Amateur Radio in 2013 Prius C

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73 de Pat KK6PD
-30-

 

A RTTY fan I see. I'll have to see if there is an Android app for RTTY.

I did some quick checking with a temp HF install.

40 Meters had a strange S2-3 level noise. Weird but you could hear through it.
Although annoying that's better than my friends in the big city have to tend with wit S6-8 noise levels at their house.

20 meters was as quite as a mouse S-0. I didn't even get a bump on the needle except when someone was talking.
We don't have any local noise out here in the boondocks.

I can live with those reports.

OBTW:
Air conditioning didn't seem to make and noticeable difference. Neither did the ICE when it came on.
On 40 I turned off the car, turned the key to Acc and it was as quit as a church mouse.

Noise on 40 as you drive, Yes. but most hams pull over to make that rate DX contact, else how will they be able to log the QSO? The noise isn't that bad that you can't tell if there is a DX on the air.


To a dedicated DXer it will work!



John
KW7A

 

Sounds like that will work for you, sweet! I did many RTTY contests in the 90's, when I was in high school a buddy had his General, and a Model 43! That thing hooked me!
When you get it all set up, pics!
73

 

Here it is with the two new antennae.

I have more work to do for the permanent install.


John
KW7A

 

Geeze, that;s a loading coil! Are you using a K-400 mount on that thing? I have to wonder how good a RF ground the back hatch has, and does it conduct enough? Or do you then go the extra step and grab some braid shield from a chunk of RG-8 and physically ground the tail to the car. What kind of SWR are you getting with SWR Autotune off?

 

That's my next step tomorrow.
I'll dig out the MFJ SWR meter and have it a go.
First indications are not looking good for SWR.
I had the same installation on my Saturn VUE. I just installed the mount and everything was good.
The Toyota has a better/thicker paint job so I think that extra grounding is needed.

I'll keep in touch.

PS: Remember that the Little Tarhell II screwdriver antenna tunes 6 Meters through 80 meters. Usually with a SWR of 1.1/1. once tuned/bounded it should never rise above 1.5/1. When I add a special extension adapter it will tune 10 meters through 160 meters. I think it is a small coil to be able to do that. Ever seen a Hi-Sierra coil? Now those look huge even on a 1 ton pickup truck.

The mount is a Comet mount. Almost identical to the K-400.

Remember that screwdriver antennas do not use a R/C tuner like most antenna setups. They actually adjust the length of the antenna so it is in resonance. Hence no need for a R/C tuner.

Once the antenna is adjusted for length it is 100% resonant. The R/C tuner would not be able to do anything to help the tune.

I also use a "Turbo Tuner" that senesces the SWR of the antenna for its current frequency and adjust the length of the antenna for a resonant tune. All this is done by one button push on the radio. Safest thing going as you never have to look at the radio just fell for the button and press it once.



John
KW7A

 

Keep us posted with close up pictures. I have built many screwdriver antennas and have two now, not in use. One has a huge coil and will work 160 when I throw on the 12 inch top hat. I gave up bug catchers when I learned to build these.
Dan

 

wow, that's a really long... um... antenna

 

I'll bet you say that to all the hams...

Pat NQ7M

 

Hello, I bought a Prius c Two back at the end of September and I've been poking around on the Internet looking for ideas about mounting amateur radio antennas on my car. I want to do a 'holes free' mount for a Diamond CR8900A antenna and I don't want to use a mount that will 'damage' the finish. Has any body got any suggestions or ideas as far as mounting the antenna and also were a good place to mount the radio might be? I'm also curious about where people are tapping into the 12 volt battery. Thank you for your ideas.

Sincerely, Paul D.Taylor/WA6ENT

 

I have tapped into the battery under back seat. That way I have 12 volts for radio with key off. Used a large cable with 30 amp fuse. Mounted a cigarette plug in the plastic cover. Lots of places to tap 12 volts, just depends on what will serve your needs.
Dan

 

I'll likely never re-install my Hi-Q screwdriver and Kenwood 2000. Satellite phones get cheaper and cheaper by the year as do their operation costs per minute. No longer any need either, to wait for propagation - nor for going long path at night. In addition, modern day iPhones or Android smart phones running (full duplex) all-star Network or IRLP app's will similarly take your communications all the way around the world. At least those kinds of digitized radio tools can prohibit the 'lids' from jamming you out.



Analog T hunting since the 1960's

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dup

 

W5JCK here. I have a simple, non-destructive installation for my Yaesu FT-7800R. I did not want to drill any holes are run a power cable to either battery. Using a magnet mount for the antenna and a Lido mount for the radio head, I was able to mount the radio/antenna in about 30 minutes. It was easy to hide most of the cables. The radio body is mounted under the front passenger seat with at least 1" of airspace all around for cooling. I use the rig mostly for Skywarn RACES spotter activity in Tarrant County, TX.

 

View attachment 61748

Quite a few of the Yaesu's have detachable control heads. I have the FT-78oo in my 2012 C-2.

 

This is what I did with mine...

 

Hey gang. Figured I'd go ahead and post up on here. I just "inherited" my wife's Prius C after I got her an Acura RDX. I figured it was high time I install a decent radio in this thing since I'll be commuting 2 hours a day in it.

I wound up installing an FT-857D with an ATAS 120A on a K400 hatch mount. I also threw a small "hershey kiss" mag mount up on the roof for VFH/UHF. Everything seems to be working OK at the moment, but it's definitely a bit noisier than I'd like. Going to have to chase some grounding issues I believe.

 

Just got a 2012 c and putting my IC-7000 in it.are most of you using two battery's? More to come soon

 

Very clean - nice work!
wow - been a while since I saw the little 120A. iirc, it works down effectively to about 40 meters? Sure looks less geek-efied than the honkin' 6" coil on our screwdriver.
But yea - grounding .... that's always a problematic thing on hf.
I'd LOVE to be brave enough to tap into our Leaf's 21kWh traction pack to run the Kenwood 2000's 100watt capability - but there's hardly enough time in the day to simply get chores done. Thanks for the pic's !
.

 

got the mount on today and am going to use a 24 inch mast and a 40 Hustler resonator.