Ham radio

[TimForbes]

Has anyone used a ham radio with your bike? I dont mean a hand held, but a a full transceiver, possibly even using the chassis as a ground plane? Just curious

[davefrombc]

Doable for both  hf and vhf/ uhf.  I  haven't mounted any of mine on the quad but I plan  on it down the road. You'd need a good tuner , especially on hf since  you would be seriously lacking in  ground  plane..  Some  hams  have taken  a  long  wire  to stretch out for  a bit of  ground plane when  stopped for lunch  or in a camp for the night.  I  have used my  gear mobile in my truck  and with my mobile antenna mounted  on the railing  on a 22 ft. boat.

I  used  an Icom  IC 730 ,MFJ 949 tuner and  Swan  model 45  80 - 10  mobile antenna. the combo worked well on all of the hf bands.   I  miss that antenna  with its  monster loading coil and manual  sliding tap  for band switching.

With the  compact  hf/  vhf  rigs , automatic tuners and a wide choice of mobile antennas available  now,  the complete setup  would take up  very little room  on your front or rear rack.

[TimForbes]

I have a mobile setup i built in large pelican case that strap nicely to the rack as well!