The Initial Mobile Install 05-25-2025...AND OTHER AWESOME HAM THOUGHTS I'VE HAD THIS WEEK

On Wednesday the 21st I celebrated 20 years with my beautiful wife. She has put up with my foolishness for these past years, and even before then while we were dating. She could care less about anything ham radio related, but she knows I'm into it, so for an anniversary gift she bought me this rather cool blanket:

I thought it was rather neat, anyway. I'm a big fan of blankets while I'm watching Star Trek reruns, and my cat likes to sit on my lap whilst watching, so I'm sure she will enjoy as well. It's been a rather interesting 20 years. I have accomplished much...

 This week I purchased an older Yaesu FTM-3100 from a local ham just so I can get a mobile unit in my car. I didn't really want to spend a ton of cash on a starter radio, and I just want to hit the local repeaters on single 2m band for now. I think it will do the trick quite nicely. I will probably upgrade next year to a nicer one with dual band and remote head, but this is good to get going on the Warrenton repeater without having to talk through my HT all the time (which is super awkward and only 8 watts), plus I need to get going on my "older but still working" radio collection. Speaking of which, the Warrenton repeater as of late seems to be having a substantial amount of noise on my base transceiver, and I'm not sure it is because of something I did, or if it's just some form of close interference causing it to spew forth. I have the squelch up to 24 and it seems to be alleviated now, but it's still barely silenced. It may also have something to do with my Charlie Brown antenna. I need to order coax cable and get the new "coat hanger" antenna that I've been promising myself that I would work on. I was up at Ham Radio Outlet in Woodbridge yesterday, and it was the first time I had ever been there.  It was your basic "kid in the candy store" scenario. I could have dropped some serious coin in that shop. The very nice lady there helped me purchase a small Diamond MR77 2m antenna with mag mount (included). I know it's not a super awesome antenna but I also have a VW Jetta, and I don't want to look too crazy with a huge honkin' antenna zipping down 66 on a work day. There was another one there that I almost purchased, but the mag mount they were selling me was crazy large, and I thought maybe I should just stick with the smaller one for now. And so, yesterday I spent the morning figuring all of this out: How to get through the Jetta firewall, where to put the radio in the car, and how to run the antenna cable. Also, there was the matter of the Battery Monitoring System and the Electrical Load Detector, which was a subject brought up to me by one of my many Elmers and good neighbor KX4O, John (more on this later).

Like any hobby, you can get carried away with intricacies and sophistications, but I'm a simple guy brushing up on the dreaded 50s landmark birthday next June (49 this year...one more year to relish in my 40s!) , and therefore, my mindset is that I don't really NEED the fancy stuff up front while I'm learning the in's and out's of all things ham. Plus, some of the older radios are probably tougher and better made than the new ones but lack the current capabilities that can be implemented. Such is the case of my mobile unit, the Yaesu FTM-3100.  It lacks the remote head, which would be great for the VW Jetta dashboard, and it doesn't have UHF. I don't really get on UHF that much so I'm not too teary-eyed about that...yet. This year has been a bit harsher on the finances due to added college and car insurance expense (two teenagers), so I'm trying to be careful with the budget. 

As I did a quick site survey in my car, I noticed right away that VW likes to be different with...everything, which could be both good and bad. The hard plastic trim edges where you could conceal the antenna coax are very hard to expand and push the coax underneath, but I did manage to effectively run the cable from the trunk along the passenger side of the car and up to the radio, concealing all of the coax. This was the easy part of the whole installation. The harder part was running the power wires to the battery terminals, which included finding a path through the floor/firewall. 

One of the items that I did not resolve with the install partly because I was a bit lazy, and partly because I did not really care, was the run of the battery wires from the radio to the firewall portal located directly up from my brake pedal. I did use Velcro fasteners to tie the excessive wires in a bundle and taped them up inside the dash using duck tape. But, I did not bypass the dashboard center, meaning I ran them directly from the radio, over the bottom console of the dashboard, and around and up in the brake/gas pedal area.  I simply used black gorilla tape to tape it down so it sort of "blends in" with the Jetta's dashboard color, but if you squint and look closely, you can surely tell that it's there. I know I should have found a way to run it under the dashboard console, but I had a difficult time doing so and I wanted to get this capability going this weekend and not spend all my Saturday trying to figure this out. I'm sure installation purists would not approve, but it's my commuter car and I don't really care that much. If I find a better way to do it later, I will.

