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Clean VHF/CB radio installs

Discussion in '3rd Gen. Tacomas (2016-2023)' started by FoleySwampPlotts, Feb 10, 2016.

  1. Jun 5, 2016 at 9:25 AM
    #81
    Squirrel cage

    Squirrel cage Well-Known Member

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    Icon stage 4 lift,FN Countersteer wheels (16X8), 285/75/16 Duratracs
    Does your leg lay against it? I'm fighting myself to find the right spot to mount the face of my Yeasu FT8800. I had it right above the mirror in my 2nd gen, but it doesn't seem to fit quite the same. Especially with the sunroof.
     
  2. Jun 5, 2016 at 9:59 AM
    #82
    DOSS

    DOSS Well-Known Member

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    Actually my leg doesn't even touch it - I worried about that and almost put it on the passenger side but my wife would kick it constantly.. I am 6'4" so my seat is all the way back so I don't know if that makes any difference.
     
  3. Jun 5, 2016 at 10:28 AM
    #83
    Garmin

    Garmin Well-Known Member

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    Part 2 of my Kenwood D710 installation:
    (Part 1 NMO antenna here)


    discreet NMO-2/70B antenna




    use bigs Ty-Raps to fix the base under de passager seat






    D710 setup & a RAM Cup Holder Mount for the cell QI holder
    RAM-A-CAN II Cup Holder Mount: RAP-299-2UU







    Gooseneck Seat Bolt Mount for the D710 head



    Speaker under the driver side, fix by the same bolt for the small fuses holder.





    For the 12V power radio I use a Havis ChargeGuard CG-X Auto Shut-Off Timer

    73'
     
  4. Jun 18, 2016 at 10:34 PM
    #84
    cheuer

    cheuer Well-Known Member

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    Leer 100XR, Mobtown Offroad Sliders
    Finally got my TM-V71A installed today. I was working on it off and on throughout the day, so it probably took me longer than it should have.

    Zip-tied the bracket under the driver's seat:

    IMG_20160617_212725.jpg

    Both pics of this I took came out super blurry, sorry. Radio mounted on the bracket and all cables connected:

    IMG_20160618_195712.jpg

    I put some split loom tubing on this part of the power cable, seemed sensible. It runs under the carpet to the channel under the driver's door and up to the firewall:

    IMG_20160618_195725.jpg IMG_20160618_195730.jpg

    Out through the firewall and to the battery. The wire it came with ended up being too short so I had to extend it with some other spare wire, which is why the negative wire turns blue:

    IMG_20160618_213224.jpg IMG_20160618_213236.jpg

    The speaker is mounted on a bolt I found way back in the passenger footwell:

    IMG_20160618_213715.jpg

    The wires for the speaker, antenna, and control unit all come together and run through the center console:

    IMG_20160618_213734.jpg

    Then come out here under the seat:

    IMG_20160618_213913.jpg

    I mounted the faceplate on the left side over the useless pocket using two medium size Command strips (not the velcro kind) that I cut down to size (sorry for the weird angle on this pic):

    IMG_20160618_222521.jpg

    And instead of using the provided screws I drilled three holes in the center console side for the mic hanger and used bolts, lock washers and nuts (had to cut away a bit of the plastic on the inside of the console to make this work, sorry I forgot to grab any pics of that part). This way I don't have to worry about the force on the bracket pulling those screws out:

    IMG_20160618_222545.jpg

    So far I'm very happy with this setup. Now to start programming the radio...
     
  5. Jun 19, 2016 at 6:08 AM
    #85
    Two Hawks

    Two Hawks Well-Known Member

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    Ham radio antenna,Firestone Ride-Rite air spring Snug Top topper, and a rifle rack y'all ..Moroso Catch Can, De-badged.
    Very nice install. Where is the antenna installed. And do you use aprs much?
     
