HAM RADIO HF Mobile Basics - Here is a basic guide to installing an HF Mobile Ham Radio Station.

HF mobile is a popular ham radio activity that gets you away from the noisy suburban QRN and the chance to explore locations that may benefit your signal. Also a great opportunity for those who have antenna restrictions.

[@Ragchewer]

I run an IC-706 with the Ah4 auto tuner to a 9 foot whip (ball and spring). Great performance on 60-6 meters on my Kial Soul. I installed an FT-891 with the FC-40 auto tuner in my Honda Odessey with a 9 foot whip and got the same great results. The radios are hidden with remote heads in the dash. I switch from band to band effortlessly. I always use 100 watts with the radios and auto tuners wired directly to the main car battery. W6PDL

[@sinisabronic4309]

Hi Peter, I would like to compliment your videos. They are excellent source of information presented in a charming way. I wish you many happy birthdays to come with plenty of time for your hobbies. Cheers from Croatia from new old ham... Restarting the hobby after about 35 yers break 🤷 73 from 9A5BSB

[@watersstanton]

Great to hear from you. 73 Peter

[@basshorseman998]

Thank you Peter, I do greatly enjoy your videos. Even 30 years on, I still take away a lot of info I may need to hear, or think differently about.

[@watersstanton]

Many thanks.

[@GordonHudson]

I worked several US stations on 17m on Sunday. TX500 transceiver 10w and one of those ampro hamstick antennas I bought from you. Did some 40m too. Very simple set up using a magnetic mount. My first HF mobile rig was TS520 with the built in inverter. Probably 50x bigger than the TX500 and it only did about 40w on the inverter.

[@frankwc0o]

We are on the same wavelength, for I've been thinking more on HF Mobil for some time. So glad you are giving us your insights!

[@watersstanton]

MAny thanks.73 Peter

[@raymondmartin6737]

Very good advice, as I have operated HF mobile with different HF transceivers, antennas and vehicles over about the last 20 years. I first had an ICOM IC-706 and Comet UHV 6 for HF and VHF-UHF at first In and on my 2001 Camaro, which was a bit difficult because many body panels are non-mettalic. Therefore, I had the antenna mount on my left fender by the rear hatch- back. It worked pretty well on multiple bands. Later, I had a Yaesu FT-857 HF, VHF-UHF mobile transceiver and a Diamond 330 screwdriver mobile multi-band antenna on a Diamond K-400 trunk mount on our 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, with a remote control and it was helped to tune with an LDG 100 tuner, which also worked pretty well. I had tried the Yaesu ATAS 120A, antenna, which did not work well. I think that was because of a grounding problem. I tried a Yaesu FT-891 with the ATAS 120A with my current Jeep Renegade and it would not tune again probably due to grounding. I also tried the Tar Heel antenna which did work pretty well too. I again have tried the Comet UHV-6, which as a multi band HF antenna is difficult to tune and had high SWR reading on the bands with my Rig Expert Antenna Analyzer. However, when I use one band element at a time, the SWR is much better as a single element. Finally, yes, as you commented, I obtained some of the single band Diamond HFX antennas through Waters and Stanton, which are not available here in the US, and they work well to. 73 de W2CH Ray 1962-2022.

[@AlreadyThere1965]

Thank you for the tips. I haven't run HF mobile since the last solar cycle. Time to get the rig back in the car.

[@dalejohnson3520]

I have two IC706MK2G radios and am very happy with them. I will get another tuner for the second radio when I reinstall it in the 4x4 again. They are the best radios I have seen for mobile set-ups. I will probably keep them as long as I can.

[@watersstanton]

Yes those 706s are great radios.

[@msnaredrummer7619]

Hi Pete, fun and informative purchased a Jackery 240 power bank to power my Yaesu FT-818 for mobile operations. Looking forward to having some fun with it! Love your content have gained some great tips from watching. Have been a Nevada Radio customer since 1983. 73s Mark

[@watersstanton]

Great to hear from you. 73 Peter

[@PrimulaCarniolica]

Wise & practical Peter as always!! By the way,from experiences NOTHING can't "defeat" for mobile use ,series of monoband Diamond center loaded antennas (HF20CL,HF15CL....). Stay well & 73 👍

[@johndiy6420]

another great video Peter. Keep up the good work. 73 de John G0KTW

[@skepticalmechanic]

Thanks Pete!

