late model Ram - quick and dirty radio mount

[2NC995]

I usually find my best setting between 9 and 12 o'clock. It seems to help me to turn the noise blanker off and even reduce the RF gain. There was a thread here somewhere a while back that the receive amplifies the noise more than the signal. So reducing the RF gain actually helps the signal to noise ratio and helps the signal get stronger in comparison to the noise. This the same reason people don't like a preamp on the receive. So basically, turn the RF gain down and the volume up. Try it and see if it helps. The DSP also helps the signals that seem to transmit static with their signal.

Now I want to put it in my truck and check out / find some DX spots down by the water. Haha!

Thanks for the comments, Shade. Definitely taking me a little dabbling to get things right, and a little recalibration of my ear to get used to the sound, but the results are brilliant! I love it.

 

[Slowmover]

Thanks for the comments, Shade. Definitely taking me a little dabbling to get things right, and a little recalibration of my ear to get used to the sound, but the results are brilliant! I love it.

Have any recordings of “before”?

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[2NC995]

Have any recordings of “before”?

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No. But there’s nothing to stop me from making one!

Love affair hasn’t ended. Thanks again to you, and to @Shadetree Mechanic, for this recommendation. Worth every penny paid.

Once I had it dialed in for the conditions at the moment I made several international contacts last night.

Didn’t even go to the water...sat in my driveway with s5 or higher QRM and tuned it all out. I didn’t even right my antenna...left it tied to the pickup bed

 

[SIX-SHOOTER]

There’s a few sweet spots to be found where Radio and Speaker controls intersect.

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I have the Original speaker and it just has an On or Off position in my mobile.The Three Base units are also the Original model and the have just an On or Off position and they all sound Perfect in my ears.

SIX-SHOOTER

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Thanks for the comments, Shade. Definitely taking me a little dabbling to get things right, and a little recalibration of my ear to get used to the sound, but the results are brilliant! I love it.

Ya know, now that I think about it, maybe use tons of preamp and filter it all out with the ClearSpeech DSP? Yeah, I'm putting this in the truck for sure. I have always wanted to put this on an A/B switch with a regular speaker. Or maybe two radios side by side and receiving on the same antenna, so I can tell what adjustments are effective and what cuts the signal out.

I just want to try every combination of every adjustment, but haven't taken the time.

 

[Slowmover]

Ya know, now that I think about it, maybe use tons of preamp and filter it all out with the ClearSpeech DSP? Yeah, I'm putting this in the truck for sure. I have always wanted to put this on an A/B switch with a regular speaker. Or maybe two radios side by side and receiving on the same antenna, so I can tell what adjustments are effective and what cuts the signal out.

I just want to try every combination of every adjustment, but haven't taken the time.

Wait, . . . aren’t you the guy with the mobile speaker/mic who uses the throne room resonance in order to broadcast?

I thought you’d mounted an old Royce 23 in there. Check the signal during that, uh, . . waste time.

FWIW, with a little 203p, there’s not much difference from my experience with Uniden & Galaxy radio’s in a big truck (pre-amp cranked). Was more due to conditions where the speaker made it possible to yank in the trout with pre-amp engaged. BUT not every day (Skip or not).

Looking forward to what you find. A pickup or SUV ought to be ideal. This Pete, ain’t.

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[Slowmover]

No. But there’s nothing to stop me from making one!

Love affair hasn’t ended. Thanks again to you, and to @Shadetree Mechanic, for this recommendation. Worth every penny paid.

Once I had it dialed in for the conditions at the moment I made several international contacts last night.

Didn’t even go to the water...sat in my driveway with s5 or higher QRM and tuned it all out. I didn’t even right my antenna...left it tied to the pickup bed

Did this experiment also account for the sale on your favorite beer yesterday?


Yeah. I couldn’t believe it either. I’d be running with other men in identical trucks and of the 5 or 6, several had radio Rigs as new and nice or better than mine (we got to competing after awhile).

Headed west from Junction, TX we’d cut north at Fort Stockton to Monahans. The last 10-15 miles WB on IH10 we could usually pick up some of the others on that NB road.

The others with me couldn’t believe I was talking with one had just left Monahans southbound. Till they heard me across the other man’s telephone. (His Radio by a different tech(.

This was easily 30 air-miles or better.

Their trucks rigs no less than mine, remember. Sometimes better equipment. Same shop did install (Clays).

Just didn’t have the ears.

I had advance word today about wrecks in both directions thru Springfield IL. Same reason.

EserBee, can’t imagine without DSP.

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[2NC995]

Did this experiment also account for the sale on your favorite beer yesterday?

Haha, I can work Sporadic E from the driveway without much bother, but it’s rare to have propagation so strong as to make a dozen 4000+ mile contacts sitting in the drive with the AC rolling.

