This is the reason, why I did not install a laptop stand.
I have a Toshiba Portege tablet PC.It is smaller then IBM, but I not found good solution for setup yet.

What happened to all the pics? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I don't know who's pics you were talking about, Zaphod, but I reworked our website so the links changed. Unfortunately I can't go back and edit my original picture post, so I'll just rewrite it here (with a little addition at the end).

Now you see it:


Now you don't:


And the antenna is basically a mirror image of the stock one so it looks 'ballanced.' and hopefully inconspicuous...


I didn't have the Kenwood TM-G707 powered up because the battery is as dead as the motor. I used a dremel to remove most of the plastic material on both sides of the pocket, and when I later removed the dash to replace the leaky heater core I added a small brace on each side to replace the material I had removed (that's what the machine screws are that you can see on the inside of the hole).

You can control all the functions you need from the keypad on the mic, so all you do is pop the pannel off and then put it back when you're done for the day, no reaching all the way to the base of the windshield to change channels or whatever else you need to do, other than squelch and volume which are easiest done from the head unit.

New info: I mounted the smallest speakers I could find above (I think) the 6X9s that came in our Amigo, on the flat pannels just in front of the rear side windows. As I recall, they were 4ohm speakers, so I wired them in series to get the 8ohms that the radio is rated at for an external speaker, and it sounds really clear even while on the freeway. I used a regular Ethernet(?) cable as an extension for the microphone, and also ran the programming wire out with the same wiring bundle, so it's now "part" of the vehicle, so to speak.

Just to set things straight. CB is not limited to just 4 watts. The civilian full legal limit is 4 watts, but you can find people who will bump that up by 11 watts giving you 15 watts of output. Barely noticable at first, but when you need that extra power to call someone on ch 9, its there. I knew a guy down near Terre Haute Indiana who would do it for anybody for $50 plus parts, depending on your radio. However, because of my positon in the military, my CB unit will transmit between 5 and 100 watts. I can transmit at 5 watts, 25 watts, 50 watts, and 100 watts. I however am also one of a very selected few, who is authorized by the FCC to have such equipment and transmit at high levels using the citizen's band radio.

And those guys would be performing ILLEGAL modifications.



Never heard of that. Can you cite FCC rules and regs so I can be better informed in the future ?

And those guys would be performing ILLEGAL modifications.

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You mean my old tweaked to 11+ watt, Radio Shack SSB unit with the cheater switch for extra channels, pre-amp mike and 250 watt linear could be <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> ILLEGAL? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

(...and before anybody overreacts into a holier-than-thou rant, this is a leftover rig from the '70's when I'd go waaaay out in the boonies. Back then you needed those features to survive. Now that the boonies have become neighborhoods and malls, I haven't cranked up that old radio in 20+ years except for an occasional radio check.)

Hence the reason why I made the statement "The civilian full legal limit is 4 watts."

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I am in the Coast Guard, if you own a vessel that is 7meters or less you are not required to have a Marine Band Radio, most of the guys with the little skiffs, however will take a CB radio with them. The Coast Guard however is not required to monitor any VHF Marine Band channel except for Marine band ch. 16 (156.8mhz). Civilian Marine Band radio's, legal limit is 25 watts, however, the Coast Guards Chicago "High Site" which happens to be on top of the Sears tower transmits at a lot higher wattage. I really don't want to go into detail about exactly what the Coast Guard does in regards to the use of Marine band and Citizen band radios. The radio in question, was only used for Search and Rescue, I bought it, and it was modified later by the electronics technicians in the Coast Guard. I however did not buy the antennas nor the coupler associated with the radio. So I turned those back into the Coast Guard before I left that unit. So to answer your question, I am not sure of the laws or regs in regards to such an issue, I just used what they gave me and I didn't question it.

When you pump out 100 watts but the people talking back only have 4 watts, it's not only illegal, it's annoying to everyone on the road to have some yahoo 10 miles away that can't hear your walking all over everyone's conversation. It's known in the HAM world as "Alligator mouth, hummingbird ears."

It makes sense that smaller boats don't require a marine band radio, I guess it's pretty nice of the coast guard they they monitor CB. I lived in Chicago and we (and our friends) had boats, no one had a CB in them. Of course, now everyone has cell phones.

A lot of FCC laws are overlooked. When the FRS radios came out, all sorts of businesses have adopted them because their cheaper and easier to get than a business class license. The military did for a while as well, but when someone as big as the military starts buying thousands of FRS radios, that was a little too public and the FCC enforced the rule. They don't go after a mom and pop in a small town.

The marines responded by going to Icon and saying, "Give us the same radio, but in our frequency." Rather than expensive brick radios, they now have small, cheap radios that if they break, they simply throw them away.

I've been trying to stifle myself about saying exactly the same type of thing. It's unfortunate that something so convienant as CB has been turned into something undesirable by both over powered rigs, and "AUUUUUUUUUDIO." <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Our 4x4 club even ditched CB in favor of <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> FRS. Partially because you can use squelch tones and partially because they're so cheap for the beginners to buy. Personally I don't like them. I can yell about as far as the FRS radios are good for, and they use batteries instead of being hard wired.

<steps off my soap box> OK, I'm done. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

as far as drounding out the airwaves with 100 watts, well, we only did it on channel 9. I was fortunate once to have my radio on and monitoring it, back when that 30 car pile-up happened just north of Milwaukee on I-43 in the fog. If anybody knows that stretch of highway between Two Rivers and Milwaukee knows that there isn't any cell phone coverage up there. I relayed the incident to the Coast Guard who happened to be monitering at the same time and they dispatched EMS personnel. But only on ch. 9. s far as those FRS radios, not the Coast Guard, we are still using the Motorola Astro Saber portable radios which are absolutely crap. We are starting to phase them out, because they don't hold a charge for anything, not only that, they really aren't built for the conditions that the Coast Guard is usually in.



However we are slowly switching to the Motorola XTS 3500 and the 5000 which are alot better, and handle the conditions we put them through better. They should, because at 2,000 a pop they are not cheap.