Ham Radio in A/S

[53flyingcloud]

Since 1959, still holder of the original call of KN4NEH..
Today's K4NEH..
Who would have ever guessed the "world of changes" since that time??

[ArtStream]

KC2TQU here

[Royce]

Well they are not in an Airstream but I just scored a HW-101, also antenna tuner, 102 amplifier, and a Halicrafters 77. Just need to make room for them on the desk and get an antenna up.

K0RKK

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Royce

Well they are not in an Airstream but I just scored a HW-101, also antenna tuner, 102 amplifier, and a Halicrafters 77. Just need to make room for them on the desk and get an antenna up.

K0RKK

Congrats Royce,
I had a lot of fun with an HW-101 that I built, but that was a a long time ago.
Sometimes I miss the good old days.
Happy Holidays,
Ken W7TS

[Airboss]

Originally Posted by Royce

Well they are not in an Airstream but I just scored a HW-101, also antenna tuner, 102 amplifier, and a Halicrafters 77. Just need to make room for them on the desk and get an antenna up.

K0RKK

Very nice... I have a few old Hammarlunds....Had a big AM set up a few years back...

[Mariposa Jim]

Hi, KF6WKU in Mariposa,CA. I am looking for a way to instal an Multi Freg Antenna on my AS without it being obnoxious to others in the campground. At home I run a ICOM 749 with aN S9 Vertical, very effective. I have been thinking of taking it with me on trips, any other ideas??? While on the road I monitor 146.52 anyone else use it ot monitor??

[K4KEP-SPENCE]

Use pair of mast to mast clamps to mount vertical ant on jack. I use this on several trailers.

[Cracker]

I'm considering a TransWorld Explorer for portable use with the Airstream - and for semi-permanent installation as a base antenna at home. When camping, if I elect to use the TS-2000 inside - rather than on the picnic table under the awning - I'll need to have a convenient entry for both the coax and the control wire to the antenna switch. Any suggestions? The control wire is the more difficult entry since I'm not aware of any good "multi-wire" disconnects. I'd rather pass both leads through some kind of "thru-wall" pipe that could be capped when not in use.

[DreamStreamr]

Originally Posted by Mariposa Jim

Hi, KF6WKU in Mariposa,CA. I am looking for a way to instal an Multi Freg Antenna on my AS without it being obnoxious to others in the campground. At home I run a ICOM 749 with aN S9 Vertical, very effective. I have been thinking of taking it with me on trips, any other ideas??? While on the road I monitor 146.52 anyone else use it ot monitor??

Jim,
We spent a week in February at Hamcation 2010 in Orlando parked with almost 50 rigs of other RV Service Net members. At least six of them had these new Eagle 1 or other brand telescoping fiberglas antennas with 33-43' poles. Around a dozen had Tarheel or High Sierra motorized to their ladders or on the roof on Lift and Lay mounts. A half dozen had Cushdraft or Butternut antennas on a tilt-up mount off the back end. The rest had Hamsticks or other in various configs like vertical or dipoles.

I mounted a 40m hamstick grounded to my truck's hitch. Wasn't a good setup. I changed to a High Sierra 1800 on same location and didn't do very well most of the time although had a very clean contact early one morning to Ireland from downtown Charlotte NC. Finally I changed the High Sierra 1800 to the Lift and Lay mount (from WB0W) on the Airstream's roof. WOW!

I can easily hit all the normal places on 20m and 40m (most anywhere on North America, most all European countries, and top of South America.
Everywhere we go I scan the area for treetops to see if I can throw my g5rvjr dipole up somewhere. It's great when I can but I only get to use it a couple weeks a year. When I do? Way louder than my motorized vertical. My High Sierra doesn't compare to a good high and long dipole nor especially to a beam, but for mobile it is darned nice.

73,
N5RTG Jim

[Airboss]

I will post some pics of my ant. set-up on my A/S when the wx permits here in Michigan

[DreamStreamr]

We always monitor 146.52 on the road, and occasionally have fun conversations with other hams. Sometimes we are traveling same direction, sometimes not, and they see our antennae and call us out. Our trailer's North Carolina license plate # is N5RTG, so before they see anything else they know it's a call sign.

We're gonna add a sign or bumper sticker saying "146.52" -- hams'll know what to do with it. N4RTG and I crossed the country two years ago in two rigs, talking to each other on this simplex freq. Every now and then we'd get a breaking station and enjoy meeting someone from this town or that. It was neat, some good contacts out there.

One of them saved the day for us. We'd been warned against towing through Oklahoma City on I-40, so rough on our friends' trailers who had gone through a couple of weeks earlier. Debbie and I heard some guys rag chewing on simplex as we approached. We asked for local information and they came back and gave us perfect navigation on 540 or some other southern loop, it was great.

