The Elusive roof mounted Stryker SR-A10

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

It is rated at "10,000 watts". Surely "5,000 watts" would be enough. No reason the CW27 design could not use larger coils and capacitors.

 

[niceguy71]

The LIDO LML-MAX Seatbolt Mount solved the radio mount problem.

An antenna which fully complements the radio’ capability is another logical step.

We’re almost there with a headrest mount for DRX-901 (need diagram to cut steel) so the hi-fi speaker can be just slightly behind/above drivers seat.

Best Mobile should be an ordered (tested) set of choices:

Spend more? Not much benefit.

Spend less? Can prove that a fixed entry price is worth getting it right the first time.

On a trip somewhere? Be part of the event stream.

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I bought the Extreme Speaker 901 for my truck.. I didn't need it for my old President Grant Export... little to no difference...
but I absoluetly need it for the Anytone 5555 N II / QT-60

I have a spot behind my seat on the side of the truck where I am going to bolt it in the plastic .... but I keep putting it off as I know in an accident it will rip off the plastic... and when I fold my seat forwards to put my guns or golf clubs behind the seat it will be slightly in the way.....

does anyone make a headrest bracket like you have shown in the past??? or was that a home made rig??

 

[slowmover]

You’re in a standard cab PU, IIRC.

That metal speaker headrest bracket was @jcrmadden DIY in its first iteration.

In the big truck I had DRX-901 sheet-metal screwed thru plastic as well as velcroed (super-glue addition to supplied adhesive backing of 30# rated industrial) over the drivers door. The Velcro plus supplied rubber bracket screw gaskets supplied adequate isolation from road shock (at which air ride trucks are somewhat better than pickups).

My quad cab DODGE doesn’t have a double-roof like some FORDS. I’ve a plywood block to epoxy to ceiling under the headliner and will cut out the h-l so I can screw bracket directly to the wood (just past 1/2 depth of penetration). If road shock a problem then I’ll come up with a HD bracket and Sorbothane cushion.

— No reason, also, that another bracket design couldn’t be fabbed to triangulate the forces.


The speaker will point primarily downwards.
Magic involved with this over left shoulder location. (Why big truck manufacturers install the speaker above the drivers door).

Interference with rear seat ingress & egress is almost a non-issue.

I might someday change the radio or antenna as single components, but I don’t ever expect to change the speaker brand/model. I had close to 100k miles with as described above and zero changes in performance. No loose machine screws holding speaker after first week and a dab of blue Loctite.


IMO, it’s a bit like the ASTATIC M575 M6 Mic: get one just in case it does go away. I bought a second one within a couple of weeks on that premise. It’s for my travel trailer install.

Placement in a living area ALSO needs ceiling & corner reinforcement. Can’t take seriously those who leave audio performance as an afterthought (no external speaker or one stuck on radio aimed at operator).

It’s the whole point of the radio rig.
Words aren’t the true content.

.

 

[makerdino059]

Got it mounted permanent today. It's a little quieter than the mag mount. Not a huge amount, but quieter none the less.

 

[niceguy71]

Got it mounted permanent today. It's a little quieter than the mag mount. Not a huge amount, but quieter none the less.

View attachment 202181

EXCELLENT!!!

I can hardly wait to see the video
hopefully the solar panels won't cause too much interference...... I guess the panels don't make RFI but the inverter and charge controllers—can generate electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference... we'll see how it all works out.

looking good so far!

so few in here are willing to drill the hole.... I guess we know how serious you are about CB now!
you certainly don't do anything halfway


"Keep your wheels spinning, and the beavers grinning"

 

[makerdino059]

Heh! It's just a hole. Holes can be plugged.

 

[slowmover]

Glad the antenna went permanent.

S/NR chases are of the little stuff. Get one item “good” . . and now it seems that Item X is kinda louder than before (rinse, repeat).

I’ve yet to run into lack of results from yet more RF Bonding or CMC Choke/RF Filter use. The distances where ordinary radio rigs (poor to fair) can be heard is a surprise every time given diligent pursuit. There’ll be a limit to the chase, but I’m not there yet.


The geographical locations while underway that are noise hazards? This quiet just added will mean more than it did back at home . . is the other side.

