Hi,

I have three antennas:
Anli AL-800 - Telescopic 2m and 70cm. BNC connector.
Radioshack 20-011 - Whip antenna with 16 feet RSG58 cable with TNC and BNC connectors. 25-1300Mhz
Diamond D130J - 12 feet RG58 cable with TNC and BNC connectors. 25-1300MHz.

The AL-800 mostly sits on a Yaesu VX7R and does a fine job there. The Radioshack or the Diamond are hooked up to an ICOM PCR1000 scanner. I was tuned to a repeater on the HT and was trying to have a QSO with a friend so I tuned the scanner to the same frequency but turned out that the scanner could not pickup what my HT could easily.

Suspecting that the repeater may not be a good troubleshooting component, I switched the HT to a local police department frequency and did the same with the scanner. This particular PD comes in loud and clear almost everywhere on my HT. But the scanner was deaf to it. I changed the antenna on the scanner from the Diamond to the Radioshack with the same result - the scanner was deaf.

So I took the antenna off the HT, held the scanner vertically and mounted the AL-800 on it. Wow!! Suddenly, I could hear the chatter booming through my headphones. I switched back the antennas and as expected, the scanner went deaf. Again, to confirm I put the *bad* antennas on the HT and now the HT went deaf.

Ofcourse, I need to try attaching the Diamond and the Radioshack antenna directly on the scanner without the cable and see the results. But can such short cables cause such a huge drop in the signal? Or, is there something else that I should investigate other than the cables? The Diamond and the Radioshack antennas are not completely deaf. There are stations that I can pickup with these two but they are just not as receptive as the AL-800.

Any pointers to troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

- Siddhartha KI6NUJ

Thanks for that link. I did find another HAM who mounted what looks like a FT-8800/8900 in the dash

http://k0bg.com/Gallery/Other-Installs-Volume-Two/VK4TDI3

I did consider the overheating issue but given that the ICOM is 40mm (less than the DIN spec of 50mm height), there should be a thin envelope of air that can be circulated with an external fan.

Other than the dash, there is hardly any space in the car to mount the VHF xcvr

- Siddhartha

I recently purchased an ICOM IC 2200H VHF xcvr. My car has a double DIN stereo so I figured I could replace the double din stereo with a single DIN and use the remaining 1 DIN for the VHF xcvr. The question is that how do I fit the non-standard VHF unit into the DIN sized kit of my car? The ICOM measures 5.5(W) x 1.6(H) x 5.9 (D) inches (140 x 40 x 146 mm).

Thanks,

- Siddhartha
  KI6NUJ

Thanks for all the replies. They were definitely a great help in deciding the power supply for my base rig.

Another newbie question. Does it make any sense to use an automotive battery combined with a AC battery charger to power your base rig instead of a linear/stepped DC power supply? If yes, what would be some significant pros/cons?

Thanks,

- Siddhartha
  KI6NUJ

I am new to radios so please point out if I missed something obvious.

I have two antennas - Diamond D130J and a Anli/Pryme AL-800. The AL-800 sits on a Yaesu VX7R HT. With the AL-800, I was tuned to a 2 meter repeater when I switched the antenna and put the D130J on. Result, the radio went deaf. Both the antennas were being used indoors.

With the AL-800, I can hear this particular 2 meter repeater clearly although it is atleast 30 miles away and even hit the repeater with just 1 watt.

Comments/Suggestions please?

Thanks,

Siddhartha
KI6NUJ