Our truck's Kenwood radio is dual band and the other band is usually on aprs. We finally two weeks ago added a gps (gps18pc) input for the radio so our location is dynamically updated.

Be careful when you invite full-timers to come see you -- they'll probably take you up on it. At least with this setup, you'll know when we're gonna be at your doorstep 'cause you can watch our progress.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Cracker

I'm considering a TransWorld Explorer for portable use with the Airstream - and for semi-permanent installation as a base antenna at home. When camping, if I elect to use the TS-2000 inside - rather than on the picnic table under the awning - I'll need to have a convenient entry for both the coax and the control wire to the antenna switch. Any suggestions? The control wire is the more difficult entry since I'm not aware of any good "multi-wire" disconnects. I'd rather pass both leads through some kind of "thru-wall" pipe that could be capped when not in use.

I bought one of those used last spring. But I have not tried to use it yet.
One of the things I noticed in the manual was: "Do not use within 50 feet of a large metal object."
I'm guessing that includes a 31 foot Airstream. When the weather improves some, I think I put it up in the driveway near the trailer and see what happens. I guess the trailer will detune it some.

As far as getting wire into the trailer, I haven't figured that out yet, but if I come up with a good idea, I will post it here.

73,
Ken

[Ag&Au]

While on the road I monitor 146.52 anyone else use it ot monitor??[/QUOTE]

When traveling I always monitor 146.52, 223.5 and 446.0. Hardly ever hear anyone else. When I have the APRS on, I use tone alert. I have had a few QSOs that way.

&3,
Ken W7TS

[Airstream25]

I occasionally monitor 146.52 but it seems pretty quiet. It you want more action, tune in to the nearby repeaters as you travel. The ARRL Repeater Directory will give you the info.

[pacer]

Hello all,

N7DD- Airstream Land Yacht 33. Tucson, Arizona.

[joecolao]

While at Hamcation in Orlando in February I purchase a used High Sierra 1500 from a friend.
The next day I set it up on the back of my 1992 34' Airstream Trailer.
I have been getting great reports with it.
I made my own mounting system and it is working great.

[DreamStreamr]

We drilled through the aluminum and plywood separating the fridge exterior compartment from the trailer's cabin. This puts us immediately under the dinette bench atop the wheel well, with between one and two inches vert. clearance.

Pulled two coax cables and a control circuit through one hole, and another coax through the other. Plugged the penetration thoroughly.

One coax is a 24" jumper between the fridge compartment and the antenna switch mounted on the interior fwd face of the wheel well. The switch chooses the roof-top vertical or the infrequently seen g5rvjr dipole (the palm tree resorts don't allow stringing dipoles anywhere more than 18' above street level).

The other two coax cables string down from roof via the fridge vent chase, are strapped out of the way to one side so they don't chafe on the fins or hot pipes behind fridge. One cable is HF, the other is Hustler LM270 VHF/UHF mounted atop the fridge vent cover.

73,
N5RTG Jim

[Mariposa Jim]

I listen to 146.42 while on the road. We will be going to Wisconson this summer and then on to southern Missouri. We will be gone about 6 weeks.

[Tom Bray]

While I was rebuilding my AS I installed 2 coax cables that have connectors in the back. One of them goes to a Texas Bug Catcher, the other is a spare for whatever else I can come up with. Where the TV antenna used to come in I put an NMO connector and 2m/440 antenna on the roof, that goes to an Icom 2720.

I also like to do the VHF contesting so I have a rotator system that mounts on the tongue, goes up 20'. On there I have 2M, 6M, 70cm, and 23cm antennas. There is a mountain top campground nearby that we go to for VHF/UHF contests.

When traveling, I monitor 146.52 plus the DStar simplex channel (don't remember what that is right now) and sometimes play with APRS.

Tom
WB8COX

[RickDavis]

I guess I will weigh in here also.
I am running an Icom 706 mk II and a Ameritrin ALS 500 in the trailer. Use a seperate radio on 2 meters.
I have 2 short pipes on the rear bumper. One has a High Sierra Screwdriver for times I don't want to put up a biggger antenna The other one gets a Hustler 5 BTV for longer stops. Since I operate mostly 75 meters size does make a difference.
Have 2 meter 1/4 wave on the roof and also a cellular antenna.
As we are boondockers, power is provided by 2 golf cart batteries and 250 watts of solar panels backed up occasionally with a Honda Generator.
Pretty much the same set up in the truck except there is also a APRS tracker so friends know where we are.
We usually do not monitor 2 meters but probably should.

K8DOC
dry camping at Big Bass Lake in the Ocala Nat. Forest. FL.