  6. Jun 19, 2016 at 6:28 AM
    #86
    dorton

    dorton rockcreekoverland

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    Old Man Emu Nitro Chargers, CS047R leafs w/ D29XL extra leaf, CBI front and rear bumpers, CBI armor, rock sliders,ditch light brackets, and bed rack, Free Spirit Recreation Extreme Series roof top tent, VTX Viper wheels, General X3 Grabber tires, 4.88 gears front and rear, Kenwood TM-710G UHF/VHF radio. Icom IC-706MKIIG UHF/VHF/HF radio,KC Hilites 20" Flex Bar and ditch lights, Safari snorkel, BedSlide Classic, SnoMaster USA expedition series fridge.
    I installed my TM-D710g. The faceplate is mounted here on the dash, the radio is under the driver seat with Velcro to hook to the carpet to keep it in place. I wanted it to have a good view of the sky for the gps accuracy while using APRS(watching speed and altitude is nice also).

    image.jpg
     
    Durango95, Cclogan8, Justin and 3 others like this.
  7. Jun 19, 2016 at 9:21 AM
    #87
    Garmin

    Garmin Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for yours pics !

    How did you installed your antenna?
     
  8. Jun 19, 2016 at 9:56 AM
    #88
    cheuer

    cheuer Well-Known Member

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    Here's my write-up of the antenna install, which I did a few weeks ago and got linked in this thread back then: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ham-radio-antenna-install.432754/

    I've never used APRS, if I get into that later I'll probably go with a mobilinkd/APRSDroid setup off this same radio.
     
    Garmin[QUOTED] likes this.
  9. Jun 19, 2016 at 5:24 PM
    #89
    dorton

    dorton rockcreekoverland

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    Old Man Emu Nitro Chargers, CS047R leafs w/ D29XL extra leaf, CBI front and rear bumpers, CBI armor, rock sliders,ditch light brackets, and bed rack, Free Spirit Recreation Extreme Series roof top tent, VTX Viper wheels, General X3 Grabber tires, 4.88 gears front and rear, Kenwood TM-710G UHF/VHF radio. Icom IC-706MKIIG UHF/VHF/HF radio,KC Hilites 20" Flex Bar and ditch lights, Safari snorkel, BedSlide Classic, SnoMaster USA expedition series fridge.
    I have always UHF /VHF antennas on a fender lip mount, however on this one I'll have them mounted on my ARB bumper. On the ARB Tacoma bar it has two mounts on the top center tube. I had an HF setup on MY FJ Cruiser and was able to get QSOs from as far as Russia on 20m with bumper mounted Ham Sticks. The bumper just went on yesterday, so haven't had time to route the antenna yet


    I tried that route and had zero success. I got frustrated with it, and threw it in a big Rubbermaid tote I keep random ham junk in.
     
    Garmin[QUOTED] likes this.
  10. Jun 19, 2016 at 8:38 PM
    #90
    cheuer

    cheuer Well-Known Member

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    Leer 100XR, Mobtown Offroad Sliders
    Want to store it in my truck instead? ;)

    I just don't see getting that much use out of APRS, so it wasn't on the priority list. Someday maybe.
     
    PeterVICEG likes this.
  11. Jun 19, 2016 at 10:12 PM
    #91
    Digiratus

    Digiratus Adventurer

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    I just went this route with the same radio. I am a total ham rook. Even so, the setup was fairly simple using an 8' Samsung Tab 4.
     
  12. Jun 26, 2016 at 6:52 PM
    #92
    MoQS

    MoQS Well-Known Member

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    Hi all. Looking for a little help with an antenna, mount and cable for a Yaesu FTM-400xd amateur radio.
    I have found a Diamond dual band fold-over antenna: Diamond Original NR770HB (https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Original-NR770HB-Dual-Band-Antenna/dp/B00MANF3L6 ) and would also like to use a Diamond sill mount. There are 5 different mounts and I'm unsure of which one to purchase.
    K400C: SO-239 to PL-259 with 6.5' C-series PTFE coax cable•K400CNMO: NMO to PL-259 with 6.5' C-series PTFE coax cable
    K400-3/8C: 3.8 x 24 thread to PL-259 with 6.5' C-series PTFE coax cable
    K400S: SO-239 to SMA with 13.5' C-series PTFE coax cable
    K400SNMO: NMO to SMA with 13.5' C-series PTFE coax cable

    Could someone please help me with the selections that I will need for this radio including the type of cable that is needed.

