Ham Radio in A/S

[GM Airstream]

here is a question for all those who have been thinking about putting ham radio in their A/S...

where to put it... bedroom, front... next to the couch ?

Should you plan on one radio that does it all or several so that you have HF, UHF, VHF...

Should you also plan on putting in a CB radio...

Thus you have a commucation section in the trailer ?

[rmkrum]

Our AS has a nice work desk in the rear. 2007 was last year this was available in the International models as far as I know. The FT-897 head and extension speaker is there, and we fished the cables, after many swear words, to the main unit in the streetside closet. Tidy and out of sight wires. Antenna connections in fridge compartment with a switch to go to an ATAS-120A screwdriver antenna on a lift and lay mount real soon now. I need to build the remote coax switch board.

[switz]

It often takes military vocabulary to augment the effort to install new equipment.....

[Rocinante]

Definitely true though it’s most effective when there’s nobody else around to hear me use it. You know, something like a secret weapon. 🤣

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One significant question - is ham radio a family activity? If so, does more than one person operate at the same time?

With the advent of "remote faceplate" radios, stashing the radio has become a lot easier. The gotcha is running the blasted remote cable. Getting that done without removing rivets is a pretty high priority for me That combination of things has made the sofa in the Classic a pretty easy choice. Lots of room underneath for gear. Quick shot to the battery. Easy run to hitch mounted antenna(s). Not much hassle to get the controls where you can see them. That all sounds great ... if I could just get far enough down the "to do" list to execute the plan

Bob

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by switz

It often takes military vocabulary to augment the effort to install new equipment.....

Amen to that. I'm quite sure my active duty Army son expanded his vocabulary with a whole bunch of Vietnam Era Navy Sailor terminology. It took three tries to find a usable route under the kitchen...managed to avaid scorching paint, but just barely...

But we got it done, after pulling off a lot of panels under the kitchen, and blindly snaking the cable under the shower pan to get to the center line in the rear and into the drawers under the right of the desk. From there it was easy, and it looks very tidy--just a computer grommet drilled into the right back corner of the desk with wires coming up there, and the speaker mounted close by. Microphone clips to the shower wall. It's a very nice operating position. If I wanted two operators, I'd rig something in the dinette or the nightstand in front by the entrance door..

External portable antennas can be coupled up by opening the upper fridge outside hatch, and the pair of SO-239 extensions are installed through the closet wall into the fridge space to keep them dry.

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by GM Airstream

here is a question for all those who have been thinking about putting ham radio in their A/S...

where to put it... bedroom, front... next to the couch ?

Should you plan on one radio that does it all or several so that you have HF, UHF, VHF...

Should you also plan on putting in a CB radio...

Thus you have a communication section in the trailer ?

If you do a CB, it needs to be in the tow vehicle for use underway.

We plan a VHF/UHF (FTM-350) and appropriate antennas in the TV. There is just not a lot of room in the cockpit to mount stuff, and with GPS HUD (Hooks to Navigon GPS navigation app on the iPhone), the iPhone mount, and the other glass cockpit stuff up there, I'm running out of room...

[Rocinante]

I use a nice little Icom ID51A in the truck for 2M / 70cm, hooked up to a lip-mount antenna on the hood via some RG-whatever-it-was. I had a shop make up a very simple dashboard mount to which I can clip the radio, and have a microphone so I don't have to pick up the radio to transmit. Seems to work quite well whenever I can find someone on a repeater that I've discovered via the R-Finder app.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Before you put a half dozen radios in the TV - carefully consider who really will be able to use all of them. Towing is never a totally simple process. Throwing in multiple radios on top of the ... wow .... I'd suggest that the co-piolt probably should have access to (and license(s) for) for the radios.

Bob

[Rocinante]

Good points. I have to admit that I don’t fiddle with all that radio stuff while driving!

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Good points. I have to admit that I don’t fiddle with all that radio stuff while driving!

Just wants that Tokyo-by-night wonder world of glittering lights, sound effects and multiple cockpit conversations. Ha!

Y'all slow down up ahead so's I can catch up. After we tackle him, I want to be the one to slip the noose over the head of the guy who thought "blue & bright" was a sound engineering decision for night lighting.

.

[rmkrum]

AMEN!

Blue and bright does NOT belong in the cockpit of anything. All my radios are set to reasonable colors, usually red or the like, inconspicuous location, and dim. Essentially just there if I need it, but not wrecking night vision.

If I need to heavily use a radio, I pull over and park in a safe area--towing or not. It's just safer that way.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

AMEN!

Blue and bright does NOT belong in the cockpit of anything. All my radios are set to reasonable colors, usually red or the like, inconspicuous location, and dim. Essentially just there if I need it, but not wrecking night vision.

If I need to heavily use a radio, I pull over and park in a safe area--towing or not. It's just safer that way.

