Ham Radio

We just purchase a BH 3010RE and I am looking for ideas on how to setup my amateur radios. Looking at mounting mostly my 2m/440 mobile radio and maybe in the future, some HF radios. Anybody else involved with this hobby? Any pictures of your portable shack would be great! Thanks. Tom WB6TRD

I have my ticket, but have not done anything yet to my rig. I will keep my eyes open on this post. Hopefully there will be some ideas.

Jeff
KJ6MEB

I have not tried it in the trailer. I generally use 2M and 440 from the truck on the road. HF could be done once set up in a campground or RV park but considering the proximity to others RF could be an issue.
Lynn
KC7LB

I mounted the radio above the desk and normaly use a short whip mounted on the slide. While in Mexico I need a higher mount (due to trailer location) so use a longer whip with a rail mount on the ladder. Could probably use a swivel mount and carry it in horizontal over roof but just don't like the idea of it getting loose and chaffing on the roof. Have plans for the HF radio on the right side of the desk but have not come to grips with the cost of a good antenna. There is lots of info on the net and the Escappees have a good HAM group with lots of help.
Lance KF6FXV & Jo KF6FXW

XYL (N4PYR) and I also have just purchased a BH 3010RE that will need a suitable location for my amateur radios. I currently have all my equipment in a portable case, but a permanent installation is the goal. Please keep all advised of your installation progress.

73,
Eric / K4PYR

Lance & Jo said:

View attachment 26696

Click to expand...

Lance - your desk looks rather custom. Looks like some backsplash added to the desktop as well as a urethane coating for the top and some brass travel locks for the drawers. Nice.

Thanks Jim, original just didn't have enough space for all my really good stuff!

Looks like a custom sofa in the rear cap too. Way to make that RV "your own".

Flyerone said:

We just purchase a BH 3010RE and I am looking for ideas on how to setup my amateur radios. Looking at mounting mostly my 2m/440 mobile radio and maybe in the future, some HF radios. Anybody else involved with this hobby? Any pictures of your portable shack would be great! Thanks. Tom WB6TRD

Click to expand...

We have a Big Horn 3400 that I've recently installed my ham rig in. I put it on the left side of the desk area (roadside). It's a mobil Icom 706mk11, paired up with an MFJ tuner. I mounted an HF antenna (72" whip with multi-tap coil) on top of the ladder and fished the coax lead under the frame and over to the transceiver, so it's pretty much a permanent setup. Next challenge will be to run some decent sized wire from the batteries - which are up front about 40 ft.
I ran a temporary line of 12 Gage, but the voltage drop is way too much when transmitting, so I'll be using 10 Gage for the permanent setup. (I immediately discovered the ladder needed to be grounded to the frame, since the whole rig went crazy when transmitting without it!) Next step will be a 2-meter antenna.

Jim Hamlin

I was looking into this topic on the IRV2 forum, and the big discussion there was RFI noise, especially in RV parks. It seems most all the modern 12 volt converter/chargers use electrically noisy switched mode power supplies (SMPS). You can turn off the converter/charger AC breaker for your rig while you are working the HF bands, but every other rig in the park has theirs going, which makes receiving faint HF radio signals just about impossible.

Is there any solution???

wdk450 said:

I was looking into this topic on the IRV2 forum, and the big discussion there was RFI noise, especially in RV parks. It seems most all the modern 12 volt converter/chargers use electrically noisy switched mode power supplies (SMPS). You can turn off the converter/charger AC breaker for your rig while you are working the HF bands, but every other rig in the park has theirs going, which makes receiving faint HF radio signals just about impossible.

Is there any solution???

Click to expand...

I haven't researched this, but it seems that some type of RF filter should trap it! So far, my problem is getting a signal out, but I'll try shutting the charger off & see if it make a noticeable difference.

Jim Hamlin W8JRH

There is a lot of good info on the OpenRoadsRadio.net website.

It deals exclusively with ham radio and RVing.

Dick
KE0ME