Ever read one of those posts where afterwards you just sit there and think "what the heck did he just say?" LOL

Mike I know NOTHING about ham radios, but I do know that all the easily removable plastic was great for hiding my XM's antenna wire. And look at it this way its cheap to replace so why not try it.

 

I haven't even started to begin to think about putting radios in the car.

All of my radios are portables or luggables, even the 10m and longer tranceiver (which I'm not yet licensed for). Bought that as an incentive to learn the code a year or two ago...can you guess?

On 9/11, when I decided to get the heck out of Arlington around noon due to the uncertainty of what was still in the sky at the time, other than water, my radios were what I considered to be the most important things I threw in the car. Luckily, they weren't needed.

-brendan

 

>All of my radios are portables or luggables

Interesting! You've had your ticket for about 11 or 12 years, right? I got fed-up with HT's almost immediately and try to have real mobile rigs in the car(s).

I did spend a goodly part of this afternoon poking about and discovered that radios are going to be "in the open" if I don't build an enclosure. It is not trivial to get the stereo out, and glancing under the dash there's probably not much space back there, either. There's also no space under the front seats - heater vents for the back see to that. Didn't investigate running power or coax yet.

It might, however, be a interesting project to build a platform for the center console to hold the radio bodies. I feel an idea brewing... hmmm...

 

Whenever I shop for a car, I always try to figure out location of radios and antennea, whether it was when I was a CB'r or as a Ham. For the E, it was a piece of cake!! Since I am only a NC Tech, the dual band Yeasu 7100 went under the seat, while the remote head goes on top of the dash with a little velcro to hold it in place on the DashHugger dash cover. Cable goes under the cover and comes out from a tiny hole right by it. A cap covers it when I leave the vicinity. Power, of course from the battery, and coax wound down beside the fender and into the cabin. Unfortunately, it has to get squeezed by the door, as I have not found a location to run the cable better, although someone posted pictures of how they ran something, but I didn't use that. A K600M fender mount holds the diamond SG7900 dual band antenna in an upright position on the flat spot of the top of the fender. So Far, no holes have been drilled into the body.

Ger

 

[quote:f931622558=" "]>All of my radios are portables or luggables

Interesting! You've had your ticket for about 11 or 12 years, right? I got fed-up with HT's almost immediately and try to have real mobile rigs in the car(s)...[/quote:f931622558]

Mike,

Yeah, renewed earlier this year, without upgrading (lazy lazy). My first radio was a kenwood HT (I thought it was TINY at t; he time...) which I broke by leaning into my Colt with the antenna extended: CRACK. Broke the antenna mount/half the output stage heatsink (all the same cast metal) on the back off. Heatsink/mount is magnesium, maybe?

I did use it on the *previous* camping trip to find out what kind of weather the big group of us were in for in...where was that...hmm...Todd Lake, WV, I think.

But I picked up some older used HTs for pennies on the dollar recently, just in case. And an FT-817 last year...one day I will play...

Anyway.

Depending on the size of the transciever, you might just be able to get one under a seat. Elsewhere on the boards, I saw what appeared to be a transceiver (or scanner?) with a bottom firing speaking "mounted" in the ceiling bin.

Building a center console would work out well. A stack above the center vents wouldn't be too bad, if you had some way of making a convertable mount/cover for removing the radios when you were away from the car without it looking ugly.

-brendan

 

One thing I noticed (and liked) was that the area above the instrument cluster is pretty low as dash-tops go. Control heads could go there, too, and the space above the fuel gauge pod is just about right to fit the iQue for running pocketAPRS. Too bad Garmin's mobile mount for it doesn't contain the serial port wiring... I see some bench time in my future.

I have a TM-741, TM-733, FT-90, PCR-1000 and a TNC that all need to find a home, so I don't think under a seat is going to work for all of it. The center console box is still a strong idea, provided it can be done without constantly barking my knuckles on the parking brake. A few folks here have added consoles for general principles, but all of them have compromised the parking brake - not an option with a 5-speed.

I like that idea of putting the scanner in the overhead. Main problem is that the angle relative to your seating position makes the display a little hard to read. But with all the headroom, that area certainly could be used as a mount for a scanner hanging below it.

 

[quote:4a3d10bffd=" "]I have a TM-741, TM-733, FT-90, PCR-1000 and a TNC that all need to find a home, so I don't think under a seat is going to work for all of it.[/quote:4a3d10bffd]

Ok, that covers send/receive on 2m (x3), 70cm (x3) and 23cm (x1). Plus general receive. Um...how many ears do you have???