[@StuLeslie]

Thanks Peter, great inspiration to get mobile. 73

[@Siskiyous6]

I like my IC-7100, it was in my Jeep for a year. But, it has become my base rig. I am about to try a Xiegu G-90, and yes the tuner is a bonus. It arrives tomorrow, I installed the antenna in the Jeep today. Your video is timely Sir. I plan to do the FT8OFF competition in a POTA situation for the extra point per contact. That antenna will be a dipole set up separate from the vehicle. Antenna without tuners are akin to automobiles sans transmissions.

[@watersstanton]

Many thanks. Have fun with G90. 73 Peter

[@davidlucas6837]

Good Video Peter. I use the Ampro range with a Watson triple mount. Good combination from 80m to 17m. One point about batteries that I have learnt is that some radios such as Icom 7300 and 7100 need 13.8v to give a decent output. Once the voltage drops to 12v, the power goes down quite considerably. MFJ supply a voltage convertor that boosts 12v to 13.8. There are other alternatives, I use a Chinese version that cost considerably less from Ebay! 73 G8XDD

[@watersstanton]

Hi David, yes a good point. 73 Peter

[@andyM7XTT]

Great great video Peter!!!! I use a diamond mount for my atas120 and have a hatch back BUT couldn't get it to tune on 40m UNTIL I put an earth strap from the hatch onto rest of the car and boom I had less than 1.5:1 swr on ALL freq from 40m -10m using this method and using a yaesu ft891 so no tuner needed on any bands :) ground,ground,ground is all I had to do .tried using a big triple mount on the roof and didn't tune on 20m or 40m

[@watersstanton]

Many thanks fir sharing. You didn’t mention a line isolator. I always use one as sometimes you can get some very puzzling match problems 73 Peter .

[@andyM7XTT]

@@watersstanton I used to use one at home until I got the hustler bbtv and get no rf in shack anymore.also mobile doesn't seem to make any difference,I did try

[@johnk8091]

I haven't had a need for an ATU in the car - most of my mobile antennas in the past 30 - 40 odd years have been remotely tunable "screwdriver" types. Such as the Little Tarheel, High Sierra screwdriver 80-10, ATAS 100 and 120, Webster Bandspanner etc etc. It's like having a single band antenna on whatever frequency you adjust it to. I love mobile operation, probably my favorite aspect to the hobby - drive up to the top of a hill, or near the seaside and have a ball

[@watersstanton]

Yes those models are nice, but do come at a premium. But if you love mobile then you will love the freedom of moving around the bands.

[@GordonHudson]

Here is an interesting experience from the weekend that might help others. 40m Ampro type antenna that I bought from W&S on a single Sirio PL259 mag mount via an adapter. Obviously the mag mount was too small. The SWR curve was perfect but the minimum was 1.8. I had a reel of thin wire and a crocodile clip. Probably 40m of wire left on the reel. So I clamped the wire to the outer of the PL259 unrolled 2m of the wire and threw the reel on the back seat. Immediately signals got louder. And when I checked the curve it was identical but had lowered to 1.2:1. I assume the reel of wire was working as an inductor. There used to be VHF antennas for PMR that clipped on the top of a door window and had a helical as a radial. It must be something similar. The Sirio mag mount has earthed foil directly under the rubber so it is better than the cheap ones.

[@watersstanton]

Hi Gordon, interesting info. The extra wire will addd to the ground plan and probably a bit of capacitive coupling too. Another idea is to add an extra nagnetic mount and crock clip the earth side of both.

[@GordonHudson]

@@watersstanton Good idea Peter. This was thrown together with what I had in the boot. Signals immediately came up. Very useful.

[@Andrew-yx7sf]

I work mobile with an Icom 706mkllg , LDG auto tuner and an Outbacker Perth whip mounted to the right rear of my pickup truck bed.

[@mikemiles3068]

Very good video, and the FT 891 still draws just about as as many Amps as the IC 706 on lower power settings, there is not a lot of difference when you drop your power from 30 Watts to 10 Watts. I have both Radios and just not much of a difference at all, but both Radios are great.👍 73 KV5P

[@paraflyer4567]

Thx Peter, loud and clear and very interesting. Just installed my new IC-705 into my car and bought myself the 20m & 40m Diamond Whip. The loading coil is an interesting thing you learned me today. What kind of ferite are you using for that? And how to calculate the number of windings? I have a rigexpert 500 Mhz stick (the yellow). Guess I have to wind the RG58 around the coil till I measure 50 Ohms (or as near as possible to that) of impedance ;-) 73's de ON4ULM

[@onewolf3750]

Re your comment about mounting your garden vertical on a car and not needing radials: I've wondered about using surplus pierced-steel planking on the ground instead of wire radials.