Hi

The seats in the truck aren't all that bad. If I'm going to kick back and chat, the lounger in the AS is still my pick There's also the quick access to the fridge and the greater privacy while consuming a beverage .... burp ....

Bob

[cwf]

HAm in a can or canned ham?

[rmkrum]

“Silver Ham Shack” hence the official name....

And fridge and bathroom in easy reach is a plus!

[GM Airstream]

While this looks like mostly antenna positions....

what I have a question on is where to put the radio in the airstream trailer...

some say bedroom..(ops other half may have some say about that noise going on while they are trying to sleep...)

Some say up at the front by the couch or dining table... but again the other half may have some objection to taking up table space while in the kitchen.

So where is the best spot to put the radio and why...

.... and why didn't airstream build a place to put the commucatins radio in... as most at the events use CB or other... how come Airstream still hasn't caugh on that is what campers use for telephones in the campground... ????

Sure cell phones have taken over.. and maybe that it direction that the NEW breed of airstreamers are going... simple and easy and portable to take with you... but, unless you have a good cell site... they don't work worth beans... so back to FRS, CB or ham radio... so we have seen..

[Al and Missy]

My Icom 706 (original HF, 6m, 2m) is going under the left sofa arm. Remote kit cable to the front panel and a speaker on the top of the flip up table housing at the left front of the sofa. Power cable over to the power panel at the left end of the sofa. Antenna coaxes will go out the hitch wiring hole under the sofa center, under the trailer to the fridge area and up through the fridge to the roof. I am working on a design for a homebrew version of the tarheel motorized lift and lay mount for a screwdriver antenna with a shiny polished aluminum tube, naturally!

Al

[rmkrum]

Our 2007 22 foot International CCD has a desk in the rear. It’s the operating position where we put the head of the FT-857. The main unit is in the wardrobe closet. Tidy, and the noise is far from the bedroom area.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by GM Airstream

While this looks like mostly antenna positions....

what I have a question on is where to put the radio in the airstream trailer...

some say bedroom..(ops other half may have some say about that noise going on while they are trying to sleep...)

Some say up at the front by the couch or dining table... but again the other half may have some objection to taking up table space while in the kitchen.

So where is the best spot to put the radio and why...

.... and why didn't airstream build a place to put the commucatins radio in... as most at the events use CB or other... how come Airstream still hasn't caugh on that is what campers use for telephones in the campground... ????

Sure cell phones have taken over.. and maybe that it direction that the NEW breed of airstreamers are going... simple and easy and portable to take with you... but, unless you have a good cell site... they don't work worth beans... so back to FRS, CB or ham radio... so we have seen..

Hi

I suspect the answer would be .... put it here right along with the sound system stuff. (Yes, I'm looking at my trailer, but most of them get sound gear in a similar sort of place these days). Just reach up, open the door to the overhead bin and stand there (in the middle of everything) while chatting ...

Yes, in my case one could spend a bunch of time mounting a control head on the wall to the fridge. Then you could sit down and chat.... with the control head somewhere behind and above you. Is that really better? ... not very clear that it is.

Wiring up the rigs didn't get finished when we "had to" hit the road back in June. Hopefully I'll get back to it when we stop traveling in November .... One *could* ask why don't you finish things up on the road? There always seems to be fun stuff to do instead .... I guess that's why we travel around

Leading candidates for operating are still the sofa and the dining table. Best guess is the HF rig will go on the dining table and the VHF gear will mount under the sofa. It's still a bit unclear just where the control head for the VHF will go beyond "around in there". The HF radio comes out and goes away to accommodate meals. (at least that was the plan back in June).

Again, all very "my trailer" specific, but most installations will be that way.

Bob

[gklott]

For HF, we have our Codan Envoy X2 transceiver mounted under the bench seat in the curb front. Since the Codan is on the trailer's wired ethernet, I can use the Codan 2240 SmartLink and control head microphone anywhere in or around the trailer via the trailer LAN/WLAN. The transceiver connects to a Codan 3040 whip antenna mounted on the front frame.

Having the HF radio on the trailer LAN provides all kinds of options. We can sit outside and use the Codan virtual control point (VCP) software for complete, remote radio operation. If you have an Android phone, there is the XTEND smartphone app.

This setup also allows us to use the HF radio in the QX80 via our trailer's Sierra Wireless MP70 router WiFI and the SmartLink, VCP, or XTEND. However, we rarely leave the 3040 antenna mounted while traveling.

For VHF/UHF, around the trailer we use Tera TR-7400 UHF dMR portables. We are primarily on the dMR simplex channels or on 446.0 analog. When traveling in the QX80, we use one of the portables, hand mic, a mag mount antenna, and a 2W in, 25W out amplifier.

We see some families using the GMRS or FRS portables. Parents often give a portable to their kids who are playing around the campground.

I think most RVers use cell phones now while hitching and during other activities.

73/gus