[Mobile-Portable] Re: How To Get Rig Power in Rental Car?

[Hal Offutt]

Rich is absolutely correct.  I have done HF mobile in rental cars about 20 
times (mostly for weekend QSO parties where I operate continuously for 12 
hours or so) and have never had a problem routing the cables to the battery 
in the way he describes.  The standard cable that comes with your rig will 
pass easily under the hood and through the passenger side door near the 
glove box.  You just have to use care make sure that nothing is in the way 
when you close the hood and use care when you close the passenger door.  I 
have a few pictures of one rental car installation and I will send them if 
you would like to see them.

I suppose alligator clips would suffice if you are just going to operate 
while standing still, but I would be afraid that they would come loose.  I 
have soldered lugs to the ends of the cable and I remove the battery clamp 
screws and put the lugs under the bolt heads.  These are a little tough to 
remove but it's a much better arrangement (you need a 7 or 8mm open end 
wrench to remove these bolts).  I also tape down the cable at one or two 
places inside the engine compartment to make sure it does not get caught in 
something or touch something too hot.

I have had no trouble using magnet mounts on the roof or the trunk lid.  I 
cover the magnet surfaces with electrical tape and make sure that there is 
no dirt or other foreign matter between the car surface and the magnets.  I 
have never had any paint damage to the car's paint.  But to be safe I 
usually use some kind of twine and actually tie the magnet mount to the 
right side and left side door posts.  You don't want the mag mount coming 
off when you're driving on the Interstate.

The biggest problem in rental car mobiling is getting a good ground to the 
car body.  These days there are fewer and fewer removable bolts in cars.  I 
have found that the best way is to remove one of the rear bolts in the 
passenger seat and put two ground cables under it (one for the rig and one 
for the magnet mount).  Sometimes these bolts and nuts are painted so a 
litle sandpaper comes in handy.

Good luck & happy mobiling.

73,

Hal W1NN

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Whipkey" <ad6x at arrl.net>
To: "Mobile-Portable Reflector" <mobile-portable at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 5:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Mobile-Portable] Re: How To Get Rig Power in Rental Car?


> On most cars the hood is not sealed near the front window and the cable 
> will pass through easily.  I have not had any problem with the cable going 
> through the door seal. The seal is usually quite soft and flexible.  I 
> believe the cable that came with my radio is # 12.  I have measured the 
> voltage drop with the stock Icom cable to be about 1 volt at 20 amps.
>
> 73,
> Rich
>
>
>
> At 12:27 PM 12/9/2008, you wrote:
>>Wow, I had not considered coming out of the hood and in the
>>door!
>>
>>Does the insulation on the cable get damaged by the hood or
>>the passenger door?
>>
>>What gauge wire are you using, please?
>>
>>I could use painter's tape to keep the cable out of the way once inside 
>>without messing up the carpet with duct tape stickum.
>>
>>>I have a standard 12 foot cable that came with my radio
>>>that I put large alligator clips on.  I connect directly
>>>to the battery and route the cable from under the hood
>>>through the passenger side door to the radio.
>>>73, Rich AD6X
>>>
>>>At 11:51 AM 12/9/2008, you wrote:
>>>>How does one get sufficient power for a FT-857 or
>>>>similar rig in a rental car without doing damage?
>>>>I understand that a single accessory plug is inadequate
>>>>but what if one tied two in series?
>>
>>
>>--
>>
>>Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E
>>FS/Swap/Wanted: http://kd4e.com/swapn.html
>>Free OS : http://www.PuppyLinux.com
>>Personal: http://kd4e.com
>>             |_|___|_|
>>             | | & | |
>>        /\      {|
>>       /  \     {|
>>      /    \    {|
>>     /   @  \   {|
>>     |   |~_|~~~~|
>>     |   -| |    |
>>============\ # KD4E
>>Have an http://ultrafidian.com day!
>>----
>>Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, mobile-portable-owner at mailman.qth.net
>
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, mobile-portable-owner at mailman.qth.net