Batboard

I am going to be purchasing a kenwood dualband mobile setup, unsure what type yet. I am wondering what type of antenna(s) I would need. They would either be 50 or 100w radios. I would like 1 small antenna w/ the best receive and tx i can get. I am also wondering if there would be a way to make my stereo speakers be my radio speaker? radio surround sound!

the first part of this is OT, but i have just redone our fleet w/ dual band dual head kenwood stuff...so pm will do fine for that.

and as for the second - the one magic antenna idea works great for scanners, but as soon as you start to TX over it...PAs and finals get cooked. each deck should have a properly mounted antenna rated for your power output...

and as for the third, you gotta unplug a little there...you get so hard up you want to hear monaural audio out of 4 separate sources, all in the same car? wow man...that's a little much. you can do it, but it's not worth the expense, time and effort...(easy way, pipe the audio out of your decks directly into the aux port on your head unit, if it works...(most aux in's are RCA female)...but how would you get the audio if you were listening to your John Tesh CD? You wouldn't hear your radio....

I would want the radio as a priority. Just an idea. Could you pm me about the kenwood line. Thanks for the help

if you want it as a priority, then you should just mount some slimline speakers directly over your shoulder (kind of where the seatbet harness attaches to the doorpost...that way you can atleast hear the audion all the time...you CAN do it with a logic gate that drops the audio from the stereo to one speaker in the car when the radio gets COR, but then you have to worry about the stereo speaker driver, the audio level of the radio on COR, all this fun stuff...but i wouldnt' recommend it.

PM me about what you want to know about the 790/890s from kenwood.

If you want the audio in the cars speakers....

In my Pontiac Grand Prix I have it setup so that it goes to the tape deck which has one of those little cassete-converters (blank cassete with an audio cord w/standard earphone plug) to go to either a hand-held or the Yaesu. Nice if it's temporary or if you don't care much about looks.

You car radio may have a Mute function that mutes the radio when you are on your cell phone. I have not seen this feature listed for new radios, as most people do not have "Car Phones" just portable cell phones now.
On an old radio I had the Phone Mute lead just needed to be set to gound and the radio would mute.

D

There are lots of dual-band antennas available for VHF/UHF applications. I have one on my truck for ham use. Just get one that matches your two frequency ranges. You'll also need to get a diplexor to connect both radio decks to one antenna. Figure $50 for the antenna/mount/coax and another $50 for the diplexor.

As for the stereo integration thing... The most uncomplicated way to do is it use an Aux-in jack if the stereo is so-equiped. If the stereo doesn't have that, your next best bet is the cassette adaptor thing. I haven't seen a car stereo with a cassette deck in a long time though so you might SOL there too. Next best bet, an FM modulator like they use for XM and iPODs and stuff. Bear in mind, all of this will require that you remember to turn on the stereo to hear your fire dept audio. This may not be the best method for simply that reason. None of that is going to provide any kind of override if you want to actually listen to music.

I really thing you would be better off installing a speaker for the radios.

Old thread but . . .

The problem with running the audio through the stereo is the hi fi audio response of the stereo. You're gonna hear the PL LOUD if nothing else. Squelch tails are startling coming in hi fi too.

You'll also find that transmitters tend to get into some car stereos, particularly when those cassette adapters are in place. The cassette adapters do after all work via the magic of magnetism. Magnetic pickups and transmitters are NOT perfect together.

It's ugly, go with the proper speakers and mount them where you can hear them the best.

hahah chris...that other thread i linked this one to draw you in too? I hunted up this one and found it 'again'! hahaha

huh?