One of the issues that arose out of this install and was brought up to me by KX4O was the battery monitoring system (BMS) and subsequently the Electrical Load Detector (ELD), which apparently is an item to consider when performing radio installs on most newer cars. The following is an excerpt from K0BG's website (http://k0bg.com/wiring.html):

"Battery monitoring systems (BMS) are now a universal subsystem in every modern vehicle, due in part to the fed-mandated Engine Idle Shutdown (EIS). The load current is measured with an Electrical Load Detector (ELD), typically a Hall device mounted as part of the negative battery connector, or around the ground lead itself as shown in the photos below. The measured data is fed to the engine CPU (known by a variety of names). This allows a more precise fuel-air adjustments for changing accessory loads (AC for example), the condition of the battery can also be monitored. It is imperative that the ELD not be bypassed when wiring amateur radio equipment, so typical wiring recommendations found in Owner's Manuals should not be followed!

The pictorial below is courtesy of the ARRL. It clearly represents the correct wiring scenario, whereas the negative lead goes to the same chassis grounding point as the battery's chassis ground point. And as shown, the negative lead fuse should not be removed. The reason is, if the grounding point should lose its integrity, excessive current could flow through the transceiver's negative lead. It also prevents a minor ground loop between the leads. It should be noted, that in some cases, the battery's chassis grounding point is inaccessible. If this is the case, attach the transceiver's ground connection as close to the battery's grounding point as possible. "

It turns out, the VW Jetta 2017 does not have the ELD directly connected to the negative lead. It was KX4O's guess that it was actually on the positive side of the system, and most probably monitored at the fuse box, which is why I connected at that particular post after carefully ensuring the connection was shorted at that post with the positive terminal. 

The takeaway from this is, I probably could have just attached both leads to the battery and things would have been fine, initially anyway. But, I'm trying to learn, be conscious of issues that may arise, and rely on the experience and wisdom of my wiser Elmers that know the tricks of the trade. If KX40 noted that it's worthy to research and be cautious, then I'm going to listen and take heed. The installation process and connections worked brilliantly. 

I zipped down the road and performed my first radio check. One of the local hams read me loud and clear. I do not currently possess a wattmeter to measure SWR, so that is next on my purchase list. I will see what sort of adjustment I need to make once I am able to purchase one.

Total budget and price for this installation: @ $150, which is what I call a phenomenal deal. 

Key Takeaways:

• If you are like me starting out, you don't NEED the expensive radio for mobile. I did, however...finance a transceiver radio base starting a few months ago, the Yaesu FTM-991A, which has high reviews and HF/VHF/UHF capability. But, if you are just trying to hit the local repeaters, a simple older unit works nicely for your vehicle.

• Again, find the Elmer that will lead you down the righteous path. I have a few of them, mainly KX4O since he's an antenna god and my neighbor. 

• I probably should have went ahead and purchased a bigger/better antenna, to be honest. Make sure your antenna is dual band for upgrading (next year). Right now, I'm fine with parking on the local repeaters with 2 meter capability alone. The Diamond MR77 is sufficient for now and was about $50 including the mag mount.

• If you have an ELD on your electrical system (you probably do), try to figure out which side of the battery it is placed and follow the advice above.

I look forward to talking with you all on the local Northern VA repeaters (especially Warrenton).

Live long, and prosper.

