The Great Smaug

[campfire]

The folks we're wheeling with finally agreed to ditch the CB radios this year (in favor of FRS/GMRS). So the ancient, bulky CB radio has been removed, and the truck is getting a smaller Yaesu FT7900 for 2m/70cm communications. With the removable head unit, I'm thinking this should be mounted under the seat to free up floorboard space.

(stock photo)

 

[campfire]

I'd like to run a 48" 5/8-wave antenna (like on my old truck), but I just can't see it surviving so many encounters with low trees. My old truck wasn't used for this sort of tight trail riding, so it wasn't an issue (though I do remember hitting a few gas station canopies ). For this upcoming ride I'll be using a normal 19" 1/4-wave antenna. While griping about its lack of gain.

@TerryD, I assume this is a problem you have solved already?

The CB antenna was 38" long, and was regularly knocked off the roof. So 19" actually sounds pretty good.

 

[TerryD]

I'd like to run a 48" 5/8-wave antenna (like on my old truck), but I just can't see it surviving so many encounters with low trees. My old truck wasn't used for this sort of tight trail riding, so it wasn't an issue (though I do remember hitting a few gas station canopies ). For this upcoming ride I'll be using a normal 19" 1/4-wave antenna. While griping about its lack of gain.

@TerryD, I assume this is a problem you have solved already?

The CB antenna was 38" long, and was regularly knocked off the roof. So 19" actually sounds pretty good.

I've had great luck from my $20 Tram 19" dual band NMO antenna mounted up on the gate. It's been smashed against garage roof and lived for several years now in the dense brush here on the east coast.

It's usually bent at a weird angle and I just bend it back a little. Coverage has been great and no noticeable loss from my 5/8w tri-band (6, 2, 440) Comet I sold a few years ago with a quad band radio.

 

[ZooMad75]

I've had great luck from my $20 Tram 19" dual band NMO antenna mounted up on the gate. It's been smashed against garage roof and lived for several years now in the dense brush here on the east coast.

It's usually bent at a weird angle and I just bend it back a little. Coverage has been great and no noticeable loss from my 5/8w tri-band (6, 2, 440) Comet I sold a few years ago with a quad band radio.

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Looks like the same Tram antenna I put on my truck. Used a basic fender mount and put it opposite of the am/fm antenna. On the three trips I've made with it, I had great range and clarity. We were only using the GMRS frequencies too.

 

[campfire]

I've had great luck from my $20 Tram 19" dual band NMO antenna mounted up on the gate. It's been smashed against garage roof and lived for several years now in the dense brush here on the east coast.

It's usually bent at a weird angle and I just bend it back a little. Coverage has been great and no noticeable loss from my 5/8w tri-band (6, 2, 440) Comet I sold a few years ago with a quad band radio.

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I'm sticking with a mag-mount at this point. Yes, it tears off, but it transfers easily between vehicles and doesn't require any leaky holes. If I were to drill holes in the roof it would be for a much beefier (HF-friendly) antenna setup. But that is very, very low on my list of things to do.

And a side mount antenna? Meh. Why should I settle for 5-mile range when I know I can do 80 miles with my old setup? M.A.W. go big or go home, right?

 

[campfire]

Looks like the same Tram antenna I put on my truck. Used a basic fender mount and put it opposite of the am/fm antenna. On the three trips I've made with it, I had great range and clarity. We were only using the GMRS frequencies too.

I like it. If I were to go with a side-mounted antenna, I'd be more inclined to mount it there rather than somewhere in the back, given the shape of this truck. And as dorky as mirror mounts look, it does keep the number of tree-snagging points to a minimum. The back of this truck is already smooth, so it gains nothing by adding a protrusion. And I'm more likely to scrape the back end than the front, with the way this whale swings the back end around...

 

[campfire]

I still have my old K30 CB mag-mount and a leftover fixed-mount CB antenna, and I may retune those one of these days. Or I might just buy one of those mounts.

 

[campfire]

Or, given how rarely the FM radio is used, I could retune and repurpose the antenna embedded into the windshield...

 

[campfire]

Quick update - Yooper trip starts tomorrow morning. As usual, the truck is 85% ready (it probably never will get to 100% ), but it's steadily improving. It recently got a coolant overflow tank, seats, shifter boots, 70cm radio, AM/FM radio, gauge mods, and some wiring improvements. I'll be sleeping in the back and I have a 100mm fan that I plan to hard-mount (once I figure out the best placement).

Time to pound dirt!

 

[campfire]

The new starter cranks well, but about half the time the motor spins up before the bendix has engaged. The sequence needs to be reversed, so I need to either run the two solenoids in parallel (with a delay) or to have the stock solenoid power the remote solenoid.

