80s accessories that are still cool

I've been thinking real hard about getting a mobile ham unit. If you have one in your bullnose you should start a thread detailing it. Or put it here. Either way, I would be interested to see it!

TheScatch wrote

I have forgone the CB and keep either a UHF/VHF in each vehicle or a GMRS mobile unit that is capable of listening to NOAA, especially since we are in the hurricane zone. Its FM vs AM at that point and you have much smaller antennas this route. Both require a license at this point in time, granted many places violate that with bubble pack radios, but I still personally like UHF/GMRS better than CB and VHF better than UHF for really reaching out.

Jacob84 wrote

I've been thinking real hard about getting a mobile ham unit. If you have one in your bullnose you should start a thread detailing it. Or put it here. Either way, I would be interested to see it!

TheScatch wrote

I have forgone the CB and keep either a UHF/VHF in each vehicle or a GMRS mobile unit that is capable of listening to NOAA, especially since we are in the hurricane zone. Its FM vs AM at that point and you have much smaller antennas this route. Both require a license at this point in time, granted many places violate that with bubble pack radios, but I still personally like UHF/GMRS better than CB and VHF better than UHF for really reaching out.

Right now my intent is to run an antenna top dead center on the cab as it offers the best ground plane. Unit to be mounted in the center of the high-liner headliner. Ill run cabling down one of the pillars and tie into a fuse block under the hood. Due to COVID-19 my HAM test was canceled and they have not been doing them for a couple months now. I do have my GMRS and my commercial in the mean time but that wont suffice.

I do have some concerns about the metal thickness there and if it would cause any issues but I doubt it will be an issue. My dad had a federal street hawk light bar/siren and antenna on his '86 with no issues.

I put a 2 meter in my Bronco and a 2 meter/70 cm in a car I used to have. Wanted to try it on a road trip since CB can be really quiet.

Well drove about 1800 miles I made two contacts. It’s as quiet as the citizens band. I was disappointed. Pulled the radios, sold one and put CB’s back in.

Don’t want to be discouraging but that’s my experience. If you install them I hope it works good for you.

Yes, the metal is pretty thin. I've thought about hiding/relocating the oem radio antenna and putting the ham antenna there. I don't know if that will work well though, I'm new to the ham world

TheScatch wrote

I do have some concerns about the metal thickness there and if it would cause any issues but I doubt it will be an issue. My dad had a federal street hawk light bar/siren and antenna on his '86 with no issues.

grumpin wrote

I put a 2 meter in my Bronco and a 2 meter/70 cm in a car I used to have. Wanted to try it on a road trip since CB can be really quiet.

Well drove about 1800 miles I made two contacts. It’s as quiet as the citizens band. I was disappointed. Pulled the radios, sold one and put CB’s back in.

Don’t want to be discouraging but that’s my experience. If you install them I hope it works good for you.

You're completely right, I don't think I'll hear much traffic. Main thing for me is emergency communications where there is no phone service, natural disasters, and keeping up with the weather.  If something happens at home I can drive on top of the ridge behind my house and hit one of the two repeaters I live in between. Or if I'm deep in the Ouachita National Forest broke down or hurt I can call for help.

Jacob84 wrote

grumpin wrote

I put a 2 meter in my Bronco and a 2 meter/70 cm in a car I used to have. Wanted to try it on a road trip since CB can be really quiet.

Well drove about 1800 miles I made two contacts. It’s as quiet as the citizens band. I was disappointed. Pulled the radios, sold one and put CB’s back in.

Don’t want to be discouraging but that’s my experience. If you install them I hope it works good for you.

You're completely right, I don't think I'll hear much traffic. Main thing for me is emergency communications where there is no phone service, natural disasters, and keeping up with the weather.  If something happens at home I can drive on top of the ridge behind my house and hit one of the two repeaters I live in between. Or if I'm deep in the Ouachita National Forest broke down or hurt I can call for help.

There is that, and for us personally, our future in-laws live outside of cellphone tower range. While we are up there packing around the only way to contact each other is via radio.

Fender mounts are popular just like bed rail mounts. The problem you get is ground plane. If you don't have a good even ground plane you affect the lobe of the antenna, basically turning an omni directional antenna into a directional one. Sometimes you just don't have a choice but with 2m (VHF, HAM freq's and NOAA found here) / 70cm (UHF - FRS and GMRS found in this range), the higher the antenna and the better the ground plane the better the performance. You can add significant range simply from going from the trunk, to the roof of a car.

Uhf and vhf antennas are so much better. I took the 2m/70cm and put it in my garage (kind of a shack), and put the mag mount antenna I used on the freezer out there and it does great.

I’ve been around uhf and vhf in my former career (aircraft mechanic). Different in cars and compared to CB’s. Although the little President Bill CB I put in the Xterra has impressed me. I’ve got a President Andy coming to put in the truck.

I have a Cobra 148 GTL in the truck now. I wanted something I didn’t have to fidget with so I can concentrate on driving. The Andy is pretty basic.

I could sure see wanting those for the comm you guys are talking about. I have my General license so I could use more freqs on the 10 meter, when we get the sunspots again. I don’t think I’ll test any higher.

