Batboard

mmckenna

I know this is a few months old, but I just saw it and it reminded me of a guy who I used to work with that had a Mini Cooper. He put a Yaesu screwdriver antenna on it and was running 100 watts HF, 50 watts VHF and UHF. It looked a little odd, but it worked well. He removed the satellite/AM/FM anten...

mmckenna

Might be a bit late to the conversation, but we are doing this exact same thing. A couple of voter receivers/repeaters at one site, dispatch about 2 miles away. I run the telecom network, so putting in my own T-1 circuit was cheap/easy. Anyways, were using these, Adtran Atlas 550's: http://www.adtra...

mmckenna

Thanks. Still looking at our options, but they seem to be leaning towards just using the hand pack at this point. Likely they'll see how well the bike works out for us before investing more money in it.
Nice to know and XTL will fit in the box.

mmckenna

Zero's headquarters are a short drive from here. I've been talking with the County radio shop, since they have a few of these and they are looking at installing on them also. Should be interesting to see how this goes. I'll likely give them a call or see if I can drop by and take a look at one. I wa...

mmckenna

AEC, I'm not looking to rehash the decision here. It wasn't made by me, and neither my input or yours was solicited. As for it being a "toy", I beg to differ. This is being used on a University campus with miles of footpaths and forested land. Full sized BMW's were used for a few years, bu...

mmckenna

Thanks. I wouldn't run more than 10 watts on one of these anyway due to the proximity to the rider. 1/4 wave antenna to keep it simple. If I can get some specs from Zero, I'll post them here.

mmckenna

I've searched the interwebs but no luck… Our PD has ordered a Zero (electric) motorcycle. Before the jokes start, yes, they have a 10 mile long extension cord, so we should be OK. But seriously, has anyone installed a radio on one of these before? I see that they offer a radio box on the rear and th...

mmckenna

Bill_G wrote:Usually it's the loose screw across the microphone, but not today ...

(big grin)

Ah yes, like the "loose nut behind wheel" issue that I see happen with cars.

mmckenna

Wow, good timing. The CDM1250 in my wife's car was starting to make odd noises on TX. I replaced the mic, checked the power feed, and a few others. Was just about ready to pick up another one. Ran across this post just in time. Tightened the screws and it's working top notch again. Thanks.

mmckenna

I ended up redoing it in the middle of last year. I was adding the Kenwood and needed a better way to mount the stuff behind the seat: http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i249/mmckenna/IMG_3494_zps19edcc05.jpg Found that the Uni-Strut fit nicely between the 4 seat attachment bolts. I used 3 lengths an...

mmckenna

I now have a Kenwood NX-900 Kenwood 800MHz radio in the truck along with the CDM VHF. I installed the 800MHz antenna just above the high mount stop light on the back of the cab. There is enough flat area there to install an NMO mount. Removing the center stop light made it a really easy install. Sho...

mmckenna

Yes, the exhibit floor pass will get you that.

mmckenna

256QAM wrote:The free exhibit hall pass registration has passed, it's $50 now.

Ask your favorite vendor rep for a free pass. I've never paid for admission. Way too easy to get in free. Save that $50 for beer.

mmckenna

Yes, be cautious of the taxis, they can do some "creative" routing. I went with my dad 2 years ago and the driver seemed to be under the impression we were just there for strippers and hookers. He seemed to want to take us by and show us all the "good" places. Awkward. Last year ...

mmckenna

A buddy and I are considering going down for the vendor hall... Its a short flight and March in our neck of the woods is still damned chilly so it would be a nice change of pace... For those of you that go/have gone: Where is the budget place to stay? There are a lot of cheap places in Las Vegas, b...

mmckenna

I've got a CDM-1550 in my truck in the VHF persuasion. I have a mix of amateur, work and local public safety in it. When I'm around town, I keep in on 146.415 simplex, which is what the CMD-750 in the kitchen is set to. My wife, also a ham, had a CDM-1250 in her car that is on the same frequency. Wh...

mmckenna

What about adding a new lighter socket in a different location? Seems like that would be easy to fit in somewhere, and you could still put the head near the shifter.

mmckenna

Oh, and I understand your concerns about hacking the wiring harness. What I did was identify the correct wire using a straight pin and my multimeter. Once I was sure I had it, I used an Exacto knife to remove about an inch of insulation. I spread the strands apart and inserted my new wire there. I w...

mmckenna

Might be. What these trucks have is a thing called "retained accessory power" which keeps the accessory power on when the key is out of the ignition but the doors haven't been opened yet. Tapping off the ignition switch probably won't be that easy. What I did on an older GMC truck I had, t...

mmckenna

The radios in my truck (2011 crew cab) are behind the rear seat. I was looking for an ignition switched circuit back in that area to prevent more wire runs. I did some research and found there is a yellowish wire in the bundle that runs under the door sill. This is an ignition switched power for the...

mmckenna

Not the best solution, but whoever set up our PD cars at work notched the faceplates down near the bottom left corner and ran the mic cords through there. They come out near the top of the console and the hang up is on the dashboard.

mmckenna

^^^ I like the sound of that. Is their an available box that will do that, or is just taking COR off the radio and interfacing to the stereo mute lead?

mmckenna

Well, other than X-Ray vision so I could see the wire harness I'm about to drill through, I think my new favorite thing is marine grade/adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. I started using it for all the under hood connections, but have started using it more places. While it's certainly not the -best-...