Two steps forwards, one step back. At this rate the truck will finally be functional in 3 or 4 more years...

 

[ZooMad75]

Last minute thrashes suck.

Safe travels on the adventure. Looking forward to pics of a foreign green landscape with lots of water.

 

[campfire]

Last minute thrashes suck.

Safe travels on the adventure. Looking forward to pics of a foreign green landscape with lots of water.

Thanks. This will be a different type of adventure. My 3yo has been refusing to sleep during our recent camping adventures. So this year I'll be bringing the 5yo and leaving the rest of the family at home. So no codriver/navigator/photographer. OTOH, I now have 8' of bed space instead of 5.5'. And 1/3rd as much gear, with no need for any tent. So the truck feels very different this year. I even have room to throw in a pair of mountain bikes, which hasn't happened since about 2013.

 

[ZooMad75]

Thanks. This will be a different type of adventure. My 3yo has been refusing to sleep during our recent camping adventures. So this year I'll be bringing the 5yo and leaving the rest of the family at home. So no codriver/navigator/photographer. OTOH, I now have 8' of bed space instead of 5.5'. And 1/3rd as much gear, with no need for any tent. So the truck feels very different this year. I even have room to throw in a pair of mountain bikes, which hasn't happened since about 2013.

It may be different but that kid ain't gonna forget it. Let them take some pics too. Pretty fun to see it from the kiddo's perspective.

This year's desert trip was the first big trip I did solo. Thought I'd get bored not having anybody to talk to, but the GMRS radios worked so well we were talking quite a lot between the vehicles, on the highway and the trail. The rest of the time I was cranking tunes.

The bonus by going solo I didn't have nearly the amount of gear I did with two of us in there.

 

[TerryD]

It may be different but that kid ain't gonna forget it. Let them take some pics too. Pretty fun to see it from the kiddo's perspective.

This year's desert trip was the first big trip I did solo. Thought I'd get bored not having anybody to talk to, but the GMRS radios worked so well we were talking quite a lot between the vehicles, on the highway and the trail. The rest of the time I was cranking tunes.

The bonus by going solo I didn't have nearly the amount of gear I did with two of us in there.

The number of offspring that go with me on trips changes but it's always a good time. I do some trips with just a kiddo and no other folks, usually to secluded but easily accessible spot where we can just piddle around camp and hang out.

Radios are nice when there's a group. We used them a lot on the way to Colorado and while there last year. I was flying solo on the way home and that was awful. No one to talk to. I couldn't even raise anyone on 2m in Kansas at all. Misery....

 

[shady]

It may be different but that kid ain't gonna forget it. Let them take some pics too. Pretty fun to see it from the kiddo's perspective.

Whenever we go to a family get together or a park with no water features, we give Kaz one of our phones and he takes 20-30 pics lol. Last time we found selfies with him and a whole bunch of aunt's/uncle's. A few of the dog, some cousins, and random artsy pics of pop cans n bugs lol.
He actually does pretty good with it and takes some cool pics.

They do have kids digital cameras too.

 

[shady]

Have fun on the trip, and I hope the truck performs well

 

[max 02]

Have fun!

 

[campfire]

Thanks, all. The trip was good. No new mechanical issues. Zero. Kind of surreal after the last 3 consecutive years. No grumpy kid problems, just fun in the woods.

The last couple evenings were a thrash of adding gauges and wiring. Boost, voltmeter, pyro, tach, radio, etc. The most important part was a new body-mounted ground block. That has finally stabilized the voltmeter readings.

With all the mandatory equipment working (and about 80% of the optional equipment ), we hit the road North for fun and adventures.



The truck as we set off:



@Blue85, lest you heckle me again about Suburbans always being photographed at gas stations, this stop was made for bathrooms and to call Ryan to arrange a meeting point. No gasoline was purchased (duh), it was simply the least congested area to park.

Once we were done not-purchasing gasoline, we headed towards our newly-agreed meeting spot. Just outside the old USAF (SAC) base at Sawyer.

 

[Blue85]

No gasoline was purchased

I sure hope not.

 

[campfire]

We met up with the group and hit the trail. Within half a mile we stopped for a watering hole.

This view:



Turned into this view:



We got out to heckle the stranded driver, and decided this wasn't the right way to start off the first day of the trip.



So we pulled him out and turned around.




We spent much of that day exploring and trying out new routes. Dirt roads, two-tracks, and trails. Lots of turning around, but that's part of the fun.








This (officially) public road has been recently gated. I have no interest in starting a dispute with a land owner, but it seems wrong having a private gate across a public road. Without starting a tirade, I'll say that property rights are touchy at best.




So we turned around again.