Hello community!
Made the decision that the Yaesu FTM 400 XDR will be the best all-round solution for the rig...pulled the trigger today. Do any of you who have this radio (APRS/2m/70cm) have a favorite antenna to consider mounting on the the truck rack?
Still going after the IC-705 for HF and campsite contacts but after the general license is in hand.
@blaino16 great choice with the antenna. I chose the same setup but from Diamond not Comet. No real reason, really. I'm sure they perform similarly.
Dan
How well is your roof rack bonded to the vehicle roof? Most antennas want a really good ground plane. I've used SBB-5, which is a 1/2 wave on 2m and a little more forgiving if you don't have a great ground plane.
That said, I've also busted the base on one of these from a low hanging smallish branch, and mounted on the roof rack puts it up high where that can happen even more frequently. The SBB-5 has a fold-over option that will help put it in the garage, but won't provide any resiliency in that situation.
My current antenna of choice is a Comet CA-2x4SR with the optional CA-SPR spring installed (where the spring is specifically designed to help survive if it finds smaller low branches). I'm also involved in Search And Rescue SARCOMM support, and this is a wider bandwidth antenna perfect for that mission.
Post a picture of your install when you get it finished!
Also, I'd be interested in hearing if you get set up to use APRS with this radio, especially if you interface it with an iOS device. There's some interest in the PCRC group about getting that working. There's decent notes on the interweb about doing this with APRSDroid and BackCountry Navigator, but that is Android specific for now.
Hi and congrats on the purchase! I have a Diamond 7900 (Ham Radio Outlet has it). It's gigantic but I like it.