• Jack-it Night: April 2024 RS Meeting Hey Guest: Wed. April 3rd is the next Rising Sun meeting, and you won't want to miss it. We're doing our annual offroad recovery equipment demonstration and trail skills training aka "Jack It Night." Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. (early) Click here for all the details.

Wanted Ham Radio

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3rdGen4R

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I have a hand held, looking to put a more solid setup into my truck. I don’t need the bells and whistles, I just want it to be a good radio to setup in my truck.
 

60wag

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What model are you selling?
 

3rdGen4R

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Im looking for a in vehicle setup…. Not selling anything, as I have nothing to sell…
 

DouglasVB

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FWIW, I've enjoyed my yaesu ft 2900r for 2 meter work. Very rugged and has been happy in my truck for a half dozen years. I might be selling it in the next six months if I transition vehicles.
 

Hulk

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Im looking for a in vehicle setup…. Not selling anything, as I have nothing to sell…
OK, I changed the tag from "For Sale" to "Wanted" on the thread.
 

3rdGen4R

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FWIW, I've enjoyed my yaesu ft 2900r for 2 meter work. Very rugged and has been happy in my truck for a half dozen years. I might be selling it in the next six months if I transition vehicles.
I’d like to have it installed before cruise Moab, so maybe you should transition faster.
 

DouglasVB

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I’d like to have it installed before cruise Moab, so maybe you should transition faster.

Well if you know of anyone looking for a built 1st gen 4runner with a ton of spare parts...
 

3rdGen4R

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Well if you know of anyone looking for a built 1st gen 4runner with a ton of spare parts...
I can’t see why anyone here in Colorado wouldn’t buy it from you if its a fair price and not a rust bucket to bring back to Colorado. Seems like a classic Toyota vehicle for anyone.
 

DouglasVB

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First thing is to finish up the timing chain replacement and get an e-brake back on it. Then we'll go from there :)

Do you already have a GMRS/FRS radio for Cruise Moab? I think that's what they're standardizing on this year rather than amateur radio.
 

3rdGen4R

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First thing is to finish up the timing chain replacement and get an e-brake back on it. Then we'll go from there :)

Do you already have a GMRS/FRS radio for Cruise Moab? I think that's what they're standardizing on this year rather than amateur radio.
So we are running GMRS/FRS radio but we strongly would like the leader and gunner to have ham. Not a requirement, but it’s what we are going with because FRS works about as good as a CB, and GMRS works great but you pick up a lot of other peoples traffic with the increased power it runs it on. But you are correct that we have moved away from CB.
 

DouglasVB

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Are y'all going to be sticking on 2M for the leaders and gunners? Need APRS or anything along those lines, or just voice?

If it's just voice, any old 2M will work well for you as long as you've got a good antenna up high on your vehicle.
 

3rdGen4R

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Are y'all going to be sticking on 2M for the leaders and gunners? Need APRS or anything along those lines, or just voice?

If it's just voice, any old 2M will work well for you as long as you've got a good antenna up high on your vehicle.
Yeah, I’m not looking for anything fancy As I don’t really want more crap inside my truck and I will never use ARPS. I have the garmin in reach that we got for Christmas this year for emergencies, communication for flying and in the back country.

I think a 2M will be fine for leading and gunning as it has a pretty far range if tuned and a good antenna, I could be wrong, but I’d rather be wrong with something cheap than overspend on something I don’t really want.
 

Hulk

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I've got a Yaesu handheld 2M radio that I've hooked up to a huge external antenna on a tripod. Don't see why you couldn't do this with a mag-mount antenna on your roof. If you already have a handheld, you can probably buy everything you need over at HRO with the bonus being a) inexpensive upgrade and b) no more crap inside your truck that is permanently mounted.
 

3rdGen4R

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I've got a Yaesu handheld 2M radio that I've hooked up to a huge external antenna on a tripod. Don't see why you couldn't do this with a mag-mount antenna on your roof. If you already have a handheld, you can probably buy everything you need over at HRO with the bonus being a) inexpensive upgrade and b) no more crap inside your truck that is permanently mounted.
Mind sending me the links to that stuff that you use. I do have a ham handheld radio.
 