-K4HBO

A Brief Pause in Radio 05-22-2025 TAKING CARE OF FAMILY 

It's been a super busy month for me, and therefore radio has been put on the backburner until I can get some free time.  My son is kicking it strong with lacrosse, and I am on his schedule for games. My wife has me doing the honey-do stuff every now and then (I don't mind that either). Plus, I'm attempting to study for the Amateur Extra license. It's been a full plate of activities for the past few weeks. I do, however, attempt to make the FARA meetings and weekly nets, if only to check in and listen to everyone's progress. In addition to all of that, I'm currently down in Waynesboro, VA taking care of my 100-year-old Grandfather for the weekend. My Aunt is a full-time caregiver, always staying with him and waiting on him all day long, and she has been doing this for years. She really just needed a weekend off and is enjoying some time at the beach. I stepped in to make sure the caregiving was not disturbed, and I have been here since Wednesday evening. My Grandfather Emerson sits in his chair watching the news all day long. He doesn't feel like doing anything, being old and frail, and can barely walk with a stroller. He has led a long, fulfilling life, and we all have men like him to thank for our current status as a free nation. Who knows where we would be at if men like him did not step up to the cause. None of us are forced to speak German or drive Volkswagens (although that's my commuter car) thanks to those warriors, known as the Greatest Generation. He used to be a sub hunter and flew on PB-Mariner planes down in the South Pacific, and his plane went down due to a malfunction. He and his crew were all stuck in the water for about 12 hours before an American patrol came by and picked them up. He told me that was one of the scariest times in his life because they weren't sure their SOS had been received by Allied forces. I can't even fathom being in that situation, as today we are used to a softer and much easier lifestyle, having all of our freedoms handed down to us. I served in the US Marines, but never in a full-blown World War where the certainty of our nation was at stake.  

There's a stark contrast between the outskirts of Northern VA and Waynesboro. The size of the houses around here near the King Street area will make somebody from Fauquier County appreciate their 2600+ sq ft house. Employment here can be challenging. I grew up in this city, and when I graduated high school, I felt like my prospects for a career included Grass Cutter, Landscaper, Construction, Electrician, or Roofing Technician. You could stay in this area and lean toward one of those potential career choices (which are not shameful nor to be minimized as a lower form of career), but I just didn't feel as if I was meant to stick around and do that. I joined the military as a way out. Looking back, I could have just taken out a loan and went to college (probably), but I really didn't have any guidance or recommendations from anyone about that. And hey...you're reading thoughts from a guy who grew up on Rambo and movies like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. I was all about taking down those no good ungodly heathen communists. My maternal side of the family were a bunch of military veterans and brats, so I did not feel the urge to disperse from that choice of career engagement. Unfortunately, I chose the hardest of the branches (USMC) and probably would have thrived more in the Air Force or Navy. But hey...Semper Fi, and thank you USMC for the hearing loss and floating knee caps.

I'm currently sitting here beside my Grandfather and studying for the Amateur Extra license. It may be slightly premature to go for it this early, as I just picked up Technician back in October of last year, and then General a month later. I haven't had a ton of time to learn the in's and out's of DXing and I'm still a bit shy on the radio to be perfectly honest. I have my Baofeng 8-watt HT sitting beside me, and I'm listening to the local hams on the Waynesboro repeater. There has been some good activity on the repeater all morning with the local hams taking runs to the landfill and discussing their radios. Right now, a few gentlemen are in discussions about the finer aspects of various auto paint colors. You can't beat that for an exciting Saturday morning. I have noticed though that the people on this repeater mostly all have call signs that start with "N4", and I wonder if it's a local thing. I know for the Warrenton repeater, we mostly have "K"s and "N"s...but mostly "K"s. I'm still kicking around the idea of going 4 characters on a vanity call sign once I become AE, but I might not mess with it. My current one is easily remembered. 

I found some metal coat hangers in the basement here at my grandfather's house, and my aunt said I could have them for my antenna that I am thinking of finally building once I get home. I am hoping to improve my 2m antenna since I'm still using the Charlie Brown antenna for reaching out to the FARA repeater. It should be a good time. I also have a few raspberry pi's that are just sitting in the drawer, and I plan to use them for some project involving the radio. I will have to perform more research on that.

It's nice and sunny here in Waynesboro. What a great day for a walk, ride, or picnic. More info to come soon...

Live Long, and Prosper.

73,

K4HBO

My First 2m Antenna Build 04-22-2025 ...AND IT'S THE CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS TREE OF ANTENNAS

So I have to give some mad shout-outs to my crew over at the Fauquier Amateur Radio Association (FARA), who are always trying to give me great pointers on how to build very awesome antennas.  Plus, I know they feel sorry for me after I shared this first "antenna" build with them, and they gave me copious amounts of tips and recommendations for my next build.  One of my friends K3FR Ron gave me a good printout of a "2m Coat Hanger Antenna", which is probably going to be my next project...just for fun.  It would be interesting to see if I could grab more than one repeater with that type of antenna.  As for my current 2m antenna...let's just say that whenever I look at it, I hear the Peanuts theme song as Schroeder plays it on the piano so vividly.  