[@watersstanton]

Probably will work well

[@davekiernan1]

Would a bullbar be the same problem as a roofrack for hf antenna?

[@mrfancypants29]

I was loaned a Kenwood TS140S but don't have a 20 amp power supply at the house that can properly run it at full power. The thought came to me to try to run it out of my truck. While the TS140 isn't necessarily the best mobile rig size-wise, I was intending to use it stationary. I purchased a Hustler mobile with 20, 40 & 80 meter resonators. I'm using a mirror or pipe mount to mount antenna to rear corner of bed. I have tried it out a couple of times and got bit by RF off of the metal hanger clip on the microphone. I am reading about bonding the bed, cab and even the exhaust system to the frame for grounding purposes. The VSWR is reasonable in these bands so that shouldn't be an issue. What are your thoughts on this?

[@watersstanton]

I suspect the mounting method is not the best BUT you must use a line isolator at the transmitter end.

[@frankwc0o]

Experience will always beat assumptions. I've always heard that the hatchback needs to have some wire mesh so it can attach to the rest of the car, but the science and knowledge of experience tells us that a capacitance is occurring.

[@watersstanton]

Hi Frank. Many thanks for sharing, 73 Peter.

[@AliReza-zx8km]

Nice.............

[@JamesWilliam70]

Just park up in a nice quiet spot and run a mag loop or dipole on a tripod rather than mag mounted vertical? Thanks for your insights.

[@watersstanton]

Yes a popular option.

[@dheller777]

Have an FT891 I would like to run at 50+ watts with a Bioenno 24 amp hour battery. What mobile tuner would you recommend?

[@nr3rful]

Hands down with a Yaesu would be the ATAS.

[@stephenwalters9891]

I find it astonishing how much current some of these 'mobile' radios consume, even when just on receive. The tiny FT-891 uses vastly more than I expected, although apparently real world tests don't seem to match the brochure. You would think that a modern HF mobile would consume 500mA to 1amp, with modern electronic components and design. Time for a 20w FT818 with more features to match the G90?

[@michaeltualatin]

nice tascam mixer

[@6643bear]

Great video, problem is lots of new cars including my Land Rover discovery 4 about 75ti 80% have panoramic glass roof . Regards mark

[@watersstanton]

Thanks for sharing Mark. Yes sometimes you can have too mucg daylight!

[@6643bear]

@@watersstanton thanks , not a lot of ground plane . Thanks 73 mark G8Rde

[@W4BIN]

We HAMS learn to operate moving mobile using VHF & UHF and we (mobile and fixed operators) learn to not yell for a station that don't reply, we know he/she could be busy with traffic at the moment, so many of us operate mobile safely daily. He failed to mention HAM sticks, about seven feet long, 160 through 6 meters with a 3/8" male threads on the bottom. The relatively new "screwdriver" antenna has become a new favorite tunable MF & HF vehicle mounted antenna. Ron W4BIN

[@watersstanton]

Hi there, thanks fir sharing. BTW there was a screw driver commercial version as far back as 1959. 73 Peter.

[@andreVE4BK]

Here in the U.K., the law changed at the end of Jan22 and I believe that using a microphone (or phone) whilst moving is now an chargeable offence.

[@4X4-RADIO]

Base Loaded vs Centre Loaded..?? You could always try to run WSPR on a laptop with your radio in the vehicle and try to do A vs B test I realise propagation can change but 15/20 min on each antenna will give you an idea if there is any significant difference/benefit Given where we are in the Solar Cycle.?? 10M will become excellent in the next 12/18 months, then for a couple of years, nearly 24/7 WW coverage :)

[@dannybleachflower8628]

Similar to a few other recent videos from one or two other you tubers I see

[@RonanCantwell]

Plenty of room on KZbin, Danny. Sometimes it's good to have similar topics covered in different styles. Some of those other channels can be very dry in their presentation style.

[@biringen]

I use a Icom ic-7000 at 60% power, AH-4 tuner and the AH2b antenna. I do mostly 20 and 17m when mobile since 15-6m is not so much signals to hear beside the ft8 signals tried monobander whips on mag-mount i was not happy about. then i tried railmount still not happy. but when i drilled a hole and innstalled a chassis mount, that did the trick for impedance... after watch Gordons WB6NOA Video kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZC9aKt7jMSXbc0