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Clean VHF/CB radio installs

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

  1. Aug 20, 2020 at 12:36 PM
    #1681
    helix66

    helix66 Well-Known Member

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    How do the cables rub bare?
    I have a mount from relentless fab that’s basically an angled light mount bolted to the rail....it looks like a similar connection as yours.

    How’d you run it into the cab.....and with the extra cable?
     
  2. Aug 20, 2020 at 5:55 PM
    #1682
    Lost In The Woods

    Lost In The Woods 4 out of the 5 voices in my head say go for it!

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    An unusually high amount of pinstriping.

    Most of the radio guys I know are in agreement to keep it long, but I have a few friends that have cut them to length and haven’t had any problems. I personally leave it long but mainly because that’s what I learned years ago. If you do keep it long very loosely coil it and put it out of the way.
     
    helix66[QUOTED] and HisDad like this.
  3. Aug 21, 2020 at 4:32 AM
    #1683
    adk_tacoma

    adk_tacoma Well-Known Member

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    IIRC you want to keep co-axe runs in lengths that are multiples of 3ft because thats the wavelength.
     
  4. Aug 21, 2020 at 5:31 AM
    #1684
    JasonT87

    JasonT87 Well-Known Member

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    Total Chaos mid-travel front. JD Fab SUA rear.
    Mounted an Icom F5021 under the driver seat. Had to move some of the factory cable aside to mount the bracket to the seat frame. Has plenty of room as to not interfere with any moving parts (seat slider, floor vent, etc).

    Coax is wired to MESO 3rd brake light with NMO. Current plan is to run power cable through driver dash grommet to the battery.

    Mic is quite long so that it plugs directly to radio and mounts on EE TPAM.

    8CCDAC96-E55A-4D96-8DFD-A10B8FA09B0F.jpg


    8CB44878-90FE-4E53-B49F-78F3A0D59692.jpg
     
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  5. Aug 21, 2020 at 6:15 AM
    #1685
    Zulu Bravo

    Zulu Bravo Active Member

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    Here are a few pictures of my radio installation, FTM 400 along with an XPR 5550

    762F016A-D7E6-415A-9B2D-6A71C23EE266.jpg
    8D1F811A-1C33-42C3-B05D-52A3931C0C95.jpg
    8FB0D8AE-B85A-417E-B60D-B68C3F629B7E.jpg
    38EFB57F-216B-4C7E-9CA3-6BE6EA3AE3FD.jpg
    0FC9E344-0D1E-4CEB-9C26-2585E3450E08.jpg
     
  6. Aug 21, 2020 at 6:24 AM
    #1686
    muffyinva

    muffyinva Well-Known Member

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    Is this the Comet fender mount that is actually for a Suburban or something?
     
  7. Aug 21, 2020 at 6:32 AM
    #1687
    Zulu Bravo

    Zulu Bravo Active Member

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    A few
  8. Aug 21, 2020 at 6:35 AM
    #1688
    muffyinva

    muffyinva Well-Known Member

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    Thanks!
     
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  9. Aug 23, 2020 at 7:01 PM
    #1689
    gnome

    gnome Member

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    Front Hidden winch, 33's, radio upgrade roof rack.
    just in installed my bearcat 880, not sure about clean and i still have to run the coax and tune it.
     
  10. Aug 29, 2020 at 4:59 PM
    #1690
    EagleUSMCRet

    EagleUSMCRet Well-Known Member

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    2017 MGM 4x4 Tacoma DC Limited
    ESR Magnetic Mount MAGSafe charger for iPhone; AVS Vent Visors; Replaced Entune system with Kenwood Excelon Head unit, The Taco Garage DMM for Qi charger, Owl Dash Cam and Motorola GMRS; LED interior light upgrades, ARE Z Cap w/ Yakima Rack, Front Bed Rail, Bed Rug, Tuffy Bed Lock Box, Add a leaf, Pop and Lock, Blendmount and mirror tap for radar detector, AVS Hoodflector, Redline Hood Gas Spring mod. A/C drain mod, X2 Power Premium 27M battery, Debadged the tailgate, Compustar remote start, USB charger for the rear seats, Husky Mats, Lexus Credit Card Transponder Fob, MAG Light mount, twin Hella Sharptone horns, Bedslide, Gasshole, Meso Fuze cover, TRD Gas cap cover, Passenger side locking door handle, Mr. Produxn license place mount, Total Chaos Bed Stiffeners, Valley Runner Tune....help me I can't stop!!!
    Finally, thanks for all the help and advice. 3477BDEA-3FC9-419E-B96D-2A470699D8B8.jpg

    installed the h/u under the passenger seat. had a local car audio guy help/ do most of the work.
     
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  11. Sep 15, 2020 at 8:47 AM
    #1691
    SigBoy

    SigBoy Well-Known Member

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    DFA94495-603E-42F7-B073-C039F6904EBD.jpg CA89DA06-9463-4F21-AFE8-109C89E2664E.jpg CC1CC37D-D034-4578-9B4B-093A987D7B45.jpg DBFCEB3B-B803-42E7-A1F3-E2B307B4D82B.jpg D3FA221B-8D97-4B21-A5D7-BF4A724ABFA9.jpg FB10E36A-3112-4B8D-AC97-EBEA79909E03.jpg 1665529A-B92E-43C3-B53D-6F179EC6F843.jpg

    No loss of rear seat use and safe operation were a couple of my goals on this install, as well as wanting a clean finished product.

