This past weekend I installed my first ham radio, a Yaesu FT-2800M.  An early birthday present, Dad gifted me the unit with a mag-mount antenna.  The plan was to put it in my 1999 Ford Ranger truck.  I began thinking about where/how it would mount.  There were not many options and I did not want to drill any holes in the truck if I could at all avoid it.  I decided the best course of action was to make my own mount that would fit on the transmission hump between the gear shift and the split bench seat.  I took a few measurements and built this box:

I left the back open in case I needed place to hide a filter (for alternator whine).

Next I bought a cheap floormat ($1.58) from the Walmart and glued it to the bottom of the box.

The box was designed to fit pretty tight, I thought this would help just a little more.  I hit the box with some spray adhesive:

Then cover it with some auto carpet remanent I picked up for $8.00.  I have enough carpet from that reminent to do 5 more boxes now, but I digress.  I’ve never done auto upholstery before, so my carpeting job on the box is fairly mediocre, mainly because I didn’t read up on how to incorporate hiding the seams into my box design. (A goal for next time) Here is the carpeted box:

The radio on the mount:

Next step was to find a place where I could run the power cable and the antenna cable through the firewall.  I popped the hood and immediately noticed a metric ton of corrosion on the battery terminals.  I guess I had been neglecting some of my maintenance duties.  After cleaning the terminals I noticed one of them was in really rough shape and needed replacement, so I went to the auto parts store and bought some new terminals.  I had mental tug of war and returned twice to the store before finally deciding on the heavy duty gold plated terminals.  Yea I know, I’m probably the biggest sucker ever… but they did have extra cable mounts that the others didn’t have that would make my install go easier.  I like simple. 

I’ll bet I looked for a solid hour, maybe even 90 minutes for a place I could run cable through the firewall on my truck.  I contorted myself into some very uncomfortable situations looking for that “simple” place to run the cable through.  I had almost given up and decided to check the passenger side one more time before resigning myself to drilling, and there it was.  It was almost as if it had materialized moments before I knelt down, and now it was staring me right in the face.  Unbelievable.  I popped the rubber plug out and ran a wire snake through the hole.  It came out just under what might be the blower motor for the air conditioner, but who knows… I’m not a mechanic.

I secured the power and ground cables carefully keeping them away from hot or moving parts.

The only concern I had with this path was the possibilty of picking up some noise from the windshield wiper motor, but that has not been a problem.  I posted the mag-mount on the roof, passenger’s side:

I secured the antenna cable along the chassis, again taking care to keep it away from hot or moving parts.

I pulled the power and antenna cables through the firewall hole:

Then I cut the grommet and pulled the cables through it, and put it back in place.

The cables are not as hidden as I would like them, but they will do.  From the passengers seat they are not visible.  There is not a place to zip tie them, and an adhesive cable fastener doesn’t hold well on the slick plastic surface of the air vent.  I’m still mulling this one over.  They do tuck well under the transmission console, however.

The finished product:

That’s it for now, I’ve got to run for a net check-in.

73,

Michael KJ4DXZ

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Some of the Field Day 2008 photos are posted in the album now.  If you would like to have your photos added, send them to me at kj4dxz@alphalpha.us .

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Jul  11-12    Milton     At Santa Rosa Auditorium
4530 Jimmy’s Way
Talk-in on 144.890
INFO: Ken, K4SVX     (850) 994-5726

Jul   12      Largo        FREE! At Chester’s Electronics
311 Missouri Ave North
INFO: (727) 585-4736

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So right before I head back to Knoxville a few weeks ago, my Dad mentions Field Day is coming up. I’m thinking, ‘Picnic at Fort Desoto with some radio fun thrown in… Sign me up.’ I get home, schedule time off, Dad sends me a plane ticket, and I begin counting the days. Before I know it, I’m wheeling my bag out the door of St. Pete / Clearwater airport and heading to Coney Island for lunch. After a thorough gorging of chili dogs and chocolate milkshake, Dad & I head back to the house to begin packing for the weekend.

