Your best bet is to get the proper length of cable.
Anytime you patch together multiple cables, there is
some loss, the chance for water leaks, etc.

That said, good quality connectors, UHF or N, should
not be too much of a problem. Whatever you have on hand
is probably good enough.

Matt (k4mls)

I have a 1999 CRV with two glass-mount antennas. One
is for my Kenwood D700 dual-band. The other is for a
CB radio.

Obvously, a roof-mounted NMO mount would be my first
choice. Since I use my luggage rack quite a bit,
however, I didn't want to put anything on top that
would get in my way.

So, I went glass-mount. I have a 2m/70cm Larsen
antenna. It works well as Andy noted. Yes, there is
a bit of loss but I'm not too worried about it. The
Larsen has been on my car for a couple years now so
I'm not worried about it falling off.

The higher the frequency, the better glass-mount
antennas work. 800mHz and above works really well.
70cm ain't bad. 2m is even less efficient. My CB
radio is probably hurting by at least two dB.

Let us know what you end up with, please.

Matt (k4mls)

I highly recommend Garmin for both their products and
their customer service. I bought an eTrex Legend
almost two years ago. I liked it so much I talked my
father an two co-workers into buying Garmins. They are
both happy with their purchases a year or so later.

When I had a problem with my Legend (it got too hot
and the display melted, probably), I called Garmin and
they shipped me a new one even though I was a few days
out of warranty. That kind of service is just about
unheard of.

Garmin updates their GPS firmware often. In the last
two years, I have updated the firmware half a dozen or
so times. Many new features have been added to the
eTrex since it was initially released. I am very
happy they updating their product even after they have
my money in their pocket.

I use the eTrex Legend with a Kenwood D7A(g), Kenwood
D700A and an IBM ThinkPad laptop. Garmin's MapSource
software (not required) is a great value and I have
found it to be very useful. (While I'm at it, let me
pimp TopoFusion http://www.topofusion.com/ -- an
awesome piece of mapping software that is half to a
third the price of any other mapping tool.)

I can't think of a bad thing to say about Garmin's
products or their company. Of course, I have no
experience with Magellan other than having played with
a unit in the store.

(I'm not connected to any of these products except as
a happy user.)

Matt (k4mls)

> any experience installing a rig into a 2002 or 2003
> Honda CR-V..

I have a 1999 Honda CR-V. Last January I installed a
Kenwood D700 with little difficulty. The driver's side
firewall has a few good holes. All have other wires in
them but I was able to push a pair of eight gauge wires
through one of the existing grommets easily.

The unit's base is under the driver's seat. The control
head is mounted to the headliner just to the right of
the rearview mirror. External speakers are on the far
right size of the dash (along with the GPS). The
dual-band antenna is a Larsen glass mount stuck the to
the back-most, driver's side window.

Overall, I have been very happy with the car, radio and
installation. In fact, I think this is the best mobile
install I've done. There was a bit of alternator whine
under heavy acceleration but a couple chokes on the
power cables fixed that.

If you are interested, I could probably put a few
pictures online for you.

Matt (k4mls)

>  if I could use a suitably-sized computer UPS unit to
> power my shack's power supply when I lose AC power

Short answer: Yes.

Medium answer: Yes, but that isn't the most efficient way. The UPS is converting 120V to 12V to charge the battery then 12V to 120V to your power supply which
converts 120V to 12V for your radios. Every time you
step up or step down the voltage, you lose a bit. It would be like if you were a bar tender mixing drinks.
Every time you pour from one glass to another, you
lose a bit of liquor. Not much, of course, but it
does add up.

My answer: If your computer UPS uses a 12V/13.8V
battery, it might be worth your time to open it up
and pull power for the radio directly from the
battery. That is what I do and it works well. I
have a fairly hefty UPS that I use for my computer,
network and phone systems. I don't want to get a
separate battery system for my 13.8V ham gear so I
just suck power off the battery before it goes
through the inverter. The UPS does a find job of
keeping the battery charged and I don't suffer from
an extra two conversion steps.

Matt (k4mls)

> Evenutually you'll get to show your license to
> someone who will ok it.

I am really surprised they stop you at all.

I have traveled both domestically and internationally
a few times since The Eleventh and never have I been
asked for an my FCC license nor have I been stopped
going through security.

Heck, when I'm traveling domestically, it is rare that
I even think to bring my license. I did remember to
bring it to Denmark along with the necessary paperwork
to operate there.

Matt (k4mls)

> Evenutually you'll get to show your license to
> someone who will ok it.

I am really surprised they stop you at all.

I have traveled both domestically and internationally
a few times since The Eleventh and never have I been
asked for an my FCC license nor have I been stopped
going through security.

Heck, when I'm traveling domestically, it is rare that
I even think to bring my license. I did remember to
bring it to Denmark along with the necessary paperwork
to operate there.

Matt (k4mls)

> in this post 9/11 world, I am afraid that airport
> security wouldn't let me take this stuff along. So
> how do y'all travel with your gear?

