Dave's 2006
Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail
Peace Officer Special Edition
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, and splurging on my 51st birthday, I became the proud owner of a new Harley Davidson from the dealer in Missoula, Montana. I was impressed with the Heritage model, and very pleased to find out there is a special edition for those in law enforcement, which I qualified. That earned me a manufacturer's discount which brought this machine into a reasonable price range. Of course, all the money I saved was then spent on riding gear and other HD memorabilia.
The Motorcycle saddle bag houses the communications & navigation equipment
The APRS configuration consists of a TH-D7A
in the saddle bag, and AvMap G4T on a handdle-bar mount. A Comet groundplane-less
whip antenna completes the solution. If I want comms on .52 or other selected
freq, I patch the radio into the Autocom Active-Plus Communicator which gives me
audio and mic to the helmet. I also installed a Yaesu FTM-10SR radio in the
saddlebag, with control head and mic on the handlebar. This is a cool radio in
that the control head, mic, and accessory stereo speakers are are
water-resistant. The radio features AM/FM stereo radio, wide-band receive
aircraft/fire/police/etc, 2M and 440 amateur bands, and a line input for my XM
Satellite radio. Antenna is also a Comet groundplane-less whip, matching the
TH-D7A tracker antenna.
The Autocom Active-Plus communicator provides voice comms via PTT or VOX to the rider and passenger (via headset), and the other devices. If a cell phone call is received, the radio or music volume is muted while the call takes place, then returns to normal volume when complete. GPS audio out provides turn-by-turn directions, and Pioneer Inno XM/MP3 is for pure musical enjoyment. The auxiliary lighter plug is used to plug the GPS and XM devices info. An Anderson Powerpole connector will power the other devices, and link back to the motorcycle battery. All the wires are nicely tucked into the saddle bag.
Travel Pictures
May 13: Starting out from home on 150 mile day-trip to Steptoe Butte, south
of Spokane. From atop Steptoe Butte, which is 3000 feet above ground level and
offers a spectacular 360-degree view. I could see Mt. Spokane to the north, at
about 80 miles. Fantastic day, of course.
You can read more
about the exploits and radio installation in the November 2007 issue of ARRL's
QST.