The only devices that really care are Apple products. Apple has "extended" the USB connection to "protect" their stuff. (Read "force you to by replacement chargers from Apple") from what I understand they have a series of resistors on the data lines that feed voltage into the data line that the Ipod/Ipad measures to decide if it can charge and at what rate.

The protection has of course been reverse engineered. You can read more here http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/icharge.html

I use a 12v to USB 5V to feed my APRS GPS receiver, works like a charm.

73

Dave

I've drilled and re-tapped an antennex trunk mount and didn't have an issue. If it fits over the lip of a trunk he should have enough space to get the small tap through. If not, get a cheap tap at harbor freight and grind the point off and finish the process with the modified tap. Still less cost, damage, and hassle then trying to heat it.

73
Dave

I'd still drill and retap. Maybe an hours worth of work (if you take a beverage break)   The set screws are not tempered and are actually pretty soft metal (which is why they seem to strip so quickly even without locktite).

I would worry about changing the temper of the mount material by heating. Plus the heat is going to do a number on the powdercoat/ paint of the mount.

By the time you run around and get everything you need to heat it, do the job, and fix the damage, you could have ordered a new mount from Hong Kong, had it shipped by rowboat and installed on the other car.

73
Dave

Drill them out carefully and re-tap the holes for a slightly larger set screw. You're gonna need to replace them anyway by the time you're done.

73

Dave

For field day, the OCRA group used a balloon hoisted antenna. I never did hear how that worked for them.. I'll have to ask if I hear the perpetrators on the repeater.

73
Dave

Additional batteries are not always the best way to go and if not done right can cause more problems then they are worth.

All cars have pass-throughs in the firewall for cables, wires, and linkages.. look for an unused one, cut a small slit in the rubber cover and you're in business. you can use a wire coat hanger to help feed the wires through (before hooking them to the battery of course)

I'm not familiar with the focus, but if it is an automatic transmission, look in the pedal area for the firewall access that would be used for the clutch linkage. Otherwise just look for the rubber plugs or ask your friendly mechanic. You want to avoid the master wiring bundle pass-through and car computer area if possible to avoid interference with the radio, or the car computer.

good luuck
73
Dave

Thanks for the info! If I decide to try this the max I'll be putting into it would be 50 watts. It might be a fun experiment for the money.

73
Dave

Yeah, I know. Life sometimes calls for compromise. The plan is not to mount my 10m antenna w a mag mount, but with a hood seam mount in the trunk. You may remember that you told me not to use that type of mount, but then recommended it to someone else in a different post a while back.  

I'm looking at several antennas right now and am leaning towards a larsen nmo27. I asked about this one because googleing was not turning up much and I was curious.

The question was has anyone actually used one. I'm guessing your answer to that is no.

Has anyone tried this antenna for mobile 10m FM? http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-2310T

The 8900 memory management could have been much better IMHO. As it stands its not very intuitive. The radio basically has one big pool of memories and limits the way you can separate them out unlike the 7900 and the 8800.

Do you use the hyper memories for the "new memory bank"? I have not had time to wrap my brain around Hyper-memories yet. I probably should one of these days now that I have the programming cable and could undo the damage I can cause! ;-)

I loaded all the frequencies I could find for North Carolina in the radio. I have the freqs I want to scan daily marked, and scan them (MSN on) in the left VFO (6m and 10m are only available on that side) I have the right VFO set to a repeater I usually monitor. Scan on that side is set to "off"  so if I'm out of my QTH area I can scan the rest of the frequencies (basically every memory excluding 6m and 10m and the local air traffic control) I have loaded simply by scanning the right side VFO.



73
Dave

FYI this is also the case with the FT8900R. The start scanning on a memory marked with the triangle and it'll scan only pref memories notation is incorrect.

73
Dave

Pop the mag mount on a big steel cookie sheet. That will give some ground plane. (might want to by the XYL new ones and take the old ones off her hands)

73
Dave

I would suggest you get a programming cable, and software. Dump the memories from the radio into the laptop, reorder then reupload to the radio. You might find someone near you with the cable, if not the cable is under $20 on ebay and get the software, $15 http://www.g4hfq.co.uk/ftb8800.htm

You can do a lot with the software that takes forever manually.

73
Dave
kj4obr

His company leased the vehicle from a company that does fleet leases. Totally different deal than a personal lease agreement. Leasing makes sense for super mega corps, does not make sense for small business or personal situations.

 

Well, I ended up replacing the nmo mount and the coax/connectors. It helped quite a bit, but swr was still too high. I hate to admit it, but I milled some derlin insulators and went to the hot tub. ;-) insulated, the swr is 1:1.2- 1:1.9. Performance is good so I called it a day.

I did consider the hood, I didn't have a wide enough seam for the mount (damn German over-engineering). As it was I ended up loosening the trunk bolts and adjusting the lid slightly to make that work.

I'm sure this will bite me at phase 2 when I add the 10m antenna and duplexer to the mix, but I'll deal with that when that happens.

Thanks all for the suggestions!
73
Dave