ScottJ

I _hate_ lighter plugs. I am also a ham radio operator, so I generally have a lot of devices in my car that all need power. My solution isn't for everyone, but it's what works for me. Your mileage may vary. I have run a #12 2-wire feeder from my battery to the interior of the car. Both legs are fused with inline 3AG 30A fuses just a few inches from the battery itself. Inside the car, the feeder connects to the input of a West Mountain Radio 5-outlet power panel, which uses Anderson PowerPole connectors. These are essentially the "standard" DC connector for emergency services and emergency communications folks -- reliable, much smaller than a cigar plug, polarized, and sexless (no "male" or "female", they mate in any configuration and cannot be mated with the wrong polarity.) For the GPS, I carefully removed the cigar plug from a standard Garmin power cable and put a PowerPole connector on. It then plugs right into the power panel, along with my XM radio, ham radios, and cellphone charger. The power panel is about $50 and comes with a dozen or so connectors and a crimp tool for installing them. The remaining wire and materials should cost under $10. If you're installing only one device (the GPS), you don't even need the panel -- just change the lighter plug to a PowerPole, run some feeder out to the battery or fuse block, and plug it in, and you'll have spent under $15. Scott (KD4DCY)

I'm considering buying Rinos for my wife and I, specifically for Geocaching. (I already own a GPS V, which stays in the car most of the time, and a GPS III+, which we cache with now.) My question is this: has there been any talk of designating (informally, of course) a particular FRS channel as the "Geocachers' channel"? Based on the number of times I've run into other Geocachers in the vicinity of caches, I think it would be pretty nice to know what channel to call on to reach other cachers, and what channel to listen on in case others are about. The Georgia Geocachers Association meeting, coming up tomorrow, seems to have settled on channel 2 as their meeting place. I wondered if that was just random, or what. Scott PS - thanks to all for the great reviews ... I think I'm going to buy a pair of 120's.

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