R_Bert

Never Mind.   Dated material.   Sorry.

The sound of that round being chambered was impressive.

Or the back of your head........ that's the point I thought I was making. But, you absolutely should be concerned with MPE at 144 & up.

In theory, yes. But unfortunately, they are very directional, and bulky (yagis, etc) .   For your purposes, any omnidirectional antenna at 146 MHz at 3.0 dBd gain would be an allowable Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) for controlled zone (.i.e. a passenger) at 1.8 watts. You need a bit over 5' separation for 60 watts. You would still need a ~4' minimum distance for a quarter-wave antenna (~1- 2 dB gain over dipole depending on ground plane from truck body).    With a roof mount (even a magnet mount), you elevate the RF pattern over the subjects (instead of their face) and mostly eliminate the problem.   Here is a MPE calculator that you can do for your own research - http://hintlink.com/power_density.htm   Now...  You could attach a mount to the box which elevates the antenna over the passenger compartment.  I have no idea how well it would work (ground plane would be a bit goofy), but it would alleviate a lot of the exposure issues.

I am pretty sure those are AOW........

If you are concerned about RF exposure (and btw, the configuration you suggest will *not* meet guidelines at 50W at 144 & 440). That said, there is a better way to use that antenna that is safe - Get a local radio shop to drop a standard NMO mount in the center of your roof. It is a quick, easy, and relatively cheap job. The performance will far exceed any other place that you locate that antenna, *and* it will meet RF exposure guidelines inside your cab. The mount I am talking about is a NMO UHF, similar to this - http://www.amazon.com/Browning-BR1010-4-Inch-Hole-Mount/dp/B00BLCLVFY/ref=pd_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=126KPGZ6DMYM7HKJW0TJ . It will be weatherproof, and grounded to the roof. I have two of these on my truck roof. One more comment added - if you do use a roof mount, be sure and remove the iron fines on the roof left behind by the drill (especially with your white roof). ALL of them. Even the "dust" . Don't ask me how I know this......

A nice presentation by the Central States VHF Society on "basic VHF" (what you can do beyond repeaters on FM) - http://www.csvhfs.org/index.php/vhf-101

Lord, I miss Jerry Clower....     [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcpducwW8w4[/media]

Awesome!

or figurines.

If it helps, My wife is a TV junkie.  She found everything she wanted,  She is the one who made the final decision to cut.  The only thing we have problems with is ESPN sports, but you can subscribe to that.

We cut CATV about 5 years ago.  Now all over-the-air plus internet (ex. Roku).   It's awesome.  Cut our bill by ~75%.

I am not an investor, but this really works for me -   Add as many $ as you can (example make it an even $1000) for initial.   Go to a Edward Jones or Wells Fargo investment office and set up an account for your son.  No-load mutual funds such as  Vanguard, & some bonds..   Set the account up to do automatic withdrawals, say $25/mo to start with, from your payroll or bank savings account.  Increase it every year.   You will pay a fee up front, but it will grow faster than you believe.  And, the documentation / monitoring is excellent.   Pay the taxes up front.  That way, when the market tanks, or you have a great need, you can pull the $.    B.

Your daily snewz  :ph34r:  -   From the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - South Korea's Search for Nuclear Sovereignty   SO - more stuff than you will ever want to know about nuclear non-proliferation, using Republic of Korea as an example.  It is quite an interesting (and quite provocative....) read for us in the non-proliferation industry -   http://nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=797     Toby Dalton used to run the US nuclear security program.     BTW,   Nuclear Sovereignty is the idea of a state producing nuclear weapons (USA, Britain, France, Russia, and China per NPT Treaty).    PEACEFUL Nuclear Sovereignty is everything / everyone else, including uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing (and a state's right to conduct...or not.... these activities).     Enrichment and reprocessing are the larger sticking points from a NPT perspective regarding a NON-weapons state (one who has signed the NPT). These two are key to developing a nuclear weapons capability.   What is applied to ROK  under this bilateral agreement will have nuclear security implications world-wide (including Iran & other rogue states). So, these negotiations are worth watching in the future.  

I guess it depends on your stock.  I was surprised a few weeks ago to find that my rest will not work with my AR/Ace stock and a 20 rnd mag.  It barely works with the 10 rounder (~1/2" clearance after blocking the gun up a bit).   The rest works real well with my other guns.  I have the Caldwell shot bags for it, and easily can put 100lbs of lead...which generally makes it stay put.   

I have one of these.    It takes some tweaking to use it with an AR-15. (place a block under the stock to lift it a bit, and jack the front end up, and use shorter magazine).   $40 is not a bad price.

:waiting:   In Oak RIdge -   http://oakridgetoday.com/2015/01/23/report-man-fires-gun-ground-parking-dispute/

meh.  I have a Bullet Butler®   It's some penguin-coated dude that counts my rounds for me, and (just before I run out) hands me a fresh rifle.  He speaks in some sort of British accent, and apparently has a license to kill.

As Bersa said, it has gone on for decades.  My instructor for Algebra 1 and Geometry was the school basketball coach.  Guess where we were about three days a week.    I cannot describe how much damage that man did to his students. (of course, being the  young twits that we were, we did not have sense enough to complain or resolve it).

These are hilarious.   A guy takes stock ad photos, and inserts himself into them -   http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7009050/guy-photoshops-himself-into-stock-photos-to-instantly-make-them-better

Good deal, Ron.  Those Baofengs are popular.  Lots of capability for the price, although I understand they can be somewhat hard to program. Lot's of people use them around here.  Apparently some dude was able to order them for $18 shipped last year on a special group order.

Bacon is good. Especially wrapped around portabella & grilled.

  Ron,   I had a number of setups, but generally, I would guess 85% of my contacts were made with nominal equipment - a multi-mode rig at 100 watt level, using mast-mount preamps, a single M2 Inc Yagi beam, fed with salvaged hardline (Andrews LDF4-50), mounted 50' - 75'  (but first several years as low as 25').    I also from time to time ran the same kind of station portable, where I did hill / mountain topping (same type of antennas around 20' above ground),   and I also ran a lot of mobile using pairs of KB6KQ loops.    The real key was to watch the propagation indicators and conditions, keep a rig turned on in the background when home, and developing a network of buddies across the country who will alert you when something is going on.   BTW, I am around Knoxville.  The *most exciting qso I was ever in* was when on 144.200 I heard a station in DM04 (California) announce himself.  The opening only lasted about 30 seconds, and worse, I initially thought it was on my 50 MHz radio, not the 144!  Anyway, I did not have my act together (attention on wrong rig, antenna slightly off, amplifier cold).  The station heard me calling, actually got my call & "QRZ" ed.  But, N4VC, Al Pierce in Nashville heard the guy, and snatched him up (I would have done the same)...setting a record that was published in QST magazine. I heard that station on a single yagi, 25' in the air at home.   Another time, I was in Oak Ridge, TN and worked the Turks & Caicos Islands on 144 MHz while  mobile using a pair of those loops.  Several other area stations also worked it ( BTW, I never heard CA again on 144).   SO...by far, the most important factor is a modest station, to be there when the propagation appears, and to be relatively ready for a short opening.

I have been doing ham radio a long time. Anyone can do the stuff I have done.