Here's a photo gallery of my install of a Icom IC-7000, LDG AT-100 tuner, in my 2004 Chevrolet Blazer.

http://kf9za.kremer.com/hf-mobile

Getting great 5 and 9 reports on 10m, 15m, and 40m running 100w into the tuner and Jetstream "ham stick" style antennas. Not a super novel install, but the use of a lakeview mount on the plastic luggage rack and grounding the mount and radio seems to be working well.  Thought ya'll might get some ideas from it.

Do a "Find On This Page" on your browser right now with the word "Train" or "Trained".  LA9XSA has used the word in each of his posts.  Training is the key to this enitre discussion. Ever wonder why the military trains over and over and over again before going into battle.  Hand a soldier a rifle an point them to the battlefield and you lose.

It's the same with an emergency where you've lost communications.  Stress, confusion, pressure.  In the hospital same as on the battlefield lack of training gets people killed.  The coordinator who says they'll use non-licensed operators to run a ham radio is setting themselves up for a triple failure.  Failure one, they will put untrained operators on a radio they don't know how to operate. Failure two is that the coordinator will think they have the communication problem solved when instead they complicated things further. Failure three is that operator will likely interfere with trained operators who may be on the same frequency/net.

Perhaps a solution would be to get some or more hospital staff involved in ham radio.  There might be people on staff who are interested.  Hold a "what is ham radio" session with a free lunch for staff.  Ask the hospital to allow you to have license classes and testing using one of their training rooms.  Then say any staff member who gets their license will be given a free radio.  A hospital can afford $150 for a Yaseu/Kenwood/Icom HT.  Having that HT might encourage them to interact with other RACES/ARES folks on the local repeater and hone their skills. Recruit the security staff. They may have a background in Ecomm from police/fire/military.

But, remember the key here is training. Repetative training.  Getting your license, gettiing an HT, throwing it in the drawer and forgetting it for 5 years is worse than not having it at all. It's a false sense of security. An emergency hits, and confusion sets in.... "how do you work this thing?".

In a Life or Death situation anyone is allowed to operate a ham radio, but will an untrained operator make the situation better or worse?

I hear ya' AC4RD. Since we have no "candy store" here in Indianapolis, I ordered the 12m stick online.  So, this afternoon I put the 15m stick on my Blazer and worked both Portugal and Croatia on 15m sitting in my driveway!

I hear you guys.  No more tuning 12m on the 15m stick.  Just ordered a 12 stick.  Thanks!

Protect Your Ham Radio From Theft With Kleenex Box Security

Out of site and out of mind….Do it yourself security system that costs under two dollars !!

I recently got a brand new Icom IC-7000 to go HF mobile in my trusty, but rusty, 2004 Chevy Blazer.  I mounted the transceiver unit on the transmission hump and using the remote connection kit and an Icom MB-120 mount put the control head on my dashboard.  One concern was how that control head could be a magnet for a thief who might just think it looked like something expensive and would smash the window and grab the radio. Solution?  Take a Kleenex box, create a false bottom, slip it over the radio, and the thief will never see your radio

All you need is a large Kleenex box, Exacto knife, ruler, cardboard, and masking tape.  Here's a full tutorial with pictures:

http://www.kremer.com/kf9za-kleenex-box-ham-radio-security

I recently purchased an Icom IC-7000 HF/VHF/UHF Amateur Radio tranceiver.  I also bought a LDG Electronics IT-100 Antenna Tuner.  I planned to run my IC-7000 in my SUV mobile.  I had a limited amount of space under the dashboard.  I had enough room for the radio under there, but not enough room for the IT-100 tuner.  I decided the best place for the tuner was the center console of the SUV.  Only one problem.  The supplied LDG interface cable is only 14" long.  I needed about 3 and 1/2 feet from the back of the radio to the plug in of the IT-100.  The LDG instructions that came with the radio say they only supply the one type of interface cable.  The instructions tell you how you can "homebrew" your own longer cable by buying a DIN connector and a Molex connector and get out your soldering iron.  Now, personally I'm not that good with a solder iron.  I have a hard enough time doing RF connectors, not the very tiny pins of a DIN & Molex connector. 

I did a little Googling and found out that the LDG uses a common 6 pin DIN connector used for some computer keyboards.  In fact I found out that the "Cables To Go - 29613 - 6ft Ultima PS/2 M/F Keyboard Extension Cable" is a cable used for extended length for keyboards.  It has the same DIN connector as the LDG.  So....I ordered it from Amazon.com.  I hooked it up to the LDG tuner....and it worked perfectly !!  So, I connected the LDG Interface cable to the keyboard extension cable.  I used some radio shack heat shrink tubing to shield the exposed metal where the male LDG connects with the female end of the extension cable.  In addition I used three small tie wraps to tie the male and female connection together.

