Let's Get Mobile

For those of you outside of Montana, you might not realize how big this state is. It seems pretty normal for Montanans to talk in hours versus miles when discussing travel plans. I can attest that the state has not gotten any smaller as a new job has me on the road a lot more these days driving between Helena, Missoula, and Billings. With that in mind I figured what better way to spend my time driving than incorporating my favorite hobby instead of fighting to find a radio station and avoiding deer as the odometer clicks by.

I recently installed a Yaesu FT-891 HF mobile radio into my vehicle to allow me to play ham radio while on those longer road trips. Since I already had my Kenwood’s D710 (VHF/UHF mobile) head unit installed on the dash I had to figure out the best place to locate the 891 head unit; that is detachable from the base unit. With a little amatuer radio ingenuity and a little McGyver’ing I came up with this solution.

Just below my car stereo was a storage spot that I really didn’t use due to its size. Add that our family had just bought an air-fryer and I remembered seeing leftover foam packaging that I figured might do the trick. I literally dug that foam out of the trash (for my germaphobe friends it was at the top of the bin and clean) and detached a triangle wedge. Using the head unit bracket as a guide I drilled holes through the foam and fed zip-ties through to secure it.

Voilà! The mount fits snugly and securely. Here are the before and after photos.

For an antenna I am using vertical whips (aka hamstick type antennas). I purchased one for 75, 40, 30, 20, and 17 Meters. They use a coil at the base and an adjustable whip to dial in the SWR for the part of the band you hope to operate on. So far I have been more than happy with the results. Last week I worked a Slovenian station (~5,000 mile contact) while on my way to Great Falls and I’ve been able to chase many operators for Parks On The Air and Summits On The Air across the country while operating mobile. If you are interested in learning more about my setup please don’t hesitate to contact me. 73, KH7AL