Ok, I suppose the TNC does knock down one send/receive pair...but still!

-brendan

 

... I just tucked a little Yaesu FT1500M beneath the dash to the right of the steering column and routed the wiring out the left side inner fender where a magmount antenna sits atop the fender. The radio's tiny enough that it fits in neatly and the display falls in an ideal spot for my driving position, visibility wise. Now if I were taller than 6' my knee would bang into it but it works for me.

I rarely turn it on to tell the truth. The local airwaves are dominated by the same half-dozen "ex-CB'ers" jabbering about mindless drivel punctuated with a variety of expletives. My wife routinely asks: "And tell me again WHY DID YOU WANT A LICENSE?!?" Sometimes it's hard to argue with her when you listen to local 2-meter activity! :roll:

Of course I can always tune up some HF activity at home and get detailed reports on the weather and various aches and pains and doctors visits from old-timers far and wide with the occasional expletive tossed in to see if I'm still awake. Do I sound a little disillusioned with amateur radio? :lol:

Steve

 

Good thread!

I've got a Kenwood TM-D700A that I'm looking to mount. The control head is detached (in fact, there's no way to attach it to the transmitter body). So, I've got to find a place to mount the control head and['u] the main body, route the cable from the head to the main unit, route the mic cable from the main unit to whereever the mic hangs out, route the coax from the main unit to the antenna, plus power.

Any ideas?

de W8SCA

 

Hi all

I have an HF and a VHF UHF quad Band Radio in my SOP "E" I drilled a hole in the fire wall and put a Grommet to protect the cables.
I have a 10m 6m 2m 70cm ant on the front hood on the drivers side and I use two ham sticks on the rear tail gate for HF.
Phots are in a folder on my Yahoo profile

http://profiles.yahoo.com/n2rld

P.S. The pics are of my FT100D and were taken before I put in the Yeasu FT8900 Quad band Radio

73's Karl N2RLD

 

Oh yeah That makes my SOP "E" a Three Element Element :lol:

73's Karl N2RLD

 

>Ok, that covers send/receive on 2m (x3), 70cm (x3) and 23cm (x1).

Oops. It's more complex than that. The 741 has 6m, 1.25m and 23cm - the original "stock" modules have found other homes. The FT-90 is dual-band in name only; it's just a single frequency rig that covers 2m and 70cm, and that's what is attached to the TNC.

>TM-D700A

Hmm. Your problem with one rig like this is that you have too many choices, really. For the control head it can be above the speedo pod, above the stereo, on a stalk attached to the center console, in the tray next to the steering wheel (...maybe...), above the subwoofer, or possibly hanging down from the overhead. The body might fit under a seat, but FWIW there's a lot of room behind the dash above the pedals. The D700 body may also fit in that rectangular recess at the back of the center console, but since I don't have one right now I can't check for sure.

What I've done in the past for mounting someplace like the subwoofer panel where I might need to drill holes is to just buy a replacement panel now and tuck it away, avoiding the rush if and when I sell the car.

Also, don't forget that the passenger-side airbag pops out of the top panel. So that leaves the whole passenger tray and the gray texture-covered area above it as potential spots for control heads.

>The local airwaves are dominated by the same half-dozen ... jabbering

I know exactly what you mean. I tried constructing a banality filter, but it didn't work very well. My solution was what I did with the TM-741 - dedicate it to "oddball" bands. Sure, I may have fewer to talk to, but those that are there tend to be more interested in the technology and its applications rather than basking in the warm glow of their own voices.

:roll:

 

Plenty of room for radio bodies underneath the front seats in front of the rear seat heater ducts. Minor challenge is making sure the cable that goes to the airbag weight sensors still moves freely - it's smack in the middle. (Also make sure that seat mechanical bits clear over the full range of motion. :shock

There appears to be plenty of room if you remove the subwoofer (I know, sacriledge). The external panel (with the grille) is simply decor and the actual subwoofer box underneath is pretty big. Also, there's some power available that way (didn't check how much). Don't do what I did and just yank on the fasteners close to the floor - you push in the center pin to remove, then pull the pin/latch out to reinstall.

Phil - the D700 control head might be a nice fit in the tray to the left of the steering column. Unfortunately the steering wheel will block a clear view of the display.

Modifying the center console idea is a no-go. It's too far back.

Overhead console was an interesting fit for my IC-R100, but it looked like it was going to be trouble once coax was attached.

If the weather stays reasonable (unseasonably warm here - 50's) I might pull the subwoofer completely out tomorrow for a looksee. Pix, maybe?