Had to look up Ohyoucheetah National Forest! AFAIK I’ve only been to Arkansas once and that was an overnighter at Little Rock Air Force Base. I’ve never seen so many C130’s at one place!

which is why I have a magnetic mount antenna at the rear part of my cab.  Once I get my truck painted how ever I wont be putting a magnet back on the roof so I am thinking of trying a roll bar mount and then running a ground strap from the roll bar to my frame since I have a flare side and the roll bar will be mounting into wood.

I figured if the antenna is mounted on a roll bar clamp on the front side it should put the antenna over the rear of my cab.  Not as far forward as my magnetic mount but it should still have a good transmission as it does still have the metallic roof below.

Now I have seen it stated it can cause a forward transmission while reducing rear transmission but at the same time the reading I did stated that the more antenna you have above your cab the better the transmission.  Well with a roll bar mount all of the antenna will be above the cab so it kind of contradicts one another when you start reading more into it.

These might help with those turbine wheels. On a travel trailer forum I use people rave about these balancers.

https://www.centramatic.com/

Rusty, Firestik has a downloadable guide on their website, you may have seen it. I’ve found it to be very useful and informative.

I’ve tried links and it goes to their main website. But I’ll try it.

http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Cb&swr-18pg.pdf

AM is kind of weird to me, I’ve put radios in and did all I could to get it perfect and it would be crappy. I’ve thrown things together for a temporary setup and it’s great.

Sounds like you have a good plan.

Edit: The link worked!

Around here we call it Wash-ee-taw, unless you're real backwoods then its Warsh-ee-taww lol. It's a place of one name but many interpretations of pronunciation It's an awesome place. The airforce likes to train over Lake Ouachita so it's pretty common to see fighter jets, helicopters, gunships, and cargo planes fly over the house and over the lake.... especially cool when they're barely above the tree tops

grumpin wrote

Had to look up Ohyoucheetah National Forest! AFAIK I’ve only been to Arkansas once and that was an overnighter at Little Rock Air Force Base. I’ve never seen so many C130’s at one place!

Thanks! I've looked into those briefly. They're not cheap but they're supposed to be really good. I got the wheels balanced by a good shop after they put some 33s on the turbines last week.....wheel see how it goes this time around (pun intended). Putting them on the truck this Friday. Might be investing in some centramtics, we shall see

Gsmblue wrote

These might help with those turbine wheels. On a travel trailer forum I use people rave about these balancers.

https://www.centramatic.com/

Does this grille count as 80s? Old picture of when I saw the truck for the first time

That’s cool! Lot’s of indian names in the northwest, that you have to learn how to pronounce.

And then there’s the Willamette Valley, (wi lam it), lot’s of people wait to pounce on newbies when they say william ette. Had that happen to me, told the lady I was impressed with her welcoming skills!

grumpin wrote

...lot’s of people wait to pounce on newbies when they say william ette. Had that happen to me, told the lady I was impressed with her welcoming skills!

Ha! I used to have a friend in Myrtle Creek, Oregon and the first time I actually spoke to him on the phone back about 20 years ago, the very first thing he did was correct my pronunciation of Oregon...ha. I'll never forget it, he said "Wait, hold up....first things first, Oregon ain't gone nowhere! It's Ore-Gin, not Ore-Gone".

Maybe it's a Canadian thing, I dunno, but I had never heard it called anything but "Ore-Gone". lol.

Cory, must be a canadian thing.....like hockey.

Here in the South, if you mention hockey, or say Ore-Gone, you'll get some sideways looks. Lol

Rembrant wrote

Ha! I used to have a friend in Myrtle Creek, Oregon and the first time I actually spoke to him on the phone back about 20 years ago, the very first thing he did was correct my pronunciation of Oregon...ha. I'll never forget it, he said "Wait, hold up....first things first, Oregon ain't gone nowhere! It's Ore-Gin, not Ore-Gone".

Maybe it's a Canadian thing, I dunno, but I had never heard it called anything but "Ore-Gone". lol.

Ha! Yeah there’s that. My cousin in Tennessee says Ore gone! Everybody thinks it rains all the time in Oregon. It does on the west side. People forget or don’t know that most of the state isn’t a rain forest.

Then there's Ouray Colorado.  I've heard it OO-ray, oo-RAY, YOU-ray, you-RAY, YOUR-ay, your-AY and maybe one or two other ways as well.  And I've seen "definitive" answers to that that differ from each other.

And if anyone remembers the TV show "Coach" where Craig T Nelson played the head coach at fictitious Minnesota State University (although since that time Mankato State University was renamed Minnesota State).  I remember an episode where they were going to Shakopee (a town south of the Twin Cities).  But instead of pronouncing it SHOCK-o-pee they pronounced it sha-KO-pee.  OK, you made us Minnesotans like the show by setting it in our state.  But now you've offended us.

grumpin wrote

Ha! Yeah there’s that. My cousin in Tennessee says Ore gone! Everybody thinks it rains all the time in Oregon. It does on the west side. People forget or don’t know that most of the state isn’t a rain forest.

Right. I suppose a lot of people get confused between Portland and the rest of Oregon. I've spent a little bit of time there and love the state, but I never did get to see any eastern parts of Oregon. The Hells Canyon area was on my bucket list for years, but I never did get there.