mmckenna

Thought I'd update this. I pulled that stupid Yaesu out of there and replaced it with a VHF CDM-1550. Much easier for the wife to use, and I can load some of the work stuff in to it. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i249/mmckenna/IMG_1403_zps44424d10.jpg Other than the new radio, the rest of it is ...

mmckenna

The 18" whip with the specs for 144 - 450 just means it can be cut to operate on any frequency between those two. This is standard for a 1/4 wave antenna. It will not cover from 144 to 450 continuously. It should have included a cutting chart that will tell you what length to cut the antenna to...

mmckenna

A regular old 1/4 wave antenna might be your best bet for a more suited radiation pattern for your antenna. I'd suggesting trying a 1/4 wave and your other one and see which one works for your needs. I've had good luck with UHF bouncing down canyons, and I've had good luck with VHF out in the woods....

mmckenna

Kenwood TK-290 has a 6 character display and can be easily set up for FPP. I use one of these and am quite happy with it. I'd second the Jedi line, however. I also have an HT1000 that I love and we still use MTS2000's at work. Accessories are cheap and easily found. One thing to consider is the prog...

mmckenna

Sounds like a good plan.
Yeah, an accident, but I learned a lot from it. Chicks dig scars and a slight limp just adds to character.

mmckenna

Something you may want to consider: We use VHF when we ride. Currently, we all have side by sides with permanently mounted radios, and it works well. Up until 2010, we all rode ATVs and used hand held radios. We had similar issues you did, remote/rugged locations and it didn't take much to get out o...

mmckenna

If I recall correctly, the 4 pair cable will work. The outer two conductors are used for handset audio when using the telephone style handset.

I could be confusing that with the 10 pin mic connector, forgive me if I'm wrong.

mmckenna

he most likely means rln 4802 a That's what I figured, just wanted to make sure he wasn't looking at the date code tag or whatever it is thats often on the end of the remote separation cable. I've heard of people using CAT 5 cable for the separation kits, which apparently works OK, however a mis-wi...

mmckenna

A CDM radio does not require any special programming to use the remote head configuration.
The part number you gave, 4802, doesn't sound like the full part number. Is that the number on the cable that connects the RF deck to the control head?

mmckenna

Absolutely 100% true. You likely won't notice a difference.

However, if you are buying new and the price difference is minimal, it does't hurt at all.

mmckenna

Interesting. I've been purchasing the Larsen NMO mounts with dual shield RG58 and have had no issues at all installing mini-UHF connectors designed for standard RG-58. Maybe we are talking about two different things. The Larsen mounts appear to have a foil shield under the outer conductor and it doe...

mmckenna

I've been using RG-58 dual shield on my stuff. It tends to have slightly less loss. Same connectors as the regular stuff. We have about 40 800MHz mobiles installed on various things at work, and they are all using this. It'll work just fine. You can often find either the LMR200 or LMR240 (can't reme...

mmckenna

Awesome, Thanks guys!

mmckenna

All, I need to find a battery analyzer system for a small PD. They've got maybe 50 radios, mostly MTS-2000, but a few XTS-2500 and Kenwood's thrown in the mix, so the Impress systems won't be an option. I've never purchased one of these before. Looking for input from those that have. They are in des...

mmckenna

The SPOT units are nice, we have a guy that occasionally rides with us that has one. I've heard some bad things about their customer service from more than a few people, but I don't own one, so no experience there myself. I'm thinking of buying something, however. I am strongly leaning towards a bas...

mmckenna

Interesting, thanks for posting.

mmckenna

I'm curious how much longer iDen is going to be around. Nextel/Sprint are bailing. I guess there will be some smaller SMR's that will keep running it.

mmckenna

Glad to hear you got it installed in there. Glad I was able to help out in some way.

That's what I love about these sites, you can come on here and ask a question or post a solution and help other out.

Happy 4th of July to you and yours.

mmckenna

OK, thanks for the update.

mmckenna

Glad to hear you got it working. I'm curious about the accidental key up though. Was it a short accidental key up, or were you sitting on the mic causing a extended transmission? I'm just curious to know how quickly they reacted to this. Usually it's only habitual offenders that get inhibited like t...

mmckenna

Exactly. This didn't pass the sniff test. I can't see how one accidental key up resulted in this. Based on the fact the original poster hasn't responded, likely because there wasn't an easy solution, I'm thinking there is a LOT more to this story. I can only hope this is the same individual who has ...

mmckenna

"But it's P25, therefore it MUST be interoperable.... That's what the sales guy told me."

Some of these departments should be forced back to CB until they can learn to play nice.

mmckenna

There are many 800MHz analog interoperability channels to choose from. I haven't seen an 800MHz radio yet that won't do analog. Cheap, easy and reliable, therefore they likely won't do that.

mmckenna

Yeah, that CDM deck is light enough that it wasn't a problem. If I was doing something heavier, I may have mounted it below the seat, or put some more work into the brackets to hold it in place behind the seat.

mmckenna

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i249/mmckenna/IMG_0010-1.jpg I had to cut the carpet a bit, then used a piece of 1 1/2 wide aluminum stock to mount the bracket on end like that. It's screwed down with self tapping screws with star washers, to make sure I had a good ground. It's a bit tough to get...

mmckenna

Sure, let me get something tonight or tomorrow and I'll post it here.

mmckenna

Glad it helped, that's why I post it here. After 10 months, I'm still happy with the set up.

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