Love my new radio.  Love how the LDG tuner tunes up on everything.  Even got it to tune up 12 meters on my 15 meter ham stick.  Also, love the fact that I didn't have to do the extra soldering that would have been really, really frustrating for this old ham.  All for only $8.50. 

Here's the link to the Amazon page for the cable:  http://sk4.us/nvGAWb

http://shareable.net/blog/a-low-cost-low-power-diy-cellular-data-network

The application outlined is for a DIY cell network for developing countries...but could this have applications for emergency communications where local cell is out, but Internet is availalbe?  Interesting read.

I just wrote the review below about a Baofeng UV-3R.  I thought it might get a smile or chuckle if you read my first sentence.  Here's a link to a picture of the radio: http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=106027&usercat=2205

"I got a UV-3R in the newly availalbe blue color.  It arrived at about the same time the new "Smurfs" movie came out.  So at the next ham meeting I was showing everyone my new "Smurf Ham radio".  I can echo most of the comments in the reviews below. 

The lowest you can turn the volume down is still too loud.  I like to monitor the local repeater on a low volume, but this radio won't go low enough.  There are mods on the Web to fix this.  I found a ham who has a UV-3R and had put together a great resource of links for mods.  His site is www.brickolore.com

The radio comes with two antennas, one for V and one for U.  I sprung an extra $10 and bought a 7" dual band antenna from 409shop.com when I bought the radio.

I didn't buy the programming cable/software and didn't find it too hard to manually program it.  Have gotten good reports on audio and have no problem getting into the local repeaters.  After playing around with it for a couple of weeks I now have it in the glove compartment of my wife's car.  That way I have a good standby radio if we are out and about and I didn't bring my Yaesu VX-7R with me.  I'm in Indiana and you never know when severe weather might pop up.

I will take exception with one comment in a review.  Another reviewer said that this radio would be a good starter radio for a new ham.  I disagree.  Yes, it is inexpensive....but who knows how reliable it is?  I would reccomend a bottom of the line single band Yaseu FT-270 for around $130 for a new ham.  The Yaseu (plus Kenwood and Icom) have the correct repeater offset hard programmed.  The UV-3R doesn't.  New ham might make a mistake and put the wrong offset in.  Plus the UV-3R might break down.  Stick with the major brand for your main HT, get the UV-3R for back up."

I wonder if this guy with 12 ham radios in his van

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2011/dozen_mobile_radios_in_one_car.htm

is a volunteer in the same community.  Of couse the firefighter radio operator only has 8 radios.   

If this was Facebook I'd give this comment a big "Like".

From 1979 thru 1995 I worked for various CBS network affiliated TV stations in the midwest.  I ended my TV career at WISH-TV in Indianapolis.  For my entire TV career I worked in local the TV news business.  I will emphasis the last word "business" because that's just what it is.  TV news is a public service, but it's a business first.  As a business it must make money.  More viewers means higher ratings means more $$ from advertisers. 

Back in 1995 TV news was a money printing business.  Every station made tons of money because there was little competition.  Yes, there was cable, but for the most part a network TV station, and their news operation made lots of money.  Also, back then we found that most people had their favorite news station/anchor/sports guy and they watched the same station for news every day.  We also found that the one story that affected everyone was the weather.  Everyone talks about the weather, and stormy weather was scary stuff.  When the weather got bad, people tuned in.  Plus, when those people tuned in something happened that the audience consultants called "sampling".  What people did was tune in their favorite TV news station, and if that station didn't have weather coverage on, they would turn the channel and "sample" one of the other TV stations.

So big, bad scary weather was very important.  It was important to be on the air to either make sure your core audience didn't change the channel, plus to be on the air if one of the other stations viewers happened to "sample" your station.  So when you tune in during bad weather the TV stations are doing "wall-to-wall" weather coverage.  Being on air whether the weather was severe or not.  It's just good business, but it's not good public service.  Here in Indy they are pretty good and they don't go "wall-to-wall" unless there really is severe weather.  But from the previous post, it seems that other stations go all out even if the weather is not that bad.

Perhaps the previous poster should contact that TV station and tell them that they are doing a dis-service to their audience by crying wolf and broadcasting non severe weather news.  Odds are that the station will ignore your plea because bad weather is good business for TV News.

Three levels would work for you, me and anyone else who spends time aware of the weather and their surroundings.  But, the general public doesn't think about those things.  With the general public when you communicate to them you must simplify:  black/white, A/B, Tornado/No Tornado.  If you tried to explain the concept of a "possible" tornado that would just add to their confusion.  With the average person you have to keep it simple.

Not exactly a ham story. But lots of us are involved in RACES, ARES and Skywarn. Here's the news story.  I think he raises some interesting questions....

"In the wake of the April 27 tornadoes, veteran Alabama television meteorologist James Spann is questioning whether too frequent tornado warnings are causing people to ignore them."

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/james_spann_blasts_number_of_f.html

Plus, here's his original blog post.  I do agree that the day of the warning siren has past.

http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=48699