Radio mounting question

If you're not dead set on using the ranger, get a Cobra 29 and install it in the overhead spot. That ranger is a nice $400-500 rig, where the '29 can be had for $80-90. Hate for it to grow "legs" sitting on your dash.

 

Understood. +1 on ssb. I use a sawtooth hump mount for my 148 GTL in my pickup truck and that works great as a temporary mount.

 

If you're pretty well set on wanting SSB and are proscribed from hole mounts (does that include roof holes for antennas? After all, the Qualcomm is getting its RF from *somewhere*.....

In my service van I use a simple Cobra 25 (with a KL-203 "just in case" under the seat) to a choice, depending upon needed range and time away from he base between a 108"whip on the rear quarter panel of my Plymouth van (yes, I'm just a 4-whlr driver), a Larsen clone with NMO mount on the center of the van, or a 30"Barjan (or Diesel or Quangseng or whoever they are this week) on the same NMO mount. If I'm riding in someone else's vehicle, including SWMBO (She Who Must be Obeyed) I use my Cherokee AH-100. It's AM & SSB, defaults to CB but can be simply converted to 10 meters, where I usually use it. It has a couple of the gingerbread-y features that larger rigs have, like an RF Gain attenuator to knock down some of he nearby powerhouses. Likewise, there's a switchable Mic Gain switch to help kill your own cab noises.

It's not a powerhouse by itself, and there's little room inside for strangling out another half-watt or so (which is useless anyway). On the good side, the kit comes with some goodies: the rechargeable battery back slides off the bottom and gets replaced by an adapter for external (cigar lighter plug), antenna connector to an SO-239, and a speaker-mic on its own cable. The radio itself with the spring steel belt clip can either be slipped over some projection from the dash, or it's light enough to stick a few square inches of Velcro® on the radio''s back and the dash will hold it in place.

I think that this rig is currently on the FCC's "not legal for US CB" list, but it's easily circumvented. It looks a LOT like the Midland AM-only radio, and one of the Magnums, to it may be easily found.

As with any rig, though, the antenna system (to include the antenna and counterpoise ("ground plane") will make or break the chances for a successful conversation on the air, so if you've got a plastic cab without having installed a foil counterpoise on the inside of the shell (search for "aluminum foil" or "copper foil" for my posts on installing a usable counterpoise on Casciadias and other similar plastic boxes. It may sound silly at first, and as long as you just tell folks you've restored the missing counterpoise using sensible (and affordable) technology, you can make that plastic cab work like an all steel or aluminum cab. I've got a couple of solutions listed (you'll have to search for "vertical dipole" or "foil counterpoise") but I can't find them at the moment.

But the AH-100 goes from a handheld to a full (legal) power mobile in less than a minute, and back to a belt-mount in the same time. Other radios exist, but with the no-dash holes restriction, the rig is light enough to survive with some Velcro® and keep you on the air.

Hope that helps.
73

 

The Galaxy 979 has ssb and will fit in the little cubby hole or maybe one of those Uniden 980's. Either can be had for about $150 or a little less.

 

I'm not sure to be honest..Never really dived into the ssb world.