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Best Mobile 2025

slowmover

Active Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Messages
3,038
Location
Fort Worth

Wyoming has a low population. Not that many places to shelter overnight. The wreck out ahead means shortly that hundreds, even a few thousand, will want food & overnight accommodations as alternatives to IH-80 pretty well don’t exist in winter.

The ears by which to hear mean one can start his navigation prep and early make his way ahead of the bumbling crowd who expect to have their hands held in a crisis.

Exits from an Interstate in The Great American Desert can be many miles apart. And it’s in no sense legal or advisable to try to cross the median. Many wrecks and being stranded occur this way.

2-3/miles warning isn’t ever enough. One wants to know as far in advance as possible. As I’ve written before one may be 40-miles distant, but was lucky enough (made his luck) to hear two passersby 15-miles ahead discuss the problem.

That’s enough to exit soonest and call it a day.

Top the fuel tank, re-provision, park such that one cannot be blocked from exiting (harder than you’d think, but they’ll pile in and park anywhere as the hours progress).

Have a meal.

Then be of service to others on-air after getting data needed (state reports).

You’re now sitting at MM 317, 36-miles distant. The men who hear you may have missed that exit; they also desire to park at that truckstop or motel. Know what is their next exit they can flip around to get back.

— There is only one exit available for use. That you’ve confirmed that an exit exists and is being used successfully is a greater service than you might imagine.

Sometimes “the warning” is seeing big trucks nose-to-tail exiting to a crossover like that in literal Nowhere. No obvious reason. That is when the radio gets turned on, for some (“Hey, why’s everyone . . . ?”)

Accurate info will get passed up the line. News, or confirmation, it’s all good.

Regular broadcast radio and TV (or Internet) ain’t even close by comparison to what active observers are reporting.

— If this was a wildfire, flood or tornado outbreak you may already be prepared to run. Again. (Given you understand routes/odds and that you haven’t yet re-painted it in PANTONE 072-C).

The radio rig recommended is in its element.
Superior performance in the moment when needed.

.
 
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slowmover

Active Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Messages
3,038
Location
Fort Worth
Radio Type + Features are requirements.
One can upgrade

Radio Size is relative.
More space at mount = more choices today.


IMG_5398.jpeg

Ask that hand headed to the crossover if he’s got Sideband capability. If so you can report exactly what’s occurring at that crossover to those within your AM TX range.

Rural Wyoming and no Skip interference that’s 7-miles, maybe 15 to those with good radio rigs.

They’ll know they can exit at the 317, or flip around at the 298. As far back as MM-332 they’ll now be aware of the recent road closure at MM-281. 50-miles. You’ve just filled the gap.

The road congestion suddenly eases. You’ll see and feel the stress reduction go lower. The word gets passed farther back and travelers are exiting earlier as a result. Your location won’t be overwhelmed in the same way, running out of diesel, water, bread and milk.

This is how your radio rig pays for itself. In my experience as an OTR truck driver it’s 3-4X annually. Several dozen times annually with minor problems compared to the one just illustrated.

The better the radio (in an exemplary radio system) the more you’ll enjoy it.

.
 
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jcrmadden

Member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
226
Whole lotta water fell in short order that's for sure. The ground has been saturated for weeks already. Lots of flooding and mud slides. Still, nothing like we experienced last year and the year before. Tis' the season I guess.

Ditto on good mobile comms, especially if you ain't living on higher ground. The wife and I got out to assess and assist. Nothing major in the local community. A few downed trees. Some real close calls for some folks though. Had water at the threshold.
 

slowmover

Active Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Messages
3,038
Location
Fort Worth
i think of radios with built in swr meters and what 1 can learn from them. for instance compare it to a trusted swr meter then in your foggy brain calibrate its diffrence. then check swr at 20,40,60,70 and 80 mph.you might get a suprize with a perfect setting antenna at parked

I ran with an antenna tuner in-line for awhile.

IMG_3864.jpeg

True, that I “needed” to change settings a little from stationary to 67-MPH. 8’ antennas with about 4’ whips.

With or without amp engaged I did not detect a difference in quality of RX, nor was I made aware of any quality change in TX.

But, it sure was a great way to set it from stationary after getting SWR dialed.

Its “real” value came in matching radio to amp for a given antenna set-up. IOW, an installation procedure for a variable power Export into a low-drive amp. Mark RF Power setting.

OTOH
I can imagine a 102” whip cartwheeling all over the place at 70-MPH in a hairy crosswind would be something else again to read.

.
 
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sempai

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
148
Location
Iowa City, IA
this morning I was doing some reading, and i have a couple of LLMs running for household automation and other jobs, and one of my favorites is phi2-electrical-engineering, i got an unexpected response when i asked about what wind conditions are like on top of tractor-trailer:

full response: antenna and wind response phi2-electrical-engineering

I'm really curious who the "I" or "we" is in this snip:

> I think a wind tunnel model on the side or in front of an existing antenna could be a good idea. I have been working with this concept for several months but haven't found any research to use as background. I'm not sure if you are aware, but we've had many years of testing wind tunnels at NPL and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They have been used to test a variety of antenna designs
in different orientations, such as vertical or horizontally, and for various applications. Also, they can be used with high-speed cameras to study airflow patterns. If you need further information about this technology please let me know!

o_O
 

jcrmadden

Member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
226
i think of radios with built in swr meters and what 1 can learn from them. for instance compare it to a trusted swr meter then in your foggy brain calibrate its diffrence. then check swr at 20,40,60,70 and 80 mph.you might get a suprize with a perfect setting antenna at parked

It's one of the reasons I like my top load fiberglass so well (7' skipshooter). It certainly has it's drawbacks, but at highway speeds it stands up better than most (literally).
 
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