Author Topic: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You  (Read 857 times)

Offline JohnyMac

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MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« on: January 12, 2021, 12:30:25 PM »
MARS Modification - Is It Right For You


One of the things that became a disappointment to me after I passed my General exam was while I could listen (RX) to other forbidden frequencies I could not transmit (TX) on them. The frequency I really wanted to TX on was 11-meters or better known as the CB band. The band covers 26.965 Mhz to 27.405 Mhz.

I can hear it now, "Why would you want to have a QSO with a bunch of truckers, after all, you are a ham?"

Think about it, who knows better than truckers what is always going on around them at all times. What a great group of gals & guys who can be your eyes and ears out there on the interstate. Then to have the ability to TX them, is priceless. Debrief them and make requests.

With the drama that is happening around us, I finally decided to pull the trigger and send my radio off to GiGiParts to have them do the procedure. Jackalope, whom I have a great deal of respect for, shared with me on how to do it myself. Apparently, there are DIY procedures on how you can perform the modification out there for every radio. I can easily do brain surgery after looking at a YouTube video, but I could not bring myself to mod. my own radio.

I received back my radio last week. Unboxed the radio, ran into my shack, hooked up the power and tuned one of my antenna's. Once the manual tuner was set, I plugged in the coax to the tuned antenna. Viola! I could listen pretty dang clearly trucker traffic on the interstate about ten miles away. Once there was a pause on one QSO I jumped in and asked for a signal report.

Politely, a trucker came back and wanted to know what power I was TXing on. Whoops...Sorry. 11-meter is restricted to 4-watts. I immediately made an adjusted down to 5-watts, the lowest my radio puts out. I then came back and told the trucker I was using 4-watts, "why"?

Anyway, the signal report was only okay. Mmmm, what was up I pondered? Then I realized I was using a horizontally polarized antenna and I need to use a vertical polarized antenna. Remember, all those trucks you pass and look up at the driver's side of the tractor - Yup, they are using a vertical antenna.

Okay no worries, I will make one. I did the calculations and made a vertical dipole antenna out of 12-gauge solid wire I had left over from wiring my cabin and a BNC Female Dual Banana Female Socket Connector. The schematic below was my plan for my new antenna.



It took me about thirty-minutes to put the antenna together and another fifteen to hang it vertically. I put it up on a porch wood column.

Ran a coax cable to it and then did a SWR test with my MfJ antenna analyzer after it passed through my PalStar manual tuner. Hooked up the tuner to the transceiver and asked for a signal report. Out of the blue a trucker came back who was about fifteen miles away and gave me a full quieting report.

Now I can hear you thinking, "why did you risk sending in your 590s when you could have picked up a CB radio for under $50-?" My radio puts out 100-Watts which is illegal to TX with on this band but in an emergency, I do not care.

Also, I now can TX, not just RX, to aircraft, military, ship to ship, and other stations in an emergency - Certainty, no TXing now.  Think about it, we live in interesting times folks.

73 & God Bless

PS, any thoughts for a CB handle for me?


 
« Last Edit: January 12, 2021, 12:43:35 PM by JohnyMac »
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Offline patriotman

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2021, 01:31:54 PM »
Would you recommend it for the Icom I have?
Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

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Offline pkveazey

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2021, 02:15:46 PM »
My IC 718 is cut loose but I didn't cut the IC 7300 loose yet because its still in warrantee. I was tempted to cut it loose before I even hooked it up for the first time but then I thought, "Hmmmm, what if it's broken right out of the box." I'll do it later. In the meantime, I've still got the IC 718 if I need it.

Offline JohnyMac

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2021, 02:27:56 PM »
@ Patriotman. Not so fast. When we chat tomorrow we will figure it out. My backup radio IC-735 is already MARS mod.

@ PKv, the reason I used GiGiParts, is because I would not void my warranty on my Kenwood TS-590s according to Kenwood. I asked GiGiParts and they told me that most radio manufactures have approved them to do the job. I do not know about Icom.

@ All, if you do it, keep in mind that the nasties are starting. I would send 2-3 day delivery and pay for a similar return from GiGiParts. DO NOT USE USPS. Use Fed Ex or UPS. Do not ask me how I know. If you used 3-day delivery; if you shipped it on a Fri. in theory you would have back by the following Thirs/Friday. GiGiParts does a great job of one day turn around time.
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Offline Jackalope

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2021, 02:34:58 PM »
     Yup, those mods are helpful for emergencies.  I'm glad the mod works Johny.

     Patriotman, what model do you have?

     PK, someone close to me who has an IC-7300 had the mod done, and it works great, as it should.

     On a separate note, I worked my first 6 meter repeater, pretty neat.  I tried a 10 meter repeater too, but apparently I'm too far away.  I don't work much 6 meters, because my 6 meter yagi isn't installed yet, used a 2-80 meter vertical and it tuned and worked fine.

Offline JohnyMac

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2021, 03:20:18 PM »
I have a 6-meter antenna but am not really happy with it.