    Thanks for your help.
     
  13. Jun 27, 2016 at 8:30 AM
    #93
    cheuer

    cheuer Well-Known Member

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    All of those mounts are the same thing, just with different connectors. For the antenna and radio you linked, you'll need the K400C. The others either have the wrong antenna mount or the wrong connector for your radio. 6.5' is not very long though, you'd better make sure that's long enough to reach from your desired antenna location to the radio.
     
    MoQS[QUOTED] likes this.
  14. Jun 27, 2016 at 9:11 AM
    #94
    MoQS

    MoQS Well-Known Member

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    Thank you cheuer
     
  15. Jun 27, 2016 at 12:39 PM
    #95
    MoQS

    MoQS Well-Known Member

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    Ordered up on the K400c and the Diamond Original NR770HB. Having the cap mod done on the Yaesu FTM-400xd. Everything should be here in about a week from GigaParts.com. Looking forward to get my technician's license soon as well.
    Thanks for the help with this. I have to say the help I also received from GigaParts was exceptional,especially being a newbie with this.
     
  16. Jun 29, 2016 at 2:15 AM
    #96
    FoleySwampPlotts

    FoleySwampPlotts [OP] Well-Known Member

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    '16 Tacoma- Avid side steps, LED interior lighting, yaesu ft-2900R VHF radio (KD8EHC), dog box, Garmin Alpha, Plott Hounds Wife's rig '12 Rav4 4x4 4cyl.... its a cupcake, but a damn good runner
  17. Nov 21, 2016 at 6:57 PM
    #97
    GoRideToday

    GoRideToday Member

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    Let's go explore
    How hard was routing the LED light bar wire to the center console switch panel?

    I have a blank switch there and I want to do the same thing. I have seen a lot of guys wire it to the right of the steering wheel. Curious to hear how hard it was and if you have any tips.

    IMG_0925.jpg
     
  18. Dec 8, 2016 at 10:55 PM
    #98
    cheuer

    cheuer Well-Known Member

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    Moved the faceplate for my TM-V71A to above the rear view mirror tonight. Used this mount from Amazon. It was a real pain to get it right, and isn't the best positioning, but for $9 I'll deal with it.

    IMG_20161208_224223.jpg

    The cord runs above the headliner and down the A-pillar to the radio body under the seat. Had to use an ethernet connector and an extra cable.

    IMG_20161208_224301.jpg
     
    nodoze, DrFunker, venezian and 4 others like this.
  19. Dec 27, 2016 at 5:38 PM
    #99
    incogneato

    incogneato Well-Known Member

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    I've seen a lot of installs that put mine to shame in the "clean" category, but do have a couple of pics I thought worthy of sharing...

    The Icom IC-2730A control head seems tailor-made for the Gen 3 dash, if you have a manual tranny w/o the Tech Package, and don't use the Qi-
    TacoComms.jpg2730 head rear.jpg

    When running the coax from the bed, it looked like the vent was a good entry point, but I didn't like the flapper sticking up. I found that drilling a hole in the upper corner of the vent allowed the cable to pass and the flapper to function normally-
    coax thru vent.jpg

    Other than the holes in the rear cab cents and the firewall boot, the only "modification" to the truck was popping the switch blank out to run the control cable.
     
    Durango95 and BEAR_KNIFE_FIGHT like this.
  20. Dec 27, 2016 at 8:20 PM
    #100
    1madmnky

    1madmnky Well-Known Member

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    Hella Supertones

    What's antenna install parts list? What length coax?Thinking of doing the same set up.
     
    go0gies likes this.

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