W2DHS – Page 2 – Just another Santoro.com Sites site

Dec 22

2011 Toyota Highlander Mobile Antenna Installation

By Dave in Mobile

I have a scanner and a dual band rig in my car. For the scanner I have a cheap mag mount antenna that I got on Amazon.com, and for the transceiver I have a Comet antenna on a Diamond K400 mount hacked onto my roof rack. Neither was working out so I began looking at my options.

After reading on the web that ‘real hams use NMO mount antennas in holes in the roof ,’ I was really close to drilling holes in the roof of my beloved Highlander. In preparation I took a ride to KJI in Cedar Grove NJ in hopes of buying the mounts. I met Gene (the owner) and is truly a nice guy. We spoke a bit about my requirements and he suggested that I really couldn’t go wrong with trunk lip mounts. He gave me a nice deal on two Larsen mounts and a Diamond NR770HNMO antenna for the scanner. I spent a few hours getting them installed last winter.

Here are a few pictures of the installation.

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Feb 03

USB Soundcard / PTT Interface complete.

By Dave in APRS, Homebrew

I built the USB Rig interface that I mentioned in my last post and it turned out great.

I have it interfaced with my old Icom IC-281H. I made a few changes to the original plans.

1) Instead of the PS/2 connector used in G4ILO’s setup, I decided to use a TinyTrak/KPC3 compatible DB-9 Radio interface cable.

2 ) I also omitted the bypass switch. I didn’t think I would need it.

3) I left out the trimmer pot (I forgot to buy it, tried it without it and it works fine…)

I am very happy with the result… I am now running an APRS base without spending a lot of cash on a hardware TNC.

Thanks again for the great circuit G4ILO!

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Jan 11

My next mini-project

By Dave in APRS, Homebrew

Just found this link to a homebrew USB interface for digital modes. This is just the ticket for helping me build my shack. I am using a modern laptop with only 1 serial port and I want to save that for my FT-847 CAT port. I also can’t see paying $99 for a commercial interface.

I have build a lot of soldered kits over the years, but at some point I want to learn proper circuit board creation techniques. This is a pretty simple circuit so I should be able to use this opportunity to learn how to do proper circuit prototyping.

http://www.g4ilo.com/usblink.html

I just ordered 4 (!) of the sound cards referred to in the article off of eBay. Total cost with shipping? Less than USD $8.

Great work G4ILO!