HAM install - running coax in to the cab

Yeah looks like you have to pull those plastic pieces out to get to the grommet.

 

Here you go-
From the battery, the power wires go straight back and through a small hole I put in the main harness gromet in the firewall.

... they enter the cab near the corner under the dash on the drivers side and then run along the edge of the console cover up through a small existing hole in the bottom of the console to the radio. Thread this wire down through the console hole first towards the battery so you can fish it through the hole and tuck it in along the bottom of the console cover all the way towards the firewall, then under the carpet behind the pedals and up and out through the gromet to the battery.

Radio power wires go down and out at the bottom of the box (unseen here), the black double strand wire in this pic is just a 12v cigarette extension for the back seat, and my antenna coax goes up and out of the box in the corner and down next to the drivers seat towards the rear slider window under the carpet and up between the rear seat split (just the small part of where it goes into the box corner is visible).

 

Why not go NMO, but when you need to haul the canoe, just unscrew the antenna and screw on a protective cap?

 

I want to be able to use the radio when I have the canoe on the truck. I sometimes canoe with others in a group...2 meters is how a lot of us stay in contact under way.

 

Makes sense! I'd take the advice of what another member said then, and run it through the third brake light. Then you can move it around and don't have to worry about anything.

 

This is exactly where my radio will be going. Why didn't you use the 12v power outlet in the console? If there was enough room at the bottom for the power cables, would you say there's enough room to run to coax?

I'll be using the 12v power outlet in the console right next to the radio and I'm hoping to run the caox under the console and either out the back of the truck or through the firewall by the AC grommet.

 

Running off the battery is independent of the ignition being on, useful if you are in an emergency and system failures happen, but more importantly, transmitting in high power is possible if you run the heavier gauge wire to the battery. I tried doing it to that output (both directly but through a cigarette lighter plug first), and my radio wouldn't transmit at 50 watts.

My plug was still on the coax when I ran it, so I had to go in from the top- but yes, power and coax can fit through the hole at the bottom of the box.

 

Not going to be able to do the install the way I wanted to before my camping trip due to time, so I'll just be routing the coax through the sliding window for the weekend. I'll post pics of the install when I get around to it. Going to now be putting the ham in the center console, so I may need to go buy a new, longer coax to reach

 

Where's the antenna gonna be mounted? Sorry if I forgot and you already answered that.

 

I have the Total Chaos bed stiffeners which have a hole on the top which is where the whip will be going.

 

Oh yeah, I remember! How long is your coax?

 

It's 18 feet

 

You'll be fine then. I had my cb mounted in almost the exact spot, and it's long enough to reach all the way to the front. This is where I had my CB mounted. Unless third gens are longer, but I don't think they're THAT much longer.

 

Did you have a double cab long bed? I know @MotoEd said his barely reached in his

 

Oooo, good call. Nevermind then, as in both my DCSB and AC, it barely reached. You could always get a 3' jumper and a connector to extend your existing cable that tiny bit needed.

 

You'll be fine with the length.

 

Just like there was no grommet, right?

 

The only down side to mounting it in the center consul is that you have to drive with it open to use your radio to be able to hear the speaker. The do sell aux speakers that you could plug into it to be able to hear it but that's another thing to mount nd run wires. Or there's the aux port on the back that you can plug an aux wire into and then plug that into your radio. The you would hear everything over your truck speakers.

 

Not a grommet like the 2nd gen

 

The aux cord to the truck would be pretty cool. Surround sound