You might be the only one in a stretch who still had ears could withstand some electronic offenses and heard the last of a warning in heavy traffic. (Radio rig device or effort just paid for itself).

Is that on the EuroVan?


.

 

[K9KLC]

It's a little quieter than the mag mount. Not a huge amount, but quieter none the less.

That's at your place, as you travel about, you may see that the permanant mount will vary in just how much noise it helps with. There is no substitute for a proper RF ground. Magnet mounts while they work, have always been only at best an acceptable substitute for a proper antenna install. Of course, I understand a time and place for magnet mounts, rental vehicles, work vehicles where drilling would not be allowed etc, of course there are other reasons.

 

[makerdino059]

This weekend I'll be shooting some video of a range test with the Luiton mini SSB The plan is to go out and stop to broadcast at intervals of 3 miles each up to 10 mi away from the base station. On the way out, I'll stop and test the permanent mount. On the way back. I'll stop at the same locations and test the mag mount.

 

[niceguy71]

This weekend I'll be shooting some video of a range test with the Luiton mini SSB The plan is to go out and stop to broadcast at intervals of 3 miles each up to 10 mi away from the base station. On the way out, I'll stop and test the permanent mount. On the way back. I'll stop at the same locations and test the mag mount.

I'm looking forward to it.

do you know how to use google maps "Measured distance" ????

I pull up Google maps... I pull up my house, hover the mouse over my base station antenna and RIGHT click it.... it gives you the option of "Measure Distance" when you right click it ... click it.... then move the map to your next location and click the next location.......and it will give you a straight-line distance between the two
VERY cool to see... I zoom out so I can see the whole area with the line on it.... amazing how far out I have to go to drive around the lakes and Ocean inlets... 10 miles out actually takes me 14.9 miles of driving..... my signal goes over the ocean.... over forests .... over lakes.... and over shopping malls and a million Cranberry bogs

suggestions:
I would try to get on a local highway ... the highway keeps many of the trees cut year round for other future tests.... a highway is generally elevated and level, .......a highway is clear enough to get a decent signal out ...... I would drive out XX miles I've gone out at 9:30 PM on September 30th 2024 and driven 20 miles from the base station..... in the evening after skip has stopped... ,,, lately Skip has been going in my area to almost midnight ??????
so I don't think I would even try it until 11 PM .... in the winter I can go out at 6PM and do the same test without any interference.
I love testing in the winter... summer is very difficult

that test was on a factory 1989 10 watt AM /FM CB radio .... I just watched the video and was watching my little SWR /Watt meter zip tied to my CB,.... it dead keys 10 / 11 watts every time I dead key it.... sometimes if I say AUDIOOOOOOOO it will swing up to 23 watts... but a digital meter can never give an actually peak reading... ... in my video I saw my watt meter go from 7 watts at lowest and I think the most I saw was 18 watts.... my Anytone 5555 N II AKA QT-60 ( with 60 watts peak ) should kick it's butt.... but it doesn't ......I've done it with the QT-60 a few times and it never beats my old CB with it's Astatic 575-M6 power mic..... no idea why???

I've also tried my old CB with a Stryker SR-A10 and not beaten my Tram 3500 antenna ( pretty close )

back to suggestions....
when I go by an on ramp or an off ramp I say going by the Texas Road House ramp. I like to line myself up with the road to my on air test just as that road goes off the highway.... then on Google Maps I do the measured distance from my house to the part of the road that leaves the highway.... I can probably come within 100 feet of the test location and know I was talking at that spot.
... sometimes I see a sign that says one mile for Space Force exit .... so I say one mile from Space Force ramp ..... DONT do the google map thing before the test... I may have given 25 on air locations... but when I watch the base station video footage I find I might have only heard 18 of them???..... those missing 7 locations were probably very low or going near the power plant.... some of them are under power lines... or going under a bridge. so you won't really know what works and what doesn't until you get back.... once you know what works make a paper on it for future tests..... so now when I do my testing I just do the 18 locations that I know work..... so I can compare it to other radios and antenna's
I would talk slowly and long... and say everything twice.....I can't tell you how many times I watch my footage and hear someone talk over me... but luckily one of the 2 times will catch it on the video.
I normally do 80 MPH ( I go out 45 minutes each way so it's a 90 minute round trip test ) but I learned, that slowing down to about 72 greatly helps the signal strength... after I announce the location, I speed back up.... if I stop the signal is very good... but there is no place to stop where I go... so I just slow down.

good luck!!!!

