Man aging with 🏳️🌈 friendsMy project to replace my ham pod with my car is coming together...
Eventually the radio and the computer will be mounted on a pole inside the car.
#HamR #ParksOnTheAir #POTA #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #AmateurFunk #RadioAmatori
Progress update.
#HamR #HamRadio #POTA #ParksOnTheAir #AmateurRadio #AmateurFunk #RadioAmatori #Mobile #MobileOps
Well, that was certainly suboptimal. The pole takes up too much space in the foot well. I'm going to have to do some custom fabrication to give me a workable situation
A friend was kind enough to provide a 20cm x 18cm board, into which I have drilled 12 holes. This will let me move the pole about 8cm toward the center of the vehicle, which should improve the legroom situation on that side of the vehicle. Two of the holes for the pole will go all the way through to the original bracket, while the other two will just bolt to the board with stop nuts.
Also discovered that three of my M6 bolts are 2cm long, not 2.5cm. Argh! Another trip to the hardware store!
The pole, mounted to the board, mounted to the plate, mounted to the seat posts...
I raised the radio up as high as I could; it was too low and close to the shifter before. There is now "enough" room in the foot well to sit relatively comfortably, hopefully for extended stretches.
Oh, and those 2.5cm bolts for holding the pole? Yeah, they need to be 3cm actually. They're installed without washers for the moment.
The USB cables have all been sleeved with copper braid to help with RF invasion.
Update on the radio stuff. This time, power.
The power stuff has all been moved out to its own tote box. This splits out the heavy stuff into separate containers so it can be less onerous to tote around.
The 48V input has a 10A fuse, while the 12V outputs have 25A fuses.
Supplying a 12V input automatically switches to the 12V supply; removing it switches back to the 48V-to-13.8V DC-DC converter's output (so we're not energizing the relay from the battery system).
Still need to bolt all the things down.
So many cables...
The evolution continues...
The plan, for non-car-based #ParksOnTheAir activations, is to use this stand setup to hold the radio and computer back behind the table surface, freeing up space for, well, everything else. It will make for a nice uncluttered experience on the table.
I suspect that it weighs about the same as the box did, however.
#POTA #HamR #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #AmateurFunk #RadioAmatori
The difference, of course, is that for car-based activations, the pole will be mounted inside the vehicle.
Shack on a pole.
I just realized I missed a golden opportunity to make the following joke:
Shack... onna stick!
Stormgren@praxiscode Ah, so that's where MFJ went, got bought up by CMOT Dibbler, Ltd. 🤣
GNU Terry Pratchett
The Raggberg was the least tall of the solid wood options at IKEA, to make it likely the height would not need to be adjusted when switching between car and non-car.
epiPelagic Puck@praxiscode
Room to have breakfast and play a puzzle.
Room to have breakfast and play a puzzle.
Dissident by Birth