AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Brilliant HF & UHF Radio setup for Ease of Use When Parked or Mobile

HF radio with its capability of transmitting over huge distances, is a great way to increase safety, and to add even more enjoyment to motorhoming. Its huge advantage over other forms of communicating, is it is almost free once you have bought all the gear. Max Haines is a retired BHP engineer and has embraced the technology head on. Many sets come with what is called a "remote head". All this means is that the controls are in a small box and the set proper is hidden away "remote" from the control box. This works well in motorhomes as more often than not, space is at an absolute premium.

What Max has done that is so clever is to place the remote head on an articulated arm that can park using the minimum space, swing horizontally for easy access when driving, and when parked, swing towards the rear of the vehicle, so that it can be used whilst seated at the dinette. All very clever and not available commercially. For good measure the microphone is also mounted on the same arm.

The photo above shows the head/mike assembly stowed for ready use. All you do is pull it in the direction you want - no unlocking of clamps is required - an absolutely top notch piece of design work by Max. We have never come across anything quite like this.

The photos above show the aerial mount on the rear of the vehicle - an older Winnebago incidentally in absolutely immaculate condition. You can get lots of ideas for aerial mounts on the HF Radio Clubs Website - www.hfradioclub.com.

The photos above shows Max's UHF radio setup. Once again he has chosen to use the remote head idea with a Uniden CB. The photo only shows the main body of it - far right. This can be buried in a cupboard if you so wish with the only limitation being the length of the supplied cable. All in all this is an extremely well setup rig communication wise with lots of very good ideas well worth looking at for your own RV.