HAM Radio Discussion

[ChadAmberg]

Bump for this thread and anyone thinking about HAM.

I just bought a new rig for the truck - does way more than I understand or will probably understand in the next year or so but I didn't want to spend a few hundred and then want to upgrade again next year.

So I got a Kenwood TM-D710G which has the built in GPS for APRS.
Will be hooked up to a Rigrunner 4004 which has 4 ports for power plus 2 USB ports for charging devices.
Also got a Cobra 75 WXST for off roading comms with non-hams

Will eventually be picking up a Dell Venue 8 Pro to do more APRS stuff as well as off roading GPS mapping.

Install is getting done Monday - I'll post some photos in the Photo area.

So... if anyone has the equipment to help me tune my antennas for CB and HAM I will happily reward them with beer or some 9 or 5.56 ammo for their time.

That's a great rig, the APRS stuff is pretty cool when you see how close other HAMs are to you and where they're going. It's also nice because my wife could watch one of the reporting websites to see where I was when I was traveling. I ended up selling my rig to rbeau30 after someone t-boned my car, and my new one didn't have any good way to mount it.

[rbeau30]

That's a great rig, the APRS stuff is pretty cool when you see how close other HAMs are to you and where they're going. It's also nice because my wife could watch one of the reporting websites to see where I was when I was traveling. I ended up selling my rig to rbeau30 after someone t-boned my car, and my new one didn't have any good way to mount it.

Still running strong! I use it daily! Had to get a new antenna after I drove my vehicle into the garage to work on something.

I am going to get a TM-71 for my other car(s) because you can switch out the head units. So I can take this one with me if I drive one of the other cars.

[kawiracer14]

That's a great rig, the APRS stuff is pretty cool when you see how close other HAMs are to you and where they're going. It's also nice because my wife could watch one of the reporting websites to see where I was when I was traveling. I ended up selling my rig to rbeau30 after someone t-boned my car, and my new one didn't have any good way to mount it.

Yeah, APRS was one of the big things that got me interested in this rig and one of the things I have been investigating a lot since I got my license. I will eventually add a small windows tablet to the truck to do some more APRS mapping along with 4x4 mapping but I have to pay for the lift on my truck first.