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My radio project is up and running (with pics)!!!

May 28, 2023
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This is in a 2023 Nissan Frontier. I put in a President Johnny III radio running on a K30 antenna. I did the best I could to tune it, taking it out into the countryside on an open highway and parking in a field so nothing was around me as much as possible. The SWR ended up being about 1.75 on both channels 1 and 40. Not as low as I had hoped but from what I’ve read and seen in videos, anything under 2 is acceptable. I did not end up needing the 3’ extension coax I had thought I would before. The 15’ coax of the antenna went all the way to the radio with about 10” to spare. No loops in the coax at all and it enters the cab through a rubber grommet so nothing is pinched. Anyway, it works and I’m happy. I have found radio chatter on nearly every channel so far, including two guys speaking a foreign language on channel 9, the emergency channel. They were chatting up a storm. It seems I was even hearing skip cause I heard people saying their location and they were from other states. I have yet to try to contact anyone though. I’m posting a couple of pics to show the progress. The power wire setup is temporary, I just wanted to get it working.

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This is in a 2023 Nissan Frontier. I put in a President Johnny III radio running on a K30 antenna. I did the best I could to tune it, taking it out into the countryside on an open highway and parking in a field so nothing was around me as much as possible. The SWR ended up being about 1.75 on both channels 1 and 40. Not as low as I had hoped but from what I’ve read and seen in videos, anything under 2 is acceptable. I did not end up needing the 3’ extension coax I had thought I would before. The 15’ coax of the antenna went all the way to the radio with about 10” to spare. No loops in the coax at all and it enters the cab through a rubber grommet so nothing is pinched. Anyway, it works and I’m happy. I have found radio chatter on nearly every channel so far, including two guys speaking a foreign language on channel 9, the emergency channel. They were chatting up a storm. It seems I was even hearing skip cause I heard people saying their location and they were from other states. I have yet to try to contact anyone though. I’m posting a couple of pics to show the progress. The power wire setup is temporary, I just wanted to get it working.

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Looks good!!
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Greg T has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    EVAN/Crawdad :love: ...runna pile-up on 6m SSB(y) W4AXW in the air
    +1
  • @ Crawdad:
    One of the few times my tiny station gets heard on 6m!:D
  • @ Galanary:
    anyone out here familiar with the Icom IC-7300 mods