Another Truck Radio Question

I have a question for you guys that,are hams. I have my general ticket and was very active on 10 and 20 meters digital (mostly JT modes) before I started this. Now I miss it, as,well as just chewing the fat at times. My question is do any of you use a mobile 10 meter on your truck? I'm thinking if I tune the antenna well I should be able to work some local vox and maybe a little dx JT while I'm stopped.

And in reference to another post about CBS, I have made contacts as far away as Sevastopol from Pensacola, FL on 10 meters, which is very close to.the cb bands. And I was running 5 watts. Of course it was digital, and I was using a somewhat better antenna than you can mount on a truck. But it can be done.

Well, DUH! I forgot to put in a sig:

I'm John, KM4EAA

KM4EAA de KW4CR

rr

GE OM UR 599 HW?

OP JOHN QTH NORFOLK VA

BTU de KW4CR

John, I'm not yet in a truck - I start training at the Community College in 11 days.

I have an IC-7000 in my go kit for portable work and a RS-HTX-10 for a back-up on 10 meters.

You can pick up hamsticks for any band (under the MFJ label) for under $20 new or for $5 or less at any hamfest.

So yes, it should be easy enough to set up a modest station to work during your stops. Of course you could also strap a painters pole or other telescoping pole to the tractor and get a simple end-fed wire up a bit higher to improve your gain and take-off angle.

I've got a 32' kite pole that collapses to just 42". With just 32' of #18 wire and a 9:1 unun I have WAS and DXCC from my portable station.

JT65 is a fun mode, although a bit slow for my taste. PSK31 is another good low power digi mode. RTTY is a lot of fun if your able to run a bit more power (still low power in terms of contesting, just not QRP).

I hope to run my 2 meter mobile in the truck. I have a TinyTrack4 and GPS for APRS so it should be easier to find me once I'm OTR.

73 de KW4CR

KM4EAA de KW4CR

rr

GE OM UR 599 HW?

OP JOHN QTH NORFOLK VA

BTU de KW4CR

John, I'm not yet in a truck - I start training at the Community College in 11 days.

I have an IC-7000 in my go kit for portable work and a RS-HTX-10 for a back-up on 10 meters.

You can pick up hamsticks for any band (under the MFJ label) for under $20 new or for $5 or less at any hamfest.

So yes, it should be easy enough to set up a modest station to work during your stops. Of course you could also strap a painters pole or other telescoping pole to the tractor and get a simple end-fed wire up a bit higher to improve your gain and take-off angle.

I've got a 32' kite pole that collapses to just 42". With just 32' of #18 wire and a 9:1 unun I have WAS and DXCC from my portable station.

JT65 is a fun mode, although a bit slow for my taste. PSK31 is another good low power digi mode. RTTY is a lot of fun if your able to run a bit more power (still low power in terms of contesting, just not QRP).

I hope to run my 2 meter mobile in the truck. I have a TinyTrack4 and GPS for APRS so it should be easier to find me once I'm OTR.

73 de KW4CR

KW4CR DE KM4EAA

rr

GE OM UR 599

OP JOHN QTH PENSACOLA FL

I am thinking maybe getting a rig I can run 2 meter as well as 10. Get an antenna selector and just go with it. Have an ICON 7200 at my QTH, but bringing it and all my assorted junk would be a huge waste of space. Plus finding a tree to throw an antenna in would be interesting.

Getting excited about getting back to it. Have run some PSK, fun for a rag chew. 15 contacts an hour on JT is fun in its own way. Might look at doing some RTTY as well, maybe 50 watts.

I'll probably run the same setup as you for tracking on 2meters.

73 KM4EAA

Don't know if it is official policy or not, but I think you guys are expected to speak English on this forum.

Don't know if it is official policy or not, but I think you guys are expected to speak English on this forum.

Yeah,

I was hoping to mix equal parts of amateur radio, CB radio, and OTR driver lingo but failed miserably.

I have a question for you guys that,are hams. I have my general ticket and was very active on 10 and 20 meters digital (mostly JT modes) before I started this. Now I miss it, as,well as just chewing the fat at times. My question is do any of you use a mobile 10 meter on your truck? I'm thinking if I tune the antenna well I should be able to work some local vox and maybe a little dx JT while I'm stopped.

And in reference to another post about CBS, I have made contacts as far away as Sevastopol from Pensacola, FL on 10 meters, which is very close to.the cb bands. And I was running 5 watts. Of course it was digital, and I was using a somewhat better antenna than you can mount on a truck. But it can be done.

I was in Munich and got a skip on a CB freq from Boston once. It was pretty cool :)

I was a morse code op. Thinking about getting my license and doing this. Kind of a drag they don't require it anymore.

Even though there is no longer a code requirement, there is still a lot of CW activity on all bands.

Many hams have told me that they only got their license because they didn't need code proficiency, but once they started operating they learned Morse on their own.

I'm no 35 wpm contestor, but I make plenty of contacts and rag chew at about 15 to 18 wpm.

I'm one of the new guys who didn't have to perform code for my license, but I am also one of those who learned code anyway. Hehe I'm more 8-10 wpm, but that's one of the things I want to do out here, practice.

Even though there is no longer a code requirement, there is still a lot of CW activity on all bands.

Many hams have told me that they only got their license because they didn't need code proficiency, but once they started operating they learned Morse on their own.

I'm no 35 wpm contestor, but I make plenty of contacts and rag chew at about 15 to 18 wpm.

I was only required to intercept morse code. I could copy about 30 gpm. Taught myself to send and not very fast :)