[Kearney]

I bought my brand new 2021 Bolt last week, and had the dealership install the Thule bike rack. They also did the window tinting. Today I had my ham radio installed, and it looks really clean.

 

[CZroe]

Awesome! I don’t know too much about HAM radio but I do have one bit of advice for combining your hobby with your car:

Don’t let it go too far like the guy at 4:39 in this video.

 

[Kearney]

Wow! The ham radio part near the four minute mark was crazy, but so was the rest of this video. Somehow this makes me feel better about myself. 😂

 

[CZroe]

Wow! The ham radio part near the four minute mark was crazy, but so was the rest of this video. Somehow this makes me feel better about myself. 😂

Yours is definitely a clean install that you should be proud of. Have fun!

 

[atc98092]

Had a friend that would do CW while driving, had a bug strapped to his leg. I've never been that hard core, and likely couldn't carry on a CW conversation today if my life depended on it. The radio install looks great, but did you really roof mount an antenna? I can't fathom drilling a hole in my roof. There's plenty of good mounts that don't require a hole. I recognize it's the best place for it, but I just can't do it.

KA7IZA

 

[jefro]

Wonder why they don't lay bikes flat instead of upright?

I'd kind of worry about transmitting near the dumb car. Not sure how well any new car is protected against RFI/EMI.

 

[Kearney]

Had a friend that would do CW while driving, had a bug strapped to his leg. I've never been that hard core, and likely couldn't carry on a CW conversation today if my life depended on it. The radio install looks great, but did you really roof mount an antenna? I can't fathom drilling a hole in my roof. There's plenty of good mounts that don't require a hole. I recognize it's the best place for it, but I just can't do it.

KA7IZA

I had a similar friend, his code speed was over seventy words per minute. He told me that at that speed, you don’t hear individual letters, you hear words. Crazy. My speed was upwards of twenty wpm, enough to pass the Extra Class exam, and that was it. Don‘t use it much.
Yes, I drilled a hole. My last vehicle, I used a different mount, and it wasn’t the same. I’ve used glass mounts, trunk mounts—pretty much everything, and nothing is as efficient as this. If the highway patrol can do it, so can I! 😂

 

[jrschultz]

Good job on the bike rack (and bike choice) from a fellow cyclist.

 

[GregBrew]

I once watched a vehicle with a rooftop rack and two very expensive road biles attempt to drive into an underground parking garage.

The sound will haunt me for the rest of my life....

...not of the bikes being damaged, but the sound from the driver.

 

[ARCowboy]

Had a friend that would do CW while driving, had a bug strapped to his leg. I've never been that hard core, and likely couldn't carry on a CW conversation today if my life depended on it. The radio install looks great, but did you really roof mount an antenna? I can't fathom drilling a hole in my roof. There's plenty of good mounts that don't require a hole. I recognize it's the best place for it, but I just can't do it.

KA7IZA

You get the best ground plane up there for transmit distance. Sure, you could use a mag mount (which will scratch up your roof) and achieve similar performance, but then you have to snake the cable down into the cabin which then leaves it exposed to the elements and chafing wherever it enters.

Pros and cons to both methods; I think drilling the NMO mount into the roof is the cleanest, strongest install method. But to each their own.