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Car / Vehicle VHF radio

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Who has used a VHF radio in their truck / buggy / rv ?

 

What Make / Model do you use / recommend?

How many watts do you recommend?

Any insight in approx cost / where to purchase would be helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legal Disclosure: I will not be using radios in this state / country

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It's all about the antenna man.  A 5 watt radio with a good antenna can get out father than a 50 watt with a cheap antenna.  That's the bottleneck, so spend your money there first before you go high watt.  Make sure that the antenna is matched to the frequency/band you'll be using.

These by Baofeng are good if you want to get started on-the-cheap with a higher watt mobile rig.

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I have a Yaesu FT-8800r, it cost around $300. The reason I picked this radio was that I could unlock it for transmission on any bands(not that I would ever do anything illegal like that), and its VHF/UHF, with dual VFOs. Then I slapped a mag mount on the center of the roof of the truck - whatever was cheap at HRO.

Do you need VHF and UHF? VHF only radios can be had for cheap - like the FT-2900r(right now around $150, but seen it around $130 on sale).

Like Sneeker said, the antenna is key. You'll want to try to place it in the center of a large metal surface - like the center of the roof. If you aren't averse to drilling holes, that would be the best way because you will get a better ground plane - I'm going to do it soon with my truck and ditch the mag mount.

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Depends on what you're trying to do.  If you're in to ham radio as a hobby, then a dual-band or tri-band radio will probably be desirable.  I have a dual-band Kenwood in my truck, and all my HTs are tri-band Yeasus for example.

However, for dirt biking comms I happen to have an old 40 W Yeasu VHF only radio lying around that I'm going to toss into the motorhome for this winter season.  Most of the time when we're out dirt biking, I have my HT watching a VHF frequency anyway, so the single band radio in the RV will be all my wife needs to call us in for lunch or whatever (if she ever gets her license :) ).

I keep saying one of these days I'm going to put in a nice all mode HF mobile radio and a multi-band VHF/UHF radio too, but just haven't yet found a mobile HF radio that I really like.  That and I've been too lazy to deal with running the coax and power cables through the RV.

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I'd like this thread to be open to all suggestions as to what You use.

 

 

 

 

That said, my interest in radio is chase team, bike to bike and base to bike.  The first two frequencies being most used.

SDAR 146.505

Weatherman 151.625

D37 _______?

Baja Pits 154.980

Honda Pits 151.955

BFG Pits 153.395

Mag 7 153.380

BITD 151.490

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I've used my Yaesu VX170 5 watt HT with a simple magnet mount trucktop antenna and had clear conversation via Catalina repeater from my house in Mission Hills. Laguna as well.

I'm unsure about the other agencies you listed- are these folks using repeaters or simplex? If simplex, you'll want/need more power in a chase truck if you're more than a mile from them (assuming they're using hi-watt rigs themselves). On a bike, space and power is the key. I've been tempted to shoehorn a higher watt moblie rig into my bikes- the better to entertain you all- but form factor supports the HT.

 

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I just spent a week working with 50 watt vehicle radios in a well organized relay system to riders with 5 watt handhelds.  The pseudo "weatherman" was pumping 75 watts.  I was impressed with the coverage / safety / coordination that we could had.

 

My understanding on more powerful (>5 watt, say 7.5 or 10 watt) bike to bike radios is that the transmission capabilities aren't that much greater than a standard 5 watt.  Also, it will use up more batteries which may not be an issue for You because you don't go for very long these days anyways.

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Good antenna is a good thing.

 

However.

 

INSIDE a vehicle, I'll choose the crappiest external antenna over the Bestest radio mounted antenna any day.

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Just now, paulmbowers said:

Good antenna is a good thing.

 

However.

 

INSIDE a vehicle, I'll choose the crappiest external antenna over the Bestest radio mounted antenna any day.

Yes, a mobile radio inside a vehicle does not work. Getting even the shittiest $5 chinese mag mount will help.

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Just now, paulmbowers said:

 Copy says:

  • ** Does not work with Baofeng radios ***

Here's one that might be good for us - they are super flexible which means less chance of snapping it. Made by the guy who runs hamstudy.org so it goes to a good cause too. I've got one and it works great.

https://signalstuff.com/antennas/

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14 minutes ago, paulmbowers said:

 Copy says:

  • ** Does not work with Baofeng radios ***

Whoops!   THIS ONE Works for the Baofeng UV5RE

(Fixed previous link too)

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On 10/18/2016 at 4:59 PM, Goofy Footer said:

Who has used a VHF radio in their truck / buggy / rv ?

 

What Make / Model do you use / recommend?

How many watts do you recommend?

Any insight in approx cost / where to purchase would be helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legal Disclosure: I will not be using radios in this state / country

I have mobile radios in most of my vehicles. In the motorhome I have a Yaesu FT-8800 (same rig as mentioned in an earlier post), in the Xterra I have an FT-7800 dual band and in the RZR XP1000 I have an Icom vhf commercial radio. The advantage of a mobile unit besides power is that they generally have much better audio and a better receiver - improved sensitivity\selectivity. I find using an HT in the car awkward and generally a pain. Also there's the legality of it. Using an ht in the car will be construed by some Popo as the same as using a cellphone. They don't seem to get as excited about a hand mic.  As mentioned a good antenna with a good match will probably buy you more than raw power. If you are interested I've got a Yaesu FT-2900 VHF mobile in super mint condition that i'd be willing to part with. PM me .

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Yaesu FT-2900 VHF looks small enough to install in the abs pocket on a 990. If only one could easily use the Rugged with it. 

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1 hour ago, PbdBlue said:

I've got a Yaesu FT-2900 VHF

PM sent

 

1 hour ago, paulmbowers said:

Yaesu FT-2900 VHF looks small enough to install in the abs pocket on a 990. If only one could easily use the Rugged with it. 

What do you mean by this? 

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20 minutes ago, Goofy Footer said:

PM sent

 

What do you mean by this? 

It means there's no clear way to connect a unit like that to my Rugged Radios body/helmet harness, PTT, etc. 

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1 minute ago, paulmbowers said:

It means there's no clear way to connect a unit like that to my Rugged Radios body/helmet harness, PTT, etc. 

Your Rugged Body..

 

typo?

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Just now, paulmbowers said:

It means there's no clear way to connect a unit like that to my Rugged Radios body/helmet harness, PTT, etc. 

What you'd have to do is make your own - if Rugged Radios could give you a bare wire harness it could be done - there's an RJ45 for the mic that you can get the pinout for and a 3.5mm audio jack for a speaker on the back - it's not impossible, but it's not simple either.

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5 minutes ago, Daniel said:

What you'd have to do is make your own - if Rugged Radios could give you a bare wire harness it could be done - there's an RJ45 for the mic that you can get the pinout for and a 3.5mm audio jack for a speaker on the back - it's not impossible, but it's not simple either.

Well, sure. 

 

But it one thing I've learned about moto comms- they need to be modular and rapidly replaceable. Theses items fail fairly often, and I keep a small inventory of spares with me for my stuff and others. While I COULD make a custom harness, when it fails it's not easily replaced on-the-fly. 

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Just now, paulmbowers said:

Well, sure. 

 

But it one thing I've learned about moto comms- they need to be modular and rapidly replaceable. Theses items fail fairly often, and I keep a small inventory of spares with me for my stuff and others. While I COULD make a custom harness, when it fails it's not easily replaced on-the-fly. 

Exactly - it's kinda a huge pita. 

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At that point I'd probably be better off setting up with the Sena thing- interface the transceiver with phone, XM, etc. 

 

Big bike only, though. 

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