401 Trip

[davidmc36]

Just ran the 401 from Morrisburg to Pearson. Used my homemade piggyback GPS on the 396XT. Worked like a charm. Two or three BMR sites in range all the time and only lost lock on CC the odd time in the bottom of a valley with rubber duckie VHF hanging from the rearview. Was glad the rental had an AUX input for audio but it would have been decent without it.

For you lads that live in the TO area, how can you drive that zoo every day. 4 lanes wide, two car lengths apart, doin' a buck 30. Don't slack off or ya' get run over!! Good for a rush once in a while but I would go insane if I had to do it all the time.:twisted:

 

[exkalibur]

What's the story with this GPS on the 396? Never seen such a beast before.

 

[Command30]

For you lads that live in the TO area, how can you drive that zoo every day. 4 lanes wide, two car lengths apart, doin' a buck 30. Don't slack off or ya' get run over!! Good for a rush once in a while but I would go insane if I had to do it all the time.:twisted:

If traffic on the 401 was moving at 130 kph every day, I wouldn't have much to complain about.

 

[davidmc36]

What's the story with this GPS on the 396? Never seen such a beast before.

Little gadget I made a couple years ago. Used some 1/4 in. lexan to make the chassis and included an on/off switch. I forget the exact Rx it was but was either from Ebay or GPS Central in Calgary. It is one with built in antenna and I wired out a plug for data and power from inside the scanner. I just remove the screw and it slides right off. Works like a charm.

 

[exkalibur]

That's a great idea! How well does it pick up satellites when the radio is sitting in the cup holder or what not? It looks like you could still (if you wanted to anyway) use the belt clip, just drill a hole in the device's case and use a longer screw.

 

[davidmc36]

That's a great idea! How well does it pick up satellites when the radio is sitting in the cup holder or what not? It looks like you could still (if you wanted to anyway) use the belt clip, just drill a hole in the device's case and use a longer screw.

When I stopped at the ONRoute a couple times I left it on and slid it into the glovebox. Still showed GPS connected when I got back with Timmy's. I doubt it would lock on very quick from cold but so long as the cup holder was like in the middle of your car with decent sky view out most of the windows it would work fine. I had the whole scanner hanging from the duckie on the rearview since I forgot a small extension coax and it locked on in about 10 seconds from warm. It would be a piece of cake to have the top made a bit different and still get the belt clip on. Just wasn't something that I wanted to do so I just simplified it and picked up a longer screw.

 

[EJB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9360; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.353 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Just ran the 401 from Morrisburg to Pearson. Used my homemade piggyback GPS on the 396XT. Worked like a charm. Two or three BMR sites in range all the time and only lost lock on CC the odd time in the bottom of a valley with rubber duckie VHF hanging from the rearview. Was glad the rental had an AUX input for audio but it would have been decent without it.

For you lads that live in the TO area, how can you drive that zoo every day. 4 lanes wide, two car lengths apart, doin' a buck 30. Don't slack off or ya' get run over!! Good for a rush once in a while but I would go insane if I had to do it all the time.:twisted:

Its not bad when the traffic isn't bad, that rarely happens though. You get used to it or you don't drive.

 

[VE3RADIO]

That is an awesome setup you go there! Coolio! As for the 401.. yeah you get used to it... but you do have a point.. I have lived in NYC, Dallas and San Antonio and by far Toronto is the worst.

 

[pathalogical]

For you lads that live in the TO area, how can you drive that zoo every day. 4 lanes wide, two car lengths apart, doin' a buck 30. Don't slack off or ya' get run over!! Good for a rush once in a while but I would go insane if I had to do it all the time.:twisted:

Usually... "I spin around with shrieking tires, To run the deadly race, Go screaming through the valley As another joins the chase, Drive like the wind, Straining the limits of machine and man"...

 

[Gator596]

Usually... "I spin around with shrieking tires, To run the deadly race, Go screaming through the valley As another joins the chase, Drive like the wind, Straining the limits of machine and man"...

Will keep an eye out for that Red Barchetta the next time I dare drive the 4o1 !

 

[bigcam406]

classic lyrics to cruise to.....

 

[EJB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9360; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.353 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Toronto has a complex when it comes to recognition. Hardly anyone south of the border knows it exists so being mentioned as the hardest and longest city to commute via car is probably an honour to most of us here.

Sounds like you had a great setup, you got all the boys with toys excited here!