I first got the idea to build my own antenna...from FARA, when the FARA Godfather K1HTV Rich (hereafter known only as "The Godfather") declared that he advised us new hams to build our own antennas due to the experience, learning, and cost effectiveness of the activity.  Being new to the ham world and also having a ton of former soldering experience in the US Marines back in the mid 90s (Aviation Electrician), I thought to myself that this could be rather simple and effective.   And for the most part, I was right...BUT...not.  I forgot that it has been almost 30 years since I've held a soldering iron in my hand, and one tends to forget some of that stuff if you don't keep up with it. I watched a YouTube video on a ground plane quarter wave 2m antenna build and thought that it looked very easy to build. So, I ordered the materials to build it:

• Spool of 12-gauge speaker wire 

• A bag of SO-239 Connectors  

• A "third hand" for holding pieces for soldering

• El Cheapo China made (but cool looking) 100w soldering iron, solder, and flux

• A crimping set that I found out I didn't need for this build

• A pack of 4-40 and 6-32 machine screws

• A 10 ft. PL-259 UHF coax cable

This build would have been much cheaper if I already had the tools, but startup cost is justified in my mind due to the potential for newer and better antennas. Anyway, I calculated via an online calculator that the length I desired was about 19 inches.  Another FARA friend of mine N4KL Kevin said to make it 20.5 and measure the SWR down so I don't cut off too much of the antenna.  Anyway, I cut it around 19 inches, and then attempted soldering the wire to the connector.  It did not go so well as planned the first round because my soldering iron was not hot enough.  However, I finally figured that out and added the required heat, and boom!  The wire and connector were one.

It can hit the repeater, and it sounds crystal clear. But, the SWR level is way off according to the MFJ-259...which is confusing to me on so many levels. I might not be using it right, so I will have to do some more research to see if I'm using the SWR meter wrong.

Anyway, it's hitting the repeater, and everybody tells me it's crystal clear, so I'm happy with that for now. This week I will try to build a "Ultra-Simple 2m Coat Hanger Antenna" and make it super awesome.  Stay tuned.

Live long, and prosper.

K4HBO

EFHW Antenna Install 04-19-2025 MY ROOKIE MISHAP AND CORRECTION

Two weekends ago, I set my mind to hang an end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antenna up in the trees in my backyard, and it was my very first outdoor antenna installation experience.  While the EFHW is basically just 14-gauge wire with a 49:1 balun on the end where the coax connects and runs back to the radio, I had no previous experience in getting this sort of contraption up in the trees, and I had to figure out where to "end" the antenna near the house (and how).  Instead of mapping out my layout and solving the issues, I was in a terrible hurry just to get on the air with HF, and I thought about my trees in the backyard, and how I could potentially hang the wire so that it would be high enough to get me going. My fellow ham and neighbor KX4O John who has years of experience in this area came over and did a site survey of my backyard and gave me a few recommendations.  Initially, he thought it might be best to just "hypotenuse" the antenna from my basement wall and clamp it down using a C-clamp at the end, with the ground wire secured to the normal grounding rod, but then he noticed the house ground on the other side of the house and made a recommendation to hypotenuse the cable up into the trees on that side.  To be honest, I initially liked his first recommendation better, but then I realized I have a nice tree on the recommended side where I could pull the wire over and down to additional trees, making an inverted "V" to tie it off.  And so, up the antenna went on the "house grounded" side, and when finished, looked as if I had an additional power line running from my house to the trees.

Okay, so I know that anybody with any antenna building and installing experience is right now either yelling internally at their screen, or laughing out loud and considering adding my site to their list of "favorite comedy sites".  In my defense and like I said beforehand, this was my first outside installation EVER, and I was in a very big hurry to get on the HF bands so I can reach out to other hams worldwide.  If there are any new hams that are reading this, the "attachment to the house" picture is what I am talking about. By attaching the antenna directly to my METAL gutter, I basically extended the length of the antenna and caused an overall impedance (resistance) mismatch, which threw off the SWR ratios.  The metal extension was definitely going to be an unforeseen issue.