Packing went well. Some people believe in having 2 of everything, Dad apparently thinks having 3 or more of everything is the ticket. Relying on Dad’s mental checklist of things we would need, we ended up packing what seemed to be most of the contents of the house. As we headed out for Fort DeSoto, the mental checklist came up with a few last minute items so we turned into the Wal-Mart. A couple of fire extinguishers, some ant bait, and some dryer sheets and we were good to go. (Dryer sheets? Ya… Dad heard somewhere that dryer sheets with fabric softener keep bugs away. I’m still skeptical.)

Rick towed in the trailer tower and a handful of us set to work putting it up for the first time. More Alphalphas, pop-ups, tents, coolers, generators, radio equipment, and other miscellany poured into the operating site and setup was mostly complete by lunchtime. Lealman CERT invited us over for fried chicken lunch and a spread of other cookout favorites. (Thanks!) While I was standing in line, a nice lady behind me asked what group I was with. I told her the Alphalphas, and she said, ‘Oh, the radio guys… don’t they have their own food?’ I laughed to myself and thought… if you only knew how they rolled when it comes to food. She probably didn’t get that memo. After a great lunch and a meet & greet with some of the CERT members it was getting close to 14:00 (when we would begin operating), so we moseyed back to camp for final preparations.

At 14:00 all heck breaks loose…
Just kidding. A lot of folks began making their contacts around 14:00ish. I sat in and watched Chris trying to make contacts while Tracy was logging for him. Then I checked in on MJ and Udo. They were both busy… working contacts, tending to Polly Pig, deep fried turkey (the appetizer), and doing who knows what else. MJ mentioned her daughter Jennifer was coming to check out the activities. I went back to Dad’s station to see what was happening. He had 20 meters going, and several folks sat in and operated for a spell. Being acclimated to a cooler climate, I spent the next few hours rag-dolled in a lounge chair doing my best to stay hydrated.

Pig is Done! I descended on the pig like an angry vulture, loading my plate with vittles and drowning them in a sweet mustard barbeque sauce. The baked beans were amazing, rivaling those of Fred Fleming’s Famous Bar-B-Que. Adding potato salad, cookies, and gooey butter cake to this plate, I began the process of gastrically regaining my strength. The sun was getting low in the sky and with partial cloud cover the temperature was slowly dropping. After dinner several of us, including myself checked into the YL (Young Ladies) Net which was being hosted by Connie K4TBZ. MJ mentions again her daughter Jennifer is on the way. I began to wonder from which state she was traveling.

The sun has gone down and the wind has picked up. The wind was a steady 20 knots sometimes gusting to 30 knots. We secured the smaller items in the camp, and I checked the trailer tower. The tower was solid and I didn’t notice much movement, if any. The guy wire tension seemed normal. Most everyone had retired to their stations and continued to operate. MJ says that her daughter Jennifer is on the way. I’m boggled.

Jennifer and her boyfriend Andrew finally arrived! I almost had myself convinced they didn’t exist and that MJ crafted us a reverse snipe hunt. Nice folks; they made their first contacts that evening. It was bedtime for me, so I made my preparations and sacked out.

I had to get up several times in the night. During one awakening, probably around 3 or 4 AM, I sat on a tailgate and looked around. The wind had slowed to a steady 10 to 15 knots. The sky was fairly bright, even with the clouds. It was cool and peaceful. The generators were humming and keeping the amber camp lights and radios operating through the night. A large cargo ship cruised by heading for Tampa Bay, with a well-lit Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the backdrop. I went back to the camper. Bob’s KC4SXO tent was aglow and he was up working on contacts. I had yet to make any ‘Field Day’ contacts of my own. Being new to amateur radio, I am learning lots of things, the sum of which is a sub-culture in its own right. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by my own lack of knowledge and experience in amateur radio. I guess you could call it radio shyness. One of many things I have learned from my Dad is if you want to do/learn something… jump in with both feet. I crawled back into my bunk and drifted off to sleep. In the morning I would learn to swim… or look like an idiot trying, but I guessed that would be ok too as long as I made some contacts.

Continued in Part II 

Michael KJ4DXZ

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Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday!

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