Hulk

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Mind sending me the links to that stuff that you use. I do have a ham handheld radio.
What handheld radio do you own now? Will need to start with this.
 

RayRay27

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I've got a Yaesu handheld 2M radio that I've hooked up to a huge external antenna on a tripod. Don't see why you couldn't do this with a mag-mount antenna on your roof. If you already have a handheld, you can probably buy everything you need over at HRO with the bonus being a) inexpensive upgrade and b) no more crap inside your truck that is permanently mounted.
@3rdGen4R that's what I did for a while. I have the Yaesu FT-60 handheld and a diamond MR77SMA mag mount antenna that I got from ham radio outlet https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-005820. The SMA connection attaches to the antenna connection on top of the radio. This worked great for a while but I just installed a new Yaesu FTM-3100 and I am still using the same mag mount antenna.

1643122465785.png
 

DouglasVB

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Have you considered a Baofeng hand held? They're pretty cheap and adding a decent whip antenna makes them work surprisingly well even from inside a truck. Buy an extra battery or two, and you've got a pretty reasonable setup for under $100.
 

3rdGen4R

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Have you considered a Baofeng hand held? They're pretty cheap and adding a decent whip antenna makes them work surprisingly well even from inside a truck. Buy an extra battery or two, and you've got a pretty reasonable setup for under $100.
I already have a good hand held radio and it seems like the struggle with Baofeng is the batteries don't last very long.
 

DaveInDenver

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I already have a good hand held radio and it seems like the struggle with Baofeng is the batteries don't last very long.
Batteries are just one of the struggles with Baofengs.

Do you still want a mobile or are you considering going down the path of kludging a handheld into one?

As far as mobile radios the main determination that I think most people have is whether you want the face to be remote mounted from the body of the radio or not. That's usually not a feature of monoband ham radios and often pushes people into more radio just to get it.

Ergo, the FTM-400. I know many of the owners also do some APRS, at least posit beacons, but mostly it's popular I think because of the remote face and immersive interface.

ysu-ftm-400xd_xf_xl.jpg

If you don't need the remote mount part then any of these would do what you need.

Yaesu FT-2980R: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ysu-ft-2980r
Yaesu FTM-3100R: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ysu-ftm-3100r
Alinco DR-135T: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-dr-135tmkiii
Icom IC-2300H: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011532

Those are the only current options for brand new monoband 2m mobile radios intended for hams. The FTM-3100R is the cheapest but it's going to be mostly a matter of which you can find in stock.

Looks like the FT-2980 and IC-2300 are going to be on the shelf at the Denver HRO. Both are good radios, under $200, plenty of power, well built, lots of users everywhere.
 
Last edited:

3rdGen4R

Cruise Moab Committee
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Jan 3, 2019
Messages
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Location
Littleton, CO
Batteries are just one of the struggles with Baofengs.

Do you still want a mobile or are you considering going down the path of kludging a handheld into one?

As far as mobile radios the main determination that I think most people have is whether you want the face to be remote mounted from the body of the radio or not. That's usually not a feature of monoband ham radios and often pushes people into more radio just to get it.

Ergo, the FTM-400. I know many of the owners also do some APRS, at least posit beacons, but mostly it's popular I think because of the remote face and immersive interface.

View attachment 101406
If you don't need the remote mount part then any of these would do what you need.

Yaesu FT-2980R: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ysu-ft-2980r
Yaesu FTM-3100R: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ysu-ftm-3100r
Alinco DR-135T: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-dr-135tmkiii
Icom IC-2300H: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011532

Those are the only current options for brand new monoband 2m mobile radios intended for hams. The FTM-3100R is the cheapest but it's going to be mostly a matter of which you can find in stock.

Looks like the FT-2980 and IC-2300 are going to be on the shelf at the Denver HRO. Both are good radios, under $200, plenty of power, well built, lots of users everywhere.
What antena should I get, I just want to mount it driver side on my hood side.
 
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