Mounting a marine radio in camper

[Don__SD]

I am considering mounting a radio in the 5th wheel and was looking for any help with doing this. any help would be great

[REW]

Except for the fact, that if you are talking to anyone that is not on water - it is illegal.

If you are using a boat, and want it for a base station, while camping to talk to the boat - great.

Since you are probably not going to be looking at very long range - I would simply hook up the radio, get an 18 foot fold down antenna and enjoy.

The thing to do, is simply connect it to the 12 volt dc that should be available in your camper, and in a campground - charge as usual. There should not be any problems.

Take care

REW

[Don__SD]

Yes, it would be a base to boat situation. And I will take any help

[Thom]

Well, as long as you're going to be operating illegally (marine band use from land without proper licensing is illegal and absolutly no one one the face of the earth is every going to arrest you for it or find and fine you) anyway let me make a suggestion to you that you're not going to ever get anywhere else on any fishing page on the internet.

Do not buy a marine radio for this purpose. You don't need it, they are over priced, and it will confine you to just the marine channels and the weather channels. What you want to pick up is a 2-meter HAM radio, and along that line I am just going to make this real easy and tell you to get yourself an ICOM 2100H. It will run you right around $180 from someone like Ameatuer Electroncis Supply (AES). It will have an operating range just below the marine frequencys but that's OK,as I will explain, but more importantly it has a much higher power output than the marine radios do. It puts out 55 watts, not the 25 that marine radios do. OK, so now you've got one, now all you do is remove the face plate and remove one diode that is in it and stick it back together - this takes all of 5 minutes. Now when you turn it back on it will have full coverage. That means that it will not operate on the marine frequencys. Next you go to the list of frequencys and save the marine channels that you will be using, which you can give any names you like. Finally, you pick up a thru-glass 2-meter antenna and just put it on one of the windows of your camper. This would be an antenna very similar to a cell phone antenna that you would see on a car, only it will have a wire whip that is about 18 inches long. The very nice thing about a rig like this is that if you go to a Radio Shack and pick up the study guide for the HAM license (around $5) and study it for a week its pretty likely that you will pass the entry level test and actually get a license to operate the radio leagally on the 2-meter band as well (the modification didn't effect its ability to operate as a HAM radio). Oh, and one final point, if you decide you don't want to do this anymore you can then sell the radio on E-Bay, noting in the description that it has been opened up for full band coverage, and likely get more for it than you paid for it new. Sound good?

Thom

[Thom]

There is a mistake in the thing above. I said that it will NOT operate in the marine band after the removal of the diode. What I meant to type was that it will NOW operate in the marine band. I've just got to tell you, I have one of these radios in my truck. It works great, just plain and simple great.

Thom

[Don__SD]

I have now learned that this is illegal. I simply wanted to be able to contact a base or vis versa. OK nothing more nothing less, we are in parts that there is no cell service, for that matter any service. This is way I put this out there, you never know til ya ask.

[rmitchel]

Thom -- But you have not told us what diode to remove? MathMan

[Ripstik]

Don,I have a marine radio in my 5th wheel.I mounted the radio and hooked it to a power source.I made a simple saddle to fit over the back bumper,welded a piece of 3/4in. pipe about 5 feet long in the middle of it with a 5in. square flat piece on the top.I mounted an 8ft. antenna with a swivle mount on top so I can get it out of the way of trees.It works just fine.I fish the same waters you do and from the camp ground to the boat it does a pretty good job.If your below the dam and try to talk over it,you can't get much past north point. Good luck.

[Don__SD]

Sounds pretty easy But I dreed thinking about where to run the cable. Also with this weather, boating season is a nice warm thought. And the March camper purchase is coming up fast, I can almost feel and hear that warm breeze.

[Thom]

Tell you what, rather than try to give it to you from my shakey memory I'll post it tomorrow from work. I've got the full instructions there in a file so I can just copy it. Actually there is a key-strok sequence you have to follow before you do the mod (just pressing and holding a couple of keys while you turn it on and then back off) that unlocks the receive side. The diode removal unlocks the send side. Anyway I'll give you the fill instructions or you can just go to Google and do a search on radio +modifications and you should find it in just a couple of minutes. This, and many other modifications, are posted all over the internet for hundreds of models of radios. Its a much more common modification than you might immagine.

As to range - well, I fish from the coast of North Carolina and there is a tall bridge over the inlet that I go out of. I have called a friend on his boat while I was in the truck and at the top of that bridge, and in so doing I have talked to him when he was 40 miles off shore. Keeping in mind that these radios work line-of-sight that was only possible because of the height of the bridge (and the fact that his antenna was an 18-footer mounted on the hardtop above his flybridge (56' boat), but the 55 watts that I was putting out sure didn't hurt his ability to hear me.

Let me know if you want the full text of the modification - its shorter than this message.