Here is an afternoon project I have been planning on doing.

6-meter Moxon Directional Antenna

The Moxon antenna like a Yagi antenna is a directional antenna. IMO, easier to build.

Have fun.
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Offline pkveazey

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2021, 04:58:51 PM »
I have a 6-meter antenna but am not really happy with it.

Here is an afternoon project I have been planning on doing.

6-meter Moxon Directional Antenna

The Moxon antenna like a Yagi antenna is a directional antenna. IMO, easier to build.

Have fun.

Let me know how the project turns out. At first glace, my thought was, "Hmmmmm..... somebody reinvented the slot antenna as a beam." Its not a slot antenna but it does resemble one. I'm a Cubical Quad freak. They are super easy to build if you are working above 10 meters. I built a Cubical Quad for 440 and hooked it up to my DMR handi-talkie and pointed it permanently at the DMR repeater that's about 18 miles away. It works great without any pixelating or dropping out. On 440 the 5 watt HT only puts out about 3 watts.

Offline bennington.camper

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2021, 11:29:53 PM »
MARS Modification - Is It Right For You


One of the things that became a disappointment to me after I passed my General exam was while I could listen (RX) to other forbidden frequencies I could not transmit (TX) on them. The frequency I really wanted to TX on was 11-meters or better known as the CB band. The band covers 26.965 Mhz to 27.405 Mhz.

I can hear it now, "Why would you want to have a QSO with a bunch of truckers, after all, you are a ham?"

Think about it, who knows better than truckers what is always going on around them at all times. What a great group of gals & guys who can be your eyes and ears out there on the interstate. Then to have the ability to TX them, is priceless. Debrief them and make requests.

With the drama that is happening around us, I finally decided to pull the trigger and send my radio off to GiGiParts to have them do the procedure. Jackalope, whom I have a great deal of respect for, shared with me on how to do it myself. Apparently, there are DIY procedures on how you can perform the modification out there for every radio. I can easily do brain surgery after looking at a YouTube video, but I could not bring myself to mod. my own radio.

I received back my radio last week. Unboxed the radio, ran into my shack, hooked up the power and tuned one of my antenna's. Once the manual tuner was set, I plugged in the coax to the tuned antenna. Viola! I could listen pretty dang clearly trucker traffic on the interstate about ten miles away. Once there was a pause on one QSO I jumped in and asked for a signal report.

Politely, a trucker came back and wanted to know what power I was TXing on. Whoops...Sorry. 11-meter is restricted to 4-watts. I immediately made an adjusted down to 5-watts, the lowest my radio puts out. I then came back and told the trucker I was using 4-watts, "why"?

Anyway, the signal report was only okay. Mmmm, what was up I pondered? Then I realized I was using a horizontally polarized antenna and I need to use a vertical polarized antenna. Remember, all those trucks you pass and look up at the driver's side of the tractor - Yup, they are using a vertical antenna.

Okay no worries, I will make one. I did the calculations and made a vertical dipole antenna out of 12-gauge solid wire I had left over from wiring my cabin and a BNC Female Dual Banana Female Socket Connector. The schematic below was my plan for my new antenna.



It took me about thirty-minutes to put the antenna together and another fifteen to hang it vertically. I put it up on a porch wood column.

Ran a coax cable to it and then did a SWR test with my MfJ antenna analyzer after it passed through my PalStar manual tuner. Hooked up the tuner to the transceiver and asked for a signal report. Out of the blue a trucker came back who was about fifteen miles away and gave me a full quieting report.

Now I can hear you thinking, "why did you risk sending in your 590s when you could have picked up a CB radio for under $50-?" My radio puts out 100-Watts which is illegal to TX with on this band but in an emergency, I do not care.

Also, I now can TX, not just RX, to aircraft, military, ship to ship, and other stations in an emergency - Certainty, no TXing now.  Think about it, we live in interesting times folks.

73 & God Bless

PS, any thoughts for a CB handle for me?


 
Really wish you would not post about actions you have taken that violate current laws...
MARS mods are not for anybody use and CB frequencies are certainly not type tested for amateur gear to use.
If you perform the mods, good for you.
Posting about transmissions without proper authorization to use them, not so much.
Posting about transmitting on a different mobile services frequencies with gear unapproved for that use.. Also bad.

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Offline JohnyMac

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2021, 11:05:23 AM »
Thank you bennington.camper for your comments.
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Offline wynnp4

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2021, 03:49:41 PM »
I jist moded my 857d recently.... just because.   I may go ahead and do the other one for good measure....

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Offline JohnyMac

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2021, 04:50:02 PM »
 :bravo: wynn!  :cheers:
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Offline wynnp4

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2021, 08:50:21 PM »
Good thing I have a big lighted Magnifier..... my old ass eyes need all the help they can get....

Was pretty easy otherwise...

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Offline JohnyMac

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Re: MARS Modification - Is It Right For You
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2021, 08:17:58 PM »
Wynne, you radical amateur radio operator  :cheers: :lmfao:
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