 

[niceguy71]

one more suggestion.. on your QT-60 at the BASE make sure the NR is turned to #5 ... the further out you go it will make all the difference in the world.
same with high cut and ANL/NB... I also have my squelch all the way down so it is just blaring static at my camera
with the chokes I have and the Palomar filter on my base station Palomar noise filter $69.99.. and the NR at #5 ....my base station is incredibly quiet even with the squelch blaring out.
if you have a power station .. plug the base into it... I do that from time to time to see if it gets any more quiet.. if it does I try to figure out what is causing the noise and eliminate it.

again I'm looking forward to it... I think I'll go out next week with the QT-60 in the truck and try the Tram 3500 VS the Stryker SR-A10
from 9 miles away and see what sounds better.... it might make a fun video


"Keep your wheels spinning, and the beavers grinning"

 

[prcguy]

Got it mounted permanent today. It's a little quieter than the mag mount. Not a huge amount, but quieter none the less.

View attachment 202181

Wow, that is butt ugly. That makes it work better.

 

[niceguy71]

Wow, that is butt ugly. That makes it work better.

Normally I would say Butt Ugly is subjective .....
But no one would ever say that, as it truly is the ugliest antenna ever made... And it flashes blue lights.... to even get more people to notice how ugly it is...

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Normally I would say Butt Ugly is subjective .....
But no one would ever say that, as it truly is the ugliest antenna ever made... And it flashes blue lights.... to even get more people to notice how ugly it is...

I wonder if the Faux Bolts can be sawed off and painted over. It would make it less fugly. I think the LED lights might be somewhat related to the wide BW. Something to explore.

 

[prcguy]

I wonder if the Faux Bolts can be sawed off and painted over. It would make it less fugly. I think the LED lights might be somewhat related to the wide BW. Something to explore.

Any RF power used for lights is RF power that is not radiated.

 

[niceguy71]

Any RF power used for lights is RF power that is not radiated.

I highly doubt it uses much, the light just sits there its not connected to anything ... it's just a disk that slides down over the antenna

 

[makerdino059]

Any RF power used for lights is RF power that is not radiated.

True! It's energy that would otherwise be radiated. I remember a time in the 70s when I took a small neon pilot bulb and placed in on my brother's car CB antenna. Wrapped one lead around the antenna and left the other in free space. It would light up on TX! He made me take it off for fear of it hurting his radio!

 

[EAFrizzle]

One Friday night, we were on a parking garage talking, and started playing with the 4' fluorescent tubes. The new guys were pretty impressed at seeing how bright they could get(brighter than in the fixture). One guy took a tube and taped it to his antenna, then kept asking truckers for a 'light check' on the way home... 😂😂😂

 

[makerdino059]

A little update on the permanent mount. I added a 43 mix 2.4" ferrite ring about 6 inches from the antenna and put six turns of the coax around it to create a common mode choke. I finished routing the coax across the headliner and down the passenger a-pillar then over to the radio.

I was getting a ton of noise from my HID LED headlights with the mag mount and no ferrite choke.
Now I have ZERO NOISE from the headlights!

It is SO worth it to add a 43 mix ferrite choke at the antenna!
Bought two here on Amazon.

That is all... carry on.

 

[K9KLC]

A little update on the permanent mount. I added a 43 mix 2.4" ferrite ring about 6 inches from the antenna and put six turns of the coax around it to create a common mode choke. I finished routing the coax across the headliner and down the passenger a-pillar then over to the radio.

I was getting a ton of noise from my HID LED headlights with the mag mount and no ferrite choke.
Now I have ZERO NOISE from the headlights!

It is SO worth it to add a 43 mix ferrite choke at the antenna!
Bought two here on Amazon.

That is all... carry on.

Funny what can happen when a proper install happens eh? Way to go and as always thanks for posting. I wonder how much additional receive capabilities you might have with the headlights on now?