    Major components:
    - DMM from TacoGarage.
    - 3” NMO Mount from Breedlove Mounts (part 504).
    - Horizontal Stacking System from Galls (3 unit).
    - DC/DC 12v 50A charger w/MPPT and dual input from Renogy.
    - LiFePo 40AH battery with Anderson connectors from Bioeno Power.
    - 15W external speakers from Bearcat (model BC15).
    - Rig Runner power distribution block from West Mountain Radio (model 4005).
    - Ferrite snap-on split beads from Palomar Engineering.
    - Ram Mounts.
    - 6 and 10 gauge zip cable sourced from Powerwerx.

    Information sources:
    - BlueSea.com for wire gauge data.
    - K0BG.com has extensive mounting considerations but mainly focused on HF.
    - Twice weekly YouTube Q&A with Dave Castler KE0OG.

    Lessons learned:
    - Check for roof support pillars before drilling NMO holes (use special NMO drill bit).
    - Use task specific tools such as large gauge crimpers, heat gun, and body panel tools.
    - Not all 6 gauge wire is the same physical size and stiffness.
    - It wasn’t worth the effort to take off the front fender to rivet the fuse holder from the other side.
    - Place the removed bolts and hardware in marked zip lock bags according to where they go.
    - 15W speakers are about the minimum power needed.
    - Taking the time to paint bare aluminum increased my satisfaction with the end result.
    - This will likely take at least 25 or 30 hours to complete.

    F8389982-4698-4FBF-8AD5-89B2B008D10A.jpg
    068030CF-52DF-4702-9665-E3832B52ED26.jpg
    89D4223B-F758-4EB5-80B7-BCDE68DE23A3.jpg
    5AE2DCCA-EEE5-45AF-8645-3AA26C01E40D.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Sep 15, 2020 at 9:02 AM
    #1692
    SigBoy

    SigBoy Well-Known Member

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    3rd gen solution
    5FF993C6-2FCD-4471-A75E-CE50609B41D6.jpg

    549F7F2F-0EAD-401B-9787-F5AD69A05908.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

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  13. Sep 15, 2020 at 11:16 AM
    #1693
    stu8319

    stu8319 Well-Known Member

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    The only thing that matters with wavelength is the antenna itself. The coax doesn't matter, it's just the feed line.
     
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  14. Sep 22, 2020 at 1:02 PM
    #1694
    savin yours

    savin yours Well-Known Member

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    I got a used IC 2370 and I want to remote mount the face. What kind of cable do I need to fun between the face and the box? I tried to search and couldn’t find anything.
     
  15. Sep 22, 2020 at 1:14 PM
    #1695
    vicali

    vicali Touch my camera through the fence

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    Icom part number OPC-1156. ~$30
    but any shielded Cat-6 cable should work.
     
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  16. Sep 22, 2020 at 1:21 PM
    #1696
    HisDad

    HisDad Well-Known Member

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    You will need a rj12 6 wire modular connector. The control head to main unit cable is 6 connectors. Rj14 or rj11 and not going to work for you.

    An 8 conductor cable will not work for the main unit. If you're going to run the microphone from the control head and need an extension a category 6 cable is you need for that.
     
  17. Sep 24, 2020 at 3:42 PM
    #1697
    savin yours

    savin yours Well-Known Member

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    Ok I’m confused. So Cat 6 cable, with rj12 connectors? That is for the face plate to the main unit? What about the mic cable? Sorry, I’m just not that clear on this.
     
  18. Sep 24, 2020 at 4:08 PM
    #1698
    savin yours

    savin yours Well-Known Member

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    Also, is this what I need? Or do I need to build one?
    C2G RJ11 Modem Cable for DSL Internet - Connects Phone Jack to Broadband DSL Modems for High Speed Data Transfer - 15ft Long with Double-Shielding to Reduce Interference - 28722 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000083JZ1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wzsBFbYYC0NAK
     
  19. Sep 24, 2020 at 4:39 PM
    #1699
    HisDad

    HisDad Well-Known Member

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    Forget about Cat6, that's for Networking (mostly). The connectors are eight pin. You'd use that for a microphone extension, not the main unit.

    This is the factory cable, https://www.ebay.com/itm/Icom-OPC-1...e-for-IC-2730A-ID-4100A-ID-5100A/112426661417

    It has six conductors. If you don't want to spend that much this will work,

    https://smile.amazon.com/uxcell-Tel...tronics&sprefix=rj12+,electronics,190&sr=1-24

    You are looking for a 6P6C cable with RJ12 connectors. 6P6C stands for 6 Position 6 Cable. Somewhat ironically, the microphone uses an RJ45 8P8C cable.

    RJ11 cables won't do it because they are either 4P2C or 4P4C.


     
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  20. Sep 24, 2020 at 8:01 PM
    #1700
    savin yours

    savin yours Well-Known Member

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    Thank you so much! So I need more length that the one you posted, i assume that this will work the same way?

    C2G 09600 RJ12 6P6C Straight Modular Cable, Silver (14 Feet, 4.26 Meters) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0002J1SUU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_10vBFb5Z4JYN4
     
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