AC4RD_mobie_mobile

I was out testing my new radio setup this morning, trying my 2 local repeaters with the new radio and antenna setup (see photos) in various locations around my new home, in the northern part of Fuquay-Varina. I gave my callsign and said “just trying the repeater with a new radio on my mobility scooter.” Another ham asked about a radio on a ‘mobility scooter,’ and said he knew someone who might be curious about how I put a tiny dualbander on my Geezer-Kart.

So the radio itself is a tiny thing, $50 on Amazon (I *did* look at DX Engineering but they don’t carry this grade of gear and I didn’t want a real radio, not yet.) It claims 25w, has 200 channels, people on the repeaters say my transmit audio is good, and it seems to work just fine. The user interface seems irksome and difficult, and programming it without a cable is insanely complicated.

Yes, I didn’t think to order a programming cable at the same time I ordered the radio–I should have thought of that. Putting in 145.21 and 147.105 by hand was slow and irritating (and my manual does not even MENTION how to do it) so get the cable if you want more than simplex and just a few repeaters.  Basically, the radio (QYT KT8900D according to the box) works quite well and was a bargain. Look at the reviews before you decide to get one; not everybody who wrote a review was positive about it, IIRC. But I’m perfectly satisfied, myself.

SO the mounting: This is a *temporary* setup. Just tossed everything onto the scooter to see if it worked. (It does.) There are two photos, the handlebar mount for the radio and the 3/8×24 antenna mount and simple 2m whip bolted on the rear basket, on a short mast from a boat store.

The radio came with a little mobile bracket. I screwed that to a plastic screw-clamp, and then put the screw clamp on the left handlebar of my “mobie.” There’s a purple lanyard on the handlebars and I looped that around the radio mount in case it falls off from vibration while I’m riding. This is not NASA-grade engineering.

Wiring is temporary. I’m going to add a 24-to-12v buck converter to power the radio from the scooter’s 24vdc Li pack. Right now there’s a 12v gel-cell on the floorboard with temporary wiring. Temporary. “Jury rigged.”

     05 SEPT 2026    Ken, AC4RD