You better believe I had a cold one.

I'm really happy with how this mobile came together.

 

[2NC995]

Yeah. I couldn’t believe it either. I’d The others with me couldn’t believe I southbound....This was easily 30 air-miles or better.

Do you find that other driver’s sometimes haven’t the foggiest notion of 11M capabilities?

Reminds me of a long time ago when I first started in radio. Band is virtually silent, but on Ch 19 I hear two drivers.

I listen as they chat back and forth, both showing me an S9+. I heard mile markers at first, and then some street names I knew weren’t nearby.

Of course, there was no interstate or mile marker system nearby either...I’m in “Down East” North Carolina sitting in my pickup...4 watt radio and a magnet mount Hustler.

After 15 minutes or so of listening I had to know where they were, and broke my silence.

They’d just exited I81 onto 12 headed towards Ogdensburg NY.

I got back to them and said, “oh wow, I’m in NC, must be some skip today”.

They got so damned mad at I could hear it in their voices. They didn’t believe me; not for half a heartbeat.

Of course, I got a chuckle out it all...

 

[kopcicle]

Do you find that other driver’s sometimes haven’t the foggiest notion of 11M capabilities?

I once had to stop at a pay phone and give the number to a station in Detroit . It still took a little bit to convince them.

 

[2NC995]

I once had to stop at a pay phone and give the number to a station in Detroit . It still took a little bit to convince them.

That’s pretty extreme...haha!

Some also don’t believe mobiles can talk far. I’ve been a mobile operator my whole radio life...and sometimes derided by non-believers. Lol.

 

[groundwire]

There used to be a guy that made custom center consoles that would angle down from under the dash to the transmission hump. Made out of really nice tiger maple style wood, cut outs for what radio and meters you want. They were bad ass. The pics are still online if you google cb radio console. He stop making them years ago, heard he went to prison. Anyway i wish i had a shop because thats the product thats missing in our hobby and i guarantee business would be good.

 

[2NC995]

There used to be a guy that made custom center consoles that would angle down from under the dash to the transmission hump. Made out of really nice tiger maple style wood, cut outs for what radio and meters you want. They were bad ass. The pics are still online if you google cb radio console. He stop making them years ago, heard he went to prison. Anyway i wish i had a shop because thats the product thats missing in our hobby and i guarantee business would be good.

I have more tied up in a wood shop than I care to count....but I'm not looking to play, lol.

 

[Slowmover]

Do you find that other driver’s sometimes haven’t the foggiest notion of 11M capabilities?

Reminds me of a long time ago when I first started in radio. Band is virtually silent, but on Ch 19 I hear two drivers.

I listen as they chat back and forth, both showing me an S9+. I heard mile markers at first, and then some street names I knew weren’t nearby.

Of course, there was no interstate or mile marker system nearby either...I’m in “Down East” North Carolina sitting in my pickup...4 watt radio and a magnet mount Hustler.

After 15 minutes or so of listening I had to know where they were, and broke my silence.

They’d just exited I81 onto 12 headed towards Ogdensburg NY.

I got back to them and said, “oh wow, I’m in NC, must be some skip today”.

They got so damned mad at I could hear it in their voices. They didn’t believe me; not for half a heartbeat.

Of course, I got a chuckle out it all...

Most of those guys I ran with had never really been out of South Texas. The area south of San Antonio is pretty big already. From Brownsville in the Valley, San Antonio is 300-miles to the north.

The rest of America thinks of places like Nashville or Memphis as being down south.

Yet Amarillo is on the same E-W Interstate as those two cities But from Amarillo dead-south to Brownsville is almost nine hundred miles depending on the roads chosen.

Charlotte, NC to Miami, FL isn’t nearly as far. And is Interstate the whole way. Amarillo to Brownsville is almost all state or US highways.

So these guys live far out of the traffic lanes. Not much exposure.

Oil field (Radio) was a wake-up. A funny one.

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[2NC995]

Small update...

Finally got around to installing some ferrite at the antenna feed point. I knew I had some common mode issues to deal with, and I hoped that would work. Still not sure that 5 beads is enough, but I went with 1/2” 31 mix from Palomar Engineering. Squeezing them into the headliner wasn’t easy...not a lot of room in that space.

What I did not realize is how much they would quiet my receive. Engine noise is all but gone, no more clickity-clack from windshield wipers, etc. Not even my goal, but wow! Worth it for that alone.

Now I’ve got a tiny little project box and some ancillary components, and hopefully this week I can get all that assembled into a small remote for the amplifier. I plan to use mine to control the fans and power on, as I have the SSB delay disabled.

Then once that’s out of the way, I’ll get the cables wrapped in loom and get some pictures up.