You have nothing to worry about.

In June I traveled to Denmark on business. I took
off from Orlando, did a hop through Newark and went
through London before landing in Cophenhagen. In my
carry-on bag, I had...

  * IBM laptop
  * Kenwood D7A(g)
  * Garmin GPS
  * PalmPilot
  * spare batteries (radio, laptop, etc.)
  * roll-up j-poll
  * enough misc cables to connect everything
    in every possible combination
  * small screw drivers
  * forgotten swiss army knife (woops!)
  * power cables and adapters
  * cell phone
  * pager
  * etc.

Had I seen that stuff going through the x-ray machine,
even I would have been worried and I knew what the
stuff was.

In order to facilitate scanning the bag, most
airports made me remove the laptop before running
the bag through the x-ray machine. I guess that is
because the x-rays can't go through the laptop well
enough to make out stuff on the other side.

Never did security blink. Only once in eight trips
through security did I have to physically open the
bag for inspection and I was picked at random and
not because of something I was carrying.

I am white, fairly generic looking and with a clean
criminal history so of course I'm not going to be
stopped based on a profile. If you look Middle Eastern,
your mileage may vary.

So, don't worry about it at all and enjoy Florida.

Matt (k4mls)
Orlando, Florida

> Does anyone have any suggestions on furniture for
> the operating positions and cabinets?
 
You need to take a visit to your local boat yard.
 
Furniture for boats is rugged (even waterproof!),
designed to fit in small spaces and their cabinet doors
will stay shut. Best of all, those captian chairs are
pretty darn comfortable even bolted to the floor.
 
Since this trailer is probably going to be dragged all
over the place for years to come, don't be afraid to
spend some money to have the job done right. You don't
want cabinets and radios falling off the wall on the
way to a site.

When you get the trailer done, please post some pictures!

Matt (k4mls)

> I am new to ham radio (about 3 weeks).

Congratulations!

> Is it even practical to do this with a HT?

Yes though doing it with the stock rubber-duck
antenna is going to be a bit difficult. Certainly
not impossible, however.

> What would be the best (easiest) satellites?

There are a three or four satellites that are actually
known as Easy Sats because they are easy to use. Do a
search for "easysat" and "FM". The first two links out
of google.com are a great place to start.

> I would like to do this while backpacking, would a
> handheld beam antenna from Arrow be a good choice?  

The Arrow is an excellent choice and will make your
satellite attempts much less frustrating. If you don't
want to carry an Arrow beam around with you, a good
after-market whip for your HT would work, too.

Matt (k4mls)

> frequencies for 220mhz repeaters in Miami Fl.

This site has all coordinated repeaters in Florida...

http://www.florida-repeaters.org/

In my experience (Orlando area), it is very accurate.

There are over two dozen 220mHz repeaters in the Miami
area. You can find them on the second and third pages
of this PDF file...

http://www.florida-repeaters.org/222listing.pdf

Matt (k4mls)

The D700 is an excellent radio. I have had mine more
than seven months and have no complaints. I use it
mobile just about every day.

However, if you are not going to use its APRS/packet
features, it may be more radio and money than you need.

(I have heard for several folks that the audio on the
D700's crossband repeat is a bit low. I don't doubt
those people but I also haven't seen that problem in
my own rig.)

Matt (k4mls)

> Does anyone know if this radio has the
> capability to work the FM birds?

It works fine doing APRS to PCSat and the
International Space Station. I have used
PCSat many times with just my D7 running
five watts into a 1/4 wave groundplane up
ten feet above my roofline.

I haven't used it on any of the voice FM
satellites but I don't see why it would
not work.

Matt (k4mls)

> SO like 25-75 miles usuing simplex, How far w/the
> repeater on top of Mt.Lemmon which is 10,000ft?

My guess would be 50 to 150 miles. If you put that
repeater half way between you and the other station,
you can double your distance. More or less.

> IS there N E way i could contact near by states
> usuing a 2m radio? tell me how

The best way I can think of is to put yourself
within 25 to 75 miles of the state to which you
want to talk. If you want to talk futher than
simples on two meters, you have to user repeaters,
links or satellites.

Matt (k4mls)

> how far will i be able to contact usuing simplex?

Somewhere between 25 and 75 miles in most cases.
Asking 'how far will my radio talk' is kinda like
asking 'how fast will my car go'. There are so many
variables there is no telling.

> I want to talk to sorrounding states will i be
> able to with this radio?

On its own simplex or through a single repeater,
probably not.

There are some great linked repeaters in the southwest,
however. (New Mexico has an awesome system of linked
repeaters.) With a linked repeater, you may be able to
talk into your neighboring states. Of course, there is
most certainly an IRLP, EchoLink or some other internet
linked repeater in your area so you should be able to
talk around the world with your radio.

If you haven't already visited this Arizona repeater
listing page...

http://www.azrepeaters.net/

...you may want to. They have an excellent listing
of your area's repeaters.

Matt (k4mls)