Question Anyone using 10 meter Ham Radio in RV?

[TJ&LadyDi]

@JoeHogan, I am looking for a location at the rear of the coach; probably near one of the corners. Need to be careful not to block either the engine hatch cover or the taillights. I think it can be done, but haven't yet gotten serious enough to look hard at the possible locations. "One of these days!"

I have several radios available for use in the coach, including a Taesy FT-857, Icom IC-706 Mk IIG and an Elecraft K2 (15W but I could build the module to increase it to 100W). We'll see where this all goes.

TJ

 

[MapNerd]

 

[Joe Hogan]

Thinking about options for antennas, what about a tuned loop antenna inside of the front cap. The CanyonStar has plenty of room and hopefully airflow would keep temps reasonable. A simple loop of Coax around the grill might work if there is not too much RF interference.

 

[AbdRahim]

Find a reputable CB shop that does installs on the big trucks. I had mine done in Pa. Excellent job using two Firestiks and running the coax under the rig for a V type configuration. One Firestik straight up and one down as a counter poise on the rear ladder.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

maybe as a ham you have antenna theory. You may consider a fractal antenna. Or a wire from back or front to a pole. It would look like your clothes line. if you had one.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Find a reputable CB shop that does installs on the big trucks. I had mine done in Pa. Excellent job using two Firestiks and running the coax under the rig for a V type configuration. One Firestik straight up and one down as a counter poise on the rear ladder.

Where is your radio mounted? You appear pleased with your setup. Do you use the radio during travel?

I had considered the rear ladder but was concerned with signal losses with the long run of Coax to the CB radio, 4 watts or less, mounted on the front dash. Also, my interest in CB is forward Biased. What are the truckers ahead of me talking about?

Not much of a CB talker but like to know what road conditions are ahead. A 11m scanner probably would work in a pinch for my purpose.

Ideally i'd put an antenna or pair, with center mounted coils near the mirrors or close to that location. A 24" antenna with a center coil could be mounted relatively high and still be below the self imposed 13' 5" limit or lower. I'd like to keep them away from stay foliage.

Not sure the mirror housing will tolerate the wind load of an antenna mount, and using the cap, ideal, would need to get reinforcement before I'd be comfortable mounting antennas to the cap. Way too easy to crack that cap and damn expensive to fix.

The orientation should be vertical. Horizontal would not be effective for this application. Gone are the days of a metal roofs, too bad. Would make a great ground plane.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I had considered the rear ladder but was concerned with signal losses with the long run of Coax to the CB radio, 4 watts or less, mounted on the front dash.

@JoeHogan, just use a decent quality RG-8X (.240 diameter) and the loss @ 27 MHz is insignificant; less than 2 dB in 100'. That's less than 1 dB to run from the front of the coach to the back; <50'.

TJ

 

[AbdRahim]

The radio is mounted on the wall to the left of the driver under the levelling control panel I attached it to a piece of wood that is velcroed to the wall. I hate drilling holes, but I may have to have Newmar drill a few holes in the frame so I can screw the wood on to the wall. The velcro continually pulls away even though attached in 8-10.\places.

In this setup, the long coax run under the coach is part of the V antenna system. The top of the antenna i at 13' 2".

I hope I never have to change the coax becuase the technician did such a professional intall that you cannot find the total length of the wireloom containing the coax. It is woven in with all of the stock wires, and enters the coach through an existing grommet. The power wire goes out to the engine compartment behind the dash radio and attaches directly to the house battery bank (fused, of course).

 

[Joe Hogan]

As I continue my search for radio options for the RV. I am becoming convinced that for traveling options a CB, 11m, makes more sense than 10M or even 2M. While out west you might find more activity on 2M, 10M with truckers, and the conversation might be more civilized on Ham Bands, CB is the more popular choice here in the East. Much less fiddling with a CB as well. Monitor a few channels to get the road news.

There are some CB options for No Ground Plane for RVs (NGP)... a NGP side mount FireStik Firefly kit has been developed for just this purpose.
A 3' Firestik Firefly model could be installed on the A pillar without much drama. The wire would be concealed behind the molding and dropped either below the dash or fed directly to a dash mounted radio.


The benefit of the FireFly Firestik is that is has a smaller cross section, less wind drag (easier on the mount), less wind noise, more flexible to accomodate the errant tree branch. Downside is that it is less efficient than the larger Firestik FS.

Or another option as AdbRahim has installed, an antenna on the rear ladder and run Coax up under the RV to the front. The real benefit for that work is a more efficient antenna design with a tuned counterpoise wire acting as a ground plane.

Too many choices....

No Ground Plane Side Mount Kits from FIRESTIK®

www.firestik.com

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

The only problem with a ladder-mounted antenna is that it requires a ladder. ? No got!

TJ