lead should become shorted to ground somewhere between the source and the transceiver. I *never* use the vehicle body or chassis as the return path for my DC power! Doing so just begs for noise to be introduced onto the power leads! I also *never* power any mobile radio gear from the fuse panel or cigar lighter, with the exception of occasionally powering a 2m handheld from a rental car cigar lighter using a filtered, fused plug.

NOISE ISSUES:
For whatever reason, I have not experienced the well-known Ford fuel pump noise problem with this truck. This may be due to the fact that Ford recently went back to using metal fuel tanks, replacing the plastic tanks that they had been using for several years. I do have a lot of noise from the electronic fuel injectors, but the 7000's noise blanker brings it down to a manageable level. I haven't yet attempted to reduce or eliminate the noise, but I am pursuing it. I have contacted Ford to see if they have issued any service bulletins on this subject. Actually, my biggest noise issue comes from outside the vehicle, in the form of static from power lines, neon signs, fluorescent lights, and noisy electronics in other vehicles (which is a serious problem when you're stuck in stop-and-go traffic on a 10-lane freeway at rush hour). I've also noticed a bit of hash on the CB coming from the truck's master computer, but its amplitude is very low and the ANL and NB make it vanish.

I'VE BEEN AT THIS A WHILE...
I've been operating HF mobile on and off since the late 1970s, from many different vehicles, using many different rigs and antennas. In addition to the 7000, at one time or another I've used the following HF rigs in the mobile (not listed in any particular order): Icom 706 Mark 2G, Alinco DX-70T; Ten-Tec Scout; Kenwood TS-130S, TS-430S, TS-440S, and TS-520S; Yaesu FT-757GX; Uniden HR-2510 and HR-2600; Realistic HTX-100; Icom IC-730; and numerous CB radios converted to 10 meters. I've used many different antennas too: modified CB antennas on 10 meters; a classic 1950s Webster Bandspanner; a Valor Pro-Am 40 meter whip (similar to a Ham-Stick); a Hustler mast and resonators; a WA5UHT Texas Bugcatcher; the Outbacker Perth; and probably others that I can't recall. Don't ask me which one worked the best, because I honestly never kept score, and the installation varied from vehicle to vehicle. I do know that I'm having great success with the Outbacker Perth, and I highly recommend it for its durability and performance. By the way, the Outbacker name is not just "catchy". I have traveled the roads of the Australian outback, and I was amazed at the number of commercial Outbacker antennas are in use on tour buses, long-haul trucks, and other commercial vehicles. When the nearest town might be 100 km or more away, you need a dependable antenna, and the Outbacker is it! If you can stand the physical size and ungainly looks, a Texas Bugcatcher is hard to beat, especially if you can find one of the ones made back in the 1980s by WA5UHT. I always opt for an antenna that requires no electric power and has no moving parts (which means no "screwdrivers"). That means no "band hopping", but I can always pull over and change taps on the Outbacker if I really feel the need. (gee, how did ham radio survive for all those decades without motorized antennas?)

MY OPERATING SCHEDULE:
I'm usually on the air on weekdays from 0615 to 0700 Central time, and again some time between 1630 and 1830 Central time, depending on when I get out of the office for the day. Most mornings, I'm on 40 meter SSB, often at 7169 KHz. In the afternoons, I'll be on whatever band is the most active. I really enjoy working other mobile stations. It's always fun comparing rigs, antennas, and operating and installation tips with other mobileers. A bit of DX thrown in makes it even more fun. I even do my best to crack the DX pileups using the 7000's split frequency capabilities (and I've surprised many DX stations with my mobile signal, often walking right over the fixed stations!). I hope to meet up with you some time while operating HF mobile! Thanks for reading!


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