Thom

[chrism]

Ripstik-
What kind of range do you get with that set up??? My FRS's just don't cut it....I'm looking at other options.

[Thom]

Mathman,

Here it is, how to get a 55 watt VHF radio:

1. Hold down the second and third front frnction buttons while turning the radio on. Then turn it back off.

2. Remove the large tuning knob and remove the two hex screws that hold the faceplate on the radio - one on each side. Pull the faceplate straight off of the body of the radio without tiliting it. There are pin connectors between the faceplate and the radio body and so be carefull about pulling straight back so you don't bend any of the pins.

3. Turn the faceplate so that its back is facing you and find the main IC chip (large). At about a 45 degree angle to the IC, to the lower left you will see the main pin connectors. Under the lower right corner of the left pin connector you should see a marking on the PC board labeled as "D16". Just below this you will see the matching diode (this thing is a dot of plastic about 1/64" or less square) close to the bottom edge of the board. Remove this diode. Now carefully reassemble the radio's faceplate to the body, put the screws back in and return the large knob to its shaft. Be careful about those pins.

Now the radio will transmit and receive 136-174 mHz. The marine band is centered around 156 mHz so its covered and you can also get all the weather channels The radio's memory will not have been reset by the modifications so any frequencys or other information you have saved should still be in there.

Thom

[rmitchel]

Thanks for the information.

This works for any radio brand (of this type)?

[Thom]

No, this modification is specific to the ICOM 2100H. Other models can be modified of course, some easier and some harder, but not a one of them is really hard to do. The instructions on how to do it can be found on the Internet in minutes using any of the search engines commonly available. Just do the search on radio modifications and then look for the model of radio you are interested in. There are litterly thousands of mods out there that can be performed at any electronics shop. My eyesight is poor (and getting worse by the day its seems) and the size of the diode dictated that someone else do the job so the one I have now I had to farm out to a local repair shop to do the modification. I gave him the instructions and he charged me $10 to do it.

What I think is more important to this conversation is the antenna that is used. There is no reason at all to weld stuff up to the camper or the truck and there's no reason at all for a foldable 8' antenna either. Just get one of the thru glass ones for a 2-meter. I think Radio Shack sells them if you don't want to go to one of the really good ones. Actually there's a company called Antenna Specialists in Cleveland, OH that mades an extremely high quality thru glass 2-meter antenna that you could stick on the window of the camper and never have to touch again. You wouldn't have to worry about running cables through the walls or anything else. It wouldn't look unsightly and you wouldn't be starting the rust process at a weld.

Whatever .....

Thom

[Kaz]

Don: You may want to reconsider the plan to use a Ham radio. What Thom forgot to tell you is a modified radio also will transmit on the public safety (police)frequencys and that can get you into real trouble. Unless you have a FCC ham license, and then you are not to have a radio capable of such transmissions. You can legally listen to them in a mobile, but not transmit. Also you can buy a legal marine radio for about $140/$160 and not have the hassel of the modification. FCC Rollie Hollingsworth is a sticker for enforcement and has been known to go after such dealings. Good luck and BEWARE.....Kaz

[Don__SD]

Yea I agree, Although the information was informative I don't believe I would have gone to those lenghts. But my means to communicate are very important to me, safety, and it's always good to know when supper is on.

[Ripstik]

Chrism,It depends on the trees and hills around you.Marine band is FM modulated that means line of site.If your up on a hill your coverage will be pretty good.In my case,I camp below a dam most of the time so if I try to talk over the dam my signal doesn't get to far.

[Kaz]

Don: A mag mount will work very good and if you want a little more gain, try a 5/8 wave antenna. But for not more than 3 to 5 miles over water, a 1/4 wave 18" one will work. The formula for the length for an antenna of any frequency is 468 divided by frequency, divided by 2 = the feet of antenna. Hence 468 divided by(channel 16)156.800 equals 2.9846 feet divided by 2 equals 1.49234 feet or x 12" equals 17.9 inches . I think you made the right choice. Good LUCK GETTING DINNER...Kaz

[Gray Ghost]

Don, I have installed a marine radio in my camper for several reasons, weather alert, weather reports and communications. The weather alert function was my main reason; my wife and I were in a near miss of a tornado in Fl several years ago, all the trees in the CG were down and 1000 ft away it took out a lot of houses. When there is threatening weather I set the radio on weather alert, also have that same feature on the boat. Had some severe weather last year on Lake Champlain, the radio gave us fair warning, the alarm scared the s$$t out of us.

Technically, you need a marine license to transmit from land. I installed the antenna on the luggage rail that is over my door on a swivel mount so, that the antenna can be lowered when traveling. I used a 3 ft. antenna, provides 3 db gain. You can probably get a Uniden 1020 for $130 to $150 with the weather alert feature.