 

Bracketron's makes a Custom Bezel Mount that mounts to the screws that hold the radio in. It mounts to the right of the radio in the dash, but i think it will mount on the left also. you can use this to mount the control head for your radio.

http://www.bracketron.com

73's Karl N2RLD

 

>http://www.bracketron.com

Very cool, Karl. I downloaded the instructions. That certainly could solve one of my mounting problems. Thanks!

A radio control head might work with it if it could be mounted on the left and bent, but on the right the radio head is too wide and it would stick out into the airbag deployment zone.

 

Those of you familiar with Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) stores throughout the US of A, 12 of them, might be familiar with RAM mounts, an item that seems to hold just about any type of radio related gear, and of Portagrip brand holders and goosenecks that would seem to hold just about anything and mount stuff anywhere you wanted. If you would like access to a book if you are NOT familiar with locations, try this link; www.hamradio.com. This stuff is great to have.

Ger

 

After running the stereo with subwoofer turned off ("min" setting) for a couple of days, I decided that I wouldn't miss it for what I listen to. So below are shots of the bare subwoofer area, installed and then out.

Clearly, this is where radios are going. I won't even have to mess with the separation kits. 8)

I'll pick-up the DX panel for this area and then mod it for the install. Should be a very neat result.

[Image links removed due to changes in site policies.]

 

I haven't even had a chance to see an Element in person yet! But have a suggestion that some of you might want to look at. Panavise makes a mount for the Element.
You will find them listed at www.panavise.com and check out the Cellular section.
I am using one of these in my Camry which has very, very little room to mount things. I have a Kenwood TM-D700 control head mounted on it.
The bracket is really easy to attach, isn't a permanent fixture, is really well made, won't break your bank account and has lots of mounting holes!
That should cover every wish for an Amateur leasing a Element!
The only difference from my Toyota installation and the Element one is that there is some filing required on the Element installation. I don't know whether this will cause a problem with the fit and finish.
Installation instructions can be found at http://www.panavise.com/nf/comm/indash/instruction.html?partn=751171003
Hope that all this is of some help to someone, could be me later next year if I decide on an Element!

 

[quote:3d597b1d6b=" "] Panavise makes a mount for the Element.
You will find them listed at www.panavise.com and check out the Cellular section.[/quote:3d597b1d6b]

Where can we find a retailer for Panavise products?

 

I emailed them and got a list in the area, in my case it was a large area since I am in Canada.

 

Here's a thousand words:

[Image links deleted due to changes in site policies.]

As mentioned above in planning, I removed the subwoofer and enclosure and replaced it with the DX enclosure. It gives you an extra 1.75" on the floor in front of the center console, not to mention that the pocket on the DX enclosure makes a pretty nice place to put a dual-bander.

While I overpaid to buy the DX enclosure from the local dealer, it's listed at Majestic Honda for $19 before S&H. It's listed under "Instrument Panel Garnish (Passenger Side)".

 

Ok Its COLD!!!!! Real COLD here in New York, Too cold to leave the house.
So I am Thinking about Spring, and getting ready for Dayton
so I was thinking who else is going to dayton?


I know I am . I have two spots in the Flea market one With a Tent and One For my 3 Element element :lol:

Karl N2RLD

 

Hey Mike,

What did you do with the stock subwoofer. I've got a dx & have been wanting to put in the sub. Need the whole housing. Let me know if you want to sell it brother...

Later,
Chap

 

...I'm going to hang on to it for the day I sell it so I can put it back to stock. That's certainly not in the foreseeable, mind you, but that's what I said about the Ford Escape that the E replaced.

Call it a "hard lesson learned". 10 years ago I modded a vehicle beyond easy "reversability". When I needed to replace it, the weird stuff I did to it made it really hard to sell (and no dealer would take it as a trade-in!). I took it in the shorts on the resale.

 

I've not mounted my Ham radios in a vehicle before - but I did think about it when I bought the Element. So here goes.

I was considering a truly mobile installation for something like the FT817 or FT857 or IC706 - multi-band HF/VHF/UHF capability radios. My thought is to construct a console that has it's own INTERNAL battery - something like the Lifeline Group U1 (an AGM deep cycle battery that is absolutely spill proof and can mount in any orientation) . The battery would recharge from the rear power takeoff connector (I generally operate at QRP power levels). I'd hold the new console to the element floor using industial type velcro.

Why go to all that trouble? This way, I can remove the entire unit and transfer it intact to a sailboat or other mobile/field day environment as needed.

My main question is still about how to run an antenna feed without drilling holes in the body ANYWHERE.

Suggestions or comments are VERY welcome