But...this very simple aspect didn't register with me initially, so just call it my "duh" moment for this project.  More on this later (obviously).

One of the other problems that I had to work out is how to run the coax cable back into my house. Do I drill a hole in my siding?  Do I do it through the door frame? The anticipation was enough to keep me up at night.  Luckily, I did a quick scan around my HVAC unit, and unbeknownst to me there was a rather curious entry point where the HVAC feeds ran into the house, and it appeared to have been leading into the basement ceiling.  I said to myself  "Hmmmm, I wonder if that leads to a point where I can run it across the basement ceiling as initially planned?" Come to find out...I struck gold.  Also...there is apparently a direct hole into my basement where critters can get into which I didn't know about, but I'll worry about that later.  

Since my radio is on the first floor of my house, I knew that I needed to "poke" a hole in the floor and feed the cable up from the basement ceiling. I used a 7/8-inch hole-saw bit to saw out a circular hole in the floor, allowing the already connected PL259 connector push up through the floor and plug in directly to my radio. Mission accomplished! Or...so I thought...

The peculiar thing about rushing a job before strategically mapping out all of the details is that you run a huge risk of getting something wrong. As I stated before, the impedance now was so very off on my antenna due to the metal gutter, that when I began flirting around with HF bands for the first time, the noise level was so high that my inital thought was "This antenna sucks", and of course I would think that. How could it be user error, when clearly I was all of a sudden a genius for getting this to work in the first place? I hit up my neighbor KX4O and let him know that something seemed wrong because even though I had no experience with HF surfing, it seemed like an awful lot of noise. The first thing he asked me (shocker) was "Did you check the SWR level and use an analyzer to tune your antenna?"  (You know, the most basic thing ever that you learned about during Technician licensing)  I sheepishly gave him the "Uhhhhhhhhhh you know, I've never done that before, so I just didn't think of that" with a bit of a "come on pal, show some mercy and give me a break" sort of look. I know he was trying to be positive in helping me with this issue, but I can't help but think that he was rolling his eyes in his own mind saying to himself "come on man, what are you even doing"...but his external countenance did not give that indication.  He politely said "You know, I have an MFJ-259 tuner that you can use, and let me know the readings and we can figure out what is going on".  I had no idea how to use an MFJ-259 but I figured it couldn't be that hard, and to this thought I was correct. I hooked up the SWR meter and proceeded to show the readings for 10m, 20m, 40m.  The reading was WAY far to the right, showing a 3:1 ratio with a ton of impedance...not what you want to see, I gathered.

Needless to say...I had far, far better results.

I know that the new readings were not perfect, but they nearly were and a far better reading than the previous. My noise level dropped tremendously, and I could now hear stations from across the nation as well as a few European stations that I picked up and made contact with.

This story is a bit embarrassing since I am in the midst of a group of radio geniuses who I know will be reading this with most likely a smirk on their face, but I want to put this out there so that if there are any newly licensed hams attempting their first setup, they may not make the same mistake that I did, and that they will have a smooth and joyful experience in setting up their first antenna.

Lessons Learned from this adventure:

• Create a map and strategy of your antenna setup BEFORE you begin throwing your gear up in the air and twisting knobs on your radio.

• Purchase or borrow a SWR analyzer (like the MFJ above) and TUNE your antenna once you have it up in the air.

• Make sure you have all the right tools for the job...I went to Home Depot a few times during this install.

• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Find an Elmer (experienced ham person) that will help you with a site survey or an install process, much like my buddy John/KX4O (he gave me all the good recommendations, I just made a bad decision on the direct gutter connection).

• Find a local radio club and join.  I know that the organization will probably be filled with seasoned radio veterans who are chomping at the bits to share their knowledge and experience, and thereby help you out with all things radio. It could be a bit intimidating at first to be in a room full of guys that know way more than you do, but over time you will pick up on the jargon, and they will most likely be more than friendly about your ignorance and offer up advice for your endeavors.

•  Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you're a rookie like me, it's probably going to happen. Don't be afraid of constructive criticism from a more experienced person, so that you can get better and be more awesome.

Until next time. Live long, and prosper.

73,

Jason- K4HBO