2018 Silverado/Sunday Funday pics...

[tunnelmot]

Seeing as how Sunday was such a beautiful day (in contrast to current events), wife and I decided to get some much need Vitamin D and clean our rides. In the process I figured I'd share some pics of my truck since the wax was applied and windows were clean

XTL5k 7/800------Regional 7/800meg public safety monitoring
XPR 4500 UHF---DMR ham (repeater and hotspot) and local UHF FD/EMS/commercial monitoring
Yaesu FTM100D-ham Fusion/airband/railroad/catch all analog rx. This is an underrated radio IMO
All of this is neatly packaged in a Havis universal box. Not a perfect setup, but I for sure enjoy it.


Antennas (f to r): Antennex 800mhz blade, Larsen 2/70b dualband, and PCTel UHF . All with Larsen UKD mounts. Ham radio, general monitoring, and occasional freelance news stringing along with a daily 100 mile commute.

 

[03msc]

Nice to see another Silvy driver running the Havis. I have the same. Looks good!

 

[W9WSS]

Are you happy using "transit-style" antennas? I've used them in the past and found them slightly less in performance than a typical 1/2 wave antenna. What have your results been?

Most people I know that deploy them are faced with low-clearance issues (garages, indoor parking, etc.) rather than leaving vehicles unprotected outside.

I do see that you have a gain-type antenna beside the two transit-style models. Do you have parking restrictions?

 

[wdz]

Love it; it looks great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tunnelmot]

Are you happy using "transit-style" antennas? I've used them in the past and found them slightly less in performance than a typical 1/2 wave antenna. What have your results been?

Most people I know that deploy them are faced with low-clearance issues (garages, indoor parking, etc.) rather than leaving vehicles unprotected outside.

I do see that you have a gain-type antenna beside the two transit-style models. Do you have parking restrictions?

Yes. I have been more than happy with both the PCTel UHF and the Antennex 800. I havn't experienced any degredation on UHF at all. I wont go as far to say it's "better", but no issues as compared to a 1/4 wave even though mfr specs show it as a gain model.
I think that a thick 1/2 wave would outperform both and have thought about going that route. The 800 receives many miles out of my primary site.

The middle 2/70 hands down outperforms ANY dual band whip I've ever tried. And I don't have to deal with parking garages luckily enough.

 

[mrweather]

The middle 2/70 hands down outperforms ANY dual band whip I've ever tried. And I don't have to deal with parking garages luckily enough.

That's been my experience as well. I've tried other dual-band antennas but nothing was as good as the Larsen.

 

[W9WSS]

What is the length of "the middle 2/70 Larsen" dual-bander? I did want to mention that the thicker the whip, the greater the bandwidth. I've been using Em-Wave 1/4 wave whips with "built-in" rubber springs for UHF and VHF. The UHF is cut for the center frequency of 446 MHz. It will transmit with maximum performance from 436-456 MHz. Hence, the VHF model cut for 146 MHz will transmit from 136-156 MHz just as well.

If you wish to be "adventurous," you can purchase the VHF Em-Wave rubber-coated spring 1/4 wave whip and cut it for 146 MHz. Not only will it act with the above VHF results, surprisingly, but it will also perform VERY well as a 3/4 wave whip on UHF from 436-456 MHz. I've used EM-Wave, replacing all my Laird antennas due to the Laird whips cracking through the plastic coil on all models. My vendor will no longer supply Laird antennas due to this cracking effect after in some instances a very short period of time.

Most of the antennas are EM-Wave, although there are a few Laird models still on my CVPI in the photo.

 

[PJH]

What is going on with this vehicle?

 

[W9WSS]

PJH, clarify, "What is going on with this vehicle?"

 

[R8000]

Nice to see another Silvy driver running the Havis. I have the same. Looks good!

Same here. 2019 LD with the Havis.

 

[03msc]

PJH, clarify, "What is going on with this vehicle?"

I'm wondering the same. My answer is "Well, you see, it's a mobile ham shack..."

 

[12dbsinad]

If my vehicle ever has that many radio's and antenna's in/on it, I will voluntarily send myself to the nut house. My wife will no longer have to do it.

 

[cmjonesinc]

Don't get me wrong.... I love radios, but the 3 mobiles I have are more than I can handle listening to on most days. What could someone possibly need (want) to monitor that required that much equipment? I would love to hear what all that is for.

 

[PJH]

I’d be more concerned with the amount of RF that is killing the receivers of all the other radios as it’s obvious that proper antenna separation isn’t going on here.

I’ve seen plenty of radios whose antennas were not properly separated and over time killed them. 30-100 watts, your essentially pumping that directly into the others.

 

[AK9R]

Folks, this is tunnelmot's thread. If you are talking about W9WSS's vehicle, I suggest you do it elsewhere.