Since you're from California, Tune in every morning 7 days a week from about Sunrise till later in the morning on 7155. Almost everyone there is an RVer. This group is very helpful. Almost everyone is an RVer with years of experience setting up Rigs and antennas. 7.155Mhz Think and about going to Quartzsite, AZ next January, we generally have over a thousand hams out there and their RVs.
The ICOM 7000 has the convenient detachable head, remote control mike but a couple little quirks for 12 volt operation. The main thing is: as the battery voltage gets lower during use, you will start to gets reports that you have intermodulation distortion in your voice signal. This is a well known problem. A partial fix is to remove both inline fuses in the power cord, clean the contacts and reinstall. This does not fix low battery voltage only the corrosion resistance that may develop overtime. If you are using battery power, eventually the gradual voltage decline will cause the IM problem. In my RV the problem develops so quickly that I have abandoned batteries and use only a 13.5v power supply.
Your dog could gab the mic and run a2ay for a week and the cord would still be attached to the radio on a 480...... it is bloody *L*O*N*G*!!!!!
