My Amateur Radio Install

I thought this may give a few people ideas on where to stick accessories, so here goes.

I always like having a 2meter/440 radio in whatever vehicle I'm in, so with the new truck, goes an old favorite, an Icom 880. I stuck the head unit to the dash with 3M Dual Lock. (http://www.3m.com/product/information/Dual-Lock-Reclosable-Fastener.html) This stuff is quite possibly the best "velcro" on the market.



I ran the control cable beside the pocket, after filing a wire channel with a rat tail file. There I met the cat 5 mic cable which I just leave dangling under the dash secured with a ty-rap. I then ran the cables over to the driver's kick panel. I mounted the speaker, an old motorola car phone speaker, to the bundle of wires under the fuse block with a couple ty-raps.

After making these harnesses, and poking a #6 AWG cable through the firewall grommet, I ran them under the sill plates to the rear storage area where I mounted a fuse block and the radio body. The fuse block is grounded to the rear seat belt bracket. I passed the wires through a 1" hole I cut in the wall of the plastic pocket using a hole saw.

Trying to come up with a good way to secure the radio and making it easy to remove, I had a piece of laminate shelf material I cut to fit the bottom of the tray, then screwing the radio and new fuse block to it.



If you notice, there is a loose cable there with an Anderson Powerpole attached to it (http://www.andersonpower.com/products/singlepole-connectors.html). This I use to charge my jump box, which is also modified with a powerpole. Anderson Powerpoles are used a lot in Amateur Radio, and therefore I have one I can poke from in between the seats to run other equipment, charge the jump box as mentioned, or activate the high current 12v socket for a portable compressor, my 12v cooler, etc. The socket is also mounted with dual lock so it can also be snatched down and used on the other side of the seats.





The antenna for the radio is on my Thule roof rack, and the coax passes behind the door trim into the cab. It's RG 316, so it's tiny enough not to cause seal leaks. I didn't take photos of this, but can if you're interested.

I hope someone may get an idea for their project, as I had to think about it a little to figure out what I wanted to do.

 

that looks good. nice and clean. I have seen some serious hack jobs here on TW.com

 

thanks guy, I am gonna build a shelf over the radio and stuff, I just have to take the time to get it done! (That way everything isn't just sitting on the radio and fuse block)