Amateur Radio Antenna Installation
Looking for amateur radio operators that have installed equipment and antennas in truck campers. I want to install a 2m and a marine radio in my camper but I am concerned on mounting the antenna and ...
Forum Discussion
camperpaul wrote:LannyV wrote:
Hi Tony, Thanks for the info I will contact Bernie. As far as the marine radio goes it would be my base station when we have the boat at Delaware so the wife can keep in touch with me when I am out on the water. It would not be used for land communication.
Lanny
For that use, you would need a "Shore (Coastal) station License".
Those are only granted to marine businesses like a towing service and not for use by the general public. VHF is allowed only for boat to boat communications. For short to boat the options are FRS, GMRS, CB, Ham, or a cell phone.
No need for a 2m antenna with an RV roof mount. A 1 meter that is tuned properly will be fine. Distance for sending and receiving depends upon the height above the ground of both parties and the transmit power of thir radios. If the RV roof is 10' above the ground and you add a 1m antenna its height above the ground is considerably greater than the guy with a whip antenna mounted to the bumper of their vehicel.
Problem with hand held units is that they are going to be 5 Watts or less. FRS and GMRS with only one exception I know of, provide much less than 1 Watt transmit power which is easy to verify by checking the radio's FCC license as the manufacturer has to provide accurate signal strength figures to the feds.
The connection through the roof requires the use of a cable "gland" and I like the one called a "cable clam" from Blue Sea. I ran my antenna cable through the roof next to the AM-FM antenna and through a cabinet and into the area where I had 12v DC power readily available. The cable is almost as important as the antenna in insuring that as much of the signal makes it to and from the radio in the RV.
For the ultimate in communications I would buy a $450 mobile GMRS radio with 25 Watts of transmit power for the RV and a 4 Watt GMRS hand held for the person out on the water. $800 total cost but if someone pays for the GMRS license it covers them, their immediate family members and even grandparents and grandchildren. Problem with Ham is that everyone using the radio needs a license and has to pass the test and pay to have it scored and submitted to the FCC.
