I have a Yaesu FT-690RII with the add-on amp and I am looking to sell or trade. I need to know the approximate value of this radio. It has the microphone and the owner's manual but no mobile bracket.
 What do you guys think? Is there a site I can access to find the average value of this radio?

Couldn't you hook up to the rain gutters and use a tuner? I don't have rain gutters so I can't try this myself.
Anyone tried this?

Pulled the old 2510 out of the closet, dusted it off, and plan to install it in the old Scout.
 I would like to modify the scan feature, but will need some help here.
 I would like to get the radio to scan in steps according to the setting of the span icon. Presently, the radio only scans in 10k steps (cb manufacturer, you know). Anyone have any thoughts?
 I would also like it to scan with the squelch off. Just as if you were holding one of the up-down buttons on the mike. I like to listen for weak signals and when I am driving, holding the mike buttons or turning the VFO is not a great idea.
 It would seem I need to fool the radio into thinking the squelch is on when it isn't. That way I could stop the scanning in the usual way by hitting one of the mike buttons.
 Getting it to scan according to the span icon's postion is another matter. The VFO does this but when you set the radio to scan it goes in 10k steps without regard for the span setting. Anyone have any info on this?

Nope, no mag mounts here.
 You will all be happy to hear that I broke down and bought a bigger soldering iron so now I can solder all the connectors you guys could ever want me to!
 Hope the antenna manufacturers don't intend on having me extrude the whips next.
 And I was so happy as an appliance operator.

Well, obviously, I'm on drugs...or maybe I'm just a no-code Tech...
 It just doesn't seem like such a far-fetched idea to want an antenna I can just hook right up to my radio.
 Apparently it is though.
  Yes, I understand why the connector comes loose in the bag like that. I just figured it would be possible to buy such a simple antenna with the connector already on it.
 I know how to solder connectors, pal. Done it plenty over the years. I just no longer have a solder gun large enough to do it properly. So I figured, just buy an antenna with the connector already on it? Not in 21st century Amerika.
 I'm such a trouble maker.

What I wanted was a 1/4 wave 2 meter roof mount antenna.
 The local (150 miles) ham store tried to sell me a roof mount with no connector on the coax! What good will that do me? The store owner says that they come with the connector loose in the bag so you can feed the coax around the inside of the vehicle to the radio. Sounds logical to me. I don't need to worry about that in my truck, but I do need to worry about being able to connect the antenna to the radio. Kinda important. A bit of coax with no connector on it does me no good.
 Then he shows me a mount I can use. It is a roof mount AND it has the connector on the coax! Amazing that an antenna manufacturer would actually think to attach the connector! Engineers!
 But wait! This manufacturer doesn't make a 1/4 wave antenna to fit this mount! Love it!
 So, now I have a roof mount that I can actually connect to my radio but I have an antenna thats twice as tall as I wanted (5/8 wave).
 Only in Amerika.

If you know so little about RF safety that you are grabbing the antenna while transmitting, I would suggest you take up painting flowers or maybe knitting.

Has anyone tried feeding the metal soffit of their house and use that for the antenna? Insulating the rain gutter downspouts shouldn't be difficult, then you have your stealth antenna.
 Seems it should work...

Please, if you decide to sell this screwy antenna, sell it to a CB'r, not a fellow ham.  

I have recently purchased a RCI 2950DX 12 and 10 meter radio. I would like to get this radio to scan with the squelch open. Anyone have any ideas? The schematics and block diagram can be downloaded or viewed on the RCI web site.
 I do a lot of driving and when I put this radio in my old Scout II, I would like it to scan through the frequencies with the squelch off so I can hear the weak signals also. Now, you have to have the squelch on to get it to scan and so, you miss out on the weak signals which are down in the noise. You can scan like this if you hold the mic and keep the up or the down buttons pushed. This is not great if you are driving.
 Also, a way to use the narrower CW filter on USB.

What about Stubblefield?

L-lousy
I-inconsiderate
D-dope

So, it would seem best to just go ahead and make it a di-pole and make it as long as I can and feed it in the middle with ladderline and use the tuner. I went out and measured the distance which turns out to be 120' total instead of 90'. So much for eyeball measurements. 25' high is as high as I can go until I can get the house powerline under ground. I wouldn't want the front mast any higher but the middle and the rear can go higher once the powerline is gone.
 My ground consists of two ten foot ground rods spaced about 10' apart and connected to the radio equipment with #6 stranded copper wire, this wire runs behind all the equipment and each individual piece is connected to the #6 with RG8 braid. The ground rods are right outside the window so the #6 wire is about 7' long before it hits the ground rod. The wire between the rods is buried about 6" deep. All this about 2 blocks from the Mississippi river, so my ground rods should be in the water table.
 Thanx for the replies! I know lots about Jeeps but not much about antennas. I have, however, discovered that building cubical quads is NO fun! Tie a wire to rock and throw it over a tree, thats the kind of antennas I can build.

The idea is to make a long wire antenna. Though this really won't be all that long. It would be easier for me to feed it part way along the wire rather than at the end but if I need to, I certainly can. I am uncertain what should be done with the other wire from the twinlead, so I was going to attach it the tower section that holds the other antenna to ground it. I only have an old ARRL handbook and it doesn't say how to feed a long wire except that it should be fed at the end. It goes on to say that you can't feed the antenna with a two wire feeder or the phases destabilize the warp core field or something so what should I do? I need something simple for multi-band use with my tuner for now until it warms up this spring so I can put up something better.

 I have a 4 element 6 meter yagi on top of a mast on a small tower, the whole thing is about 25' high. I need an antenna for my HF radio. I was thinking of something simple. What would happen if I ran a wire to the front of my house (about 30') and one to my garage out back (about 60') and attached one wire of the ladderline to the antenna wire as it passed the mast and the other wire of the ladderline to the tower? Don't see anything like that in the book.