Hi Roy,

On Sun 2012-Jul-15 05:33, Roy Witt (1:387/22) wrote to Richard Webb:

 Roy>> Time will tell. I plan on making a visit to
"Rolands" repair shop
 Roy>> and ask some questions about it and Les.

 RW> YEah I sure owuld, get all the straight dope.

Roy> Well, maybe not straight dope, but anything would be better than
Roy> none.

Can relate to that one .

 Roy>> I've been so busy this week, I haven't had any time to check the
 Roy>> burb out any further.


Roy> Actually, I moved my mill from the front of the garage and had to
Roy> move stuff that was in the back to the front. 8^) Then, I moved the
Roy> 56 to the spot where the mill was, which was where the Z used to be.
Roy> Then put the Z on the other side, where the 56 used to be. All of
Roy> this made for easy access to the attic (right above where the 56
Roy> was) for the DirecTV techs to access the TV coax. (56 is disabled
Roy> for gas tank R&R and Z28 is drivable). Then there was the Malibu,
Roy> which is also waiting for me to complete the ignition install for
Roy> the engine.

Mine isn't with vehicles, but I've got to do much the same
at storage unit soon just so I can get to a couple of things i need.  I
want to move the folding bench seat/bed from the
van clear to the back and a couple of standard 19" equipment racks I'm
going to populate with some equipment toward the
front.

 Roy>> Don't ever retire, there's just never enough time to get everything
 Roy>> done that you want done.

 RW> I keep telling people I just ain't foun d that "re" part in
 RW> retired yet.

Roy> I retired my Silverado a few months back...that was an all day job
Roy> at the tire store. 8^)

Yep, gotta think about that one this fall too probably.
Will be about time.

 RW>> I'd investigate whether that has enough power for your
 RW>> ham/cb/other two-way gear you might wish to install,


 Roy>> Tow is about 30 miles away and 30 back, not much use for any radio
 Roy>> gear for such a short distance. Also limited to center of roof-top,
 Roy>> as the rear has a roof-mounted AC/Heater over the area where the
 Roy>> 3rd seat would be.

 RW> YEah that could make it interesting.  I'm pushing things for a lot of
 RW> overhangs like at the bank just with a 2m quarter wave mag mount on
 RW> the roof of our full sized van.  WEre it smaller I'd go with one of
 RW> those old hustler colinears, 5/8 wave over a quarter wave.

Roy> If I do something like that I'll use the Motorola roof mounts. RS
Roy> sells base loaded (and mid-mast) coils for multi-band work. Screw
Roy> one off and screw one on for that.

I like those too.  I always liked the colinear though
because of the gain for 2m mobile, and ti'll play acceptably at 70 cm as
well. A little too tall for my full sized van
though.  I wouldn't mind putting one of those motorolla
mounts in the center of the roof though, adn spring loading
the antenna itself.

 Roy>> Over the 2nd row of
 Roy>> seats is the only place for any antennas. Cept' maybe the rear area
 Roy>> to the side of the power rear window. If we still lived in San
 Roy>> Diego, roof-top antennas wouldn't be any big deal, as we'd be using
 Roy>> UHF mountain-top business radio for that.

 RW> YEah can relate to that one too.  i use gmrs between
 RW> vehicles if the driver of the other isn't a licensed ham,
 RW> and on the job I put a dual band j pole up on 30 foot of
 RW> mast to talk to crew until the intercom's wired.

Roy> Been there and done that too.

IT works well.  I keep a Motorolla ht in the truck which has a regular bnc
antenna connector and give helpers two
frs/gmrs radios.  At 30 feet that antenna reaches everywhere i need to, and
remains in place for tear dwon after the
intercom's not up anymore.

 Roy>> This would make a good test bed for a VHF DDRR antenna. I like low
 Roy>> profile, out of sight antennas and the tallness of the GMC would do
 Roy>> a good job of that. Plus the auto-carwash would gripe when I had
 Roy>> them run it through their touchless wash.

 RW> YEah there's that too.  I usually run ours through the
 RW> manual wash though, in my flip flops and swim trunks.  I
 RW> like to remove the antenna and stuff, and I'd rather wash it myself,
 RW> the old fashioend way.

Roy> Too much work for me...I drive it in, they wash it the old fashioned
Roy> way, then I drive it off and that's that. I leave them $7+tip for
Roy> their effort.

I haven't found a place where humans will actually wash it
for you, so I do it myself.

 RW>> Speaking of which, I need to beef mine up a size or so just
 RW>> to make sure, since if a family member kicks the can over up north
 RW>> we'll be making a run, adn I want hf mobile on the road.  GOtta get
 RW>> by a truck stop and get one of those hustler mirror mounts that I
 RW>> can mount on the spare tire rack on back door of van, put my three
 RW>> stingers hustler mount on there.  I've got 40 and 20 meter hustler
 RW>> resonators ready to go.  I probably should get one that's a 102 inch
 RW>> cb whip as well, and an 80.



 RW> THose ain't bad little rigs those Presidents.

Roy> They're so nice, I have one for each foot...8^) One is set up on the
Roy> base and one is set up for portable work, in any vehicle that has an
Roy> antenna.

I've been known to do things like that, radio and a 20 a/h
gel cell in a box, put mag mount on vehicle and we have 2
meters mobile.

 RW> i like my 75
 RW> meters for mobile, and am now managing a 75 meter net at
 RW> nights come first of August, and I like to keep up with my
 RW> buddies on 14.3 mhz so I'm glad i"ve got a 20 meter whip.
 RW> NEed to get the 75, I've got a 40 was given to me.  And,
 RW> since my KEnwood 680 is opened I could probably occasionally use 27
 RW> mhz if needed.  I might see if my buddy's got that old 6 meter halo
 RW> with the magnetic mounts on its bottom though, 6m mobile might be
 RW> fun.

Roy> I have a 10in-100out linear for 2/6...haven't used it in ages.

  I'd like to find one of those.  I've got 5 in 35
out linear for 2, but would like to put 100 watts on the
dining room 2m rig which is connected to a 5 element beam
aimed at the 146.82 machine in MEmphis.  That rig does about that on high
power, and I'd go ahead and put that amp on it
except I'm afraid xyl will bump the hi/lo power button and
fry the amp, and that's for the emergency grab 'n go kit
anyway, the amp is.  IF I'm stuck with a handy draggie for a radio at least
I've got enough smoke to reach out and touch
something with that amplifier.  iT's equipped with power
poles for connectors, ready to go.


 RW> Cool!  I'm so far happy with my DOdge we bought last year,
 RW> just wish I could figure out what's with this occasional
 RW> loss of tranny fluid, don't find a puddle anywhere, but
 RW> every once in awhile the tranny sings me a little song in
 RW> reverse, and I know next time we go somewhere it's time for
 RW> xyl to pll it into a level parking lot so I can pul the
 RW> dipstick and probably add some.

Roy> My old Firebird did that. I'd find a drop or two in the driveway,
Roy> but I don't recall ever finding or fixing it either.

YEah I know, this one's a head scratcher.  I've had the xyl
back it up where we usually park it on the street in front
and look, and there's never even a couple drops under the
darned thing.  IT's goin' somewhere and i just can't puzzle
out where!


Regards,
           Richard
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