Clean VHF/CB radio installs

are you worried intererence at all?

 

No, when I plan on using the Yaesu I won’t care about the radio. Haven’t any experience yet as it is a new install and I haven’t even programmed the Yaesu or tuned the antenna.

 

Audio is how ever the radio came with in default. I believe I am hearing the speaker in the radio head on the dash immediately above the radio, may also be hearing the base unit speaker, but it sounds fine to me. No external speaker.

I picked this location because I will, sooner or later be going in deep water and the only other location acceptable to me was under the front passenger seat. I know from experience with another vehicle the chance of that area becoming soaked is high.

 

Wow I think that is pretty sweet! Hopefully it won't get too hot in there. Also, I wonder if this will work in a 2019? I guess I'll have to pull the headunit to find out. I have an Icom 2730 which might be a touch wider and deeper, but a touch shorter. I assume you fabbed up the mounting hardware?

 

Mounting hardware was indeed custom and very roughly handmade utilizing the slide mounting slots on the Yaesu. Aluminum right-angle extrusions .125 thick were used with taking the .125 down in thickness at many places. Disassembly of the stock radio to a moderate degree was required. Nothing difficult. Just to note the radio uses M2.6 0.45 screws which I sourced from McMaster Carr. The regular Hardware store available M2.5 0.45 screws were too loose a fit for my liking.

I suspect you are correct in that not all Toyota radios use the same chassis, year-to-year and option-to-option. The mounting tabs did have various different mounting hole options that I assumed were for larger chassis radios. My suspicion is the older the radio the larger it is, electronics always seems to get smaller.

Now, as to your heat concerns - I too have that concern; only time will tell. The stock radio has an internal fan, as does the Yaesu; both fans are facing the same direction, this was coincidence not design. My use of the Yaesu will mostly be for vehicle-to-vehicle communications in a group, so no large power requirements, thus I hope no large heat generation. I initially mounted the Yaesu ~3/16" away from the radio but had to move it into contact with the radio to get the assembly back into the stock radio hole. Your ICON is 2MM thicker than the Yaesu, this is the only dimension that I can see being a problem.

I discovered this location as I had the glove compartment out for other projects, and I just happened to look up at the radio and saw a gaping hole for the Yaesu. Otherwise, the Yaesu would be under the passenger seat hanging from the seat springs.

 

I remember reading that M2.6 spec for my Icom head and thinking it was a typo in the manual. I didn’t even know that was a size, what’s the point? It does the same job as M2.5!

 

The M2.5 was a loose fit in the thin sheet metal designed for 2.6 AND where 2.6 were previously used. The original screw attachments were designed to fit two pieces of sheet metal together only, not hold the weight of an additional radio over a bouncing trail. It is a small difference, but one that felt very large to the touch. This is the physically weakest part of the installation; do not want it to fail.

 

No I understand that, I’m an engineer. I’m talking about the product designers at Icom choosing the M2.6 spec over something significantly more common like M2.5 or M3.

 

Ah, “more common” will depend upon where you are on the world. I also wondered about why the 2.6 and found it is a “Standard” in Japan, “JIC” was the acronym iirc and seemed to specifically refer to radios in this thread size. I maybe somewhat incorrect as I can’t find the info now. Might be interesting to look at the old Motorola radio screws when they were made here in the USA versus now.

Side note:
I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Europa and they have less metric pitches commonly available there than we have available here in the States. Example would be I only found 10 MM tap in M10-1.5 there. Here in the States we have M10-1.0 and 1.25 in use as well. At least I have all three taps sizes that I have used and procured here in the States. Hand taps there come in a set of three, each used to cut successively deeper threads. Makes it very easy to hand start the tap perpendicular to the material.

 

changed it up now , going with a wouxon kg1000g and FTM-500 now , I got the new comet GMRS antenna out back and doing the 2x4 on a diamond hood lip mount ….

 

New to the site with my recent Tacoma purchase. Have seen a lot of great installs/setups and figured I'd add a pic for others like me in the future.

Below pic is how I have the dash setup with my Kenwood TM-D710 along with the phone mirroring APRSdroid on the stock touchscreen via AndroidAuto. For those unfamiliar with APRS, radio gets gps coords, broadcasts it for others to locate (direction + distance) and see what freq each radio is on.

 

I separated the TM-D710G face plate's mount at its two screws and fabricated a bracket that allowed me to mount the unit to the front of the accessory mount in place of a ram ball. This required no appreciable modification to the part of the OEM Kenwood mount that I retained, so it can all be reassembled if I ever sell the radio.

The result is the face plate sits a little bit lower and closer to the occupants, which has cut down on the glare when driving during daytime, and I can still unclip the head unit from its mount when I want to remove it from the vehicle.

I have the mic clip down on the MOLLE panel on the right side of the center console but plan to move it up to where you have yours.

 

I'm curious if you have any pix to see how your faceplate looks in that location and what the bracket looks like as I've thought about possibly moving it lower as well. As for the mic location, that ended up being the best for me due to accessibility, the cable not blocking any air vents while also allowing me to view and use the touchscreen without anything in the way.

 

Closeup of bracket:

I simply took a couple of angle brackets, drilled the existing holes out to handle the screws, and bent them to an obtuse angle. Note the tool marks from the vise at the top of the left angle bracket. Smaller screws with flat washers, lock washers, and nuts were used to affix the angle brackets to the forward part of the Kenwood mount. Rivnuts would be better here.

Mounted:

It's worth noting there is no on-the-fly adjustability, but changing the vertical angle would just require another trip to the vise. With the face plate at the current angle, both my XYL and I have equal access to the radio. Also, you may notice my mount is by Victory 4x4 instead of the Expedition Essentials version everyone else has. That affects how the face plate is positioned.

Things may get moved around as needed if I add an HF rig or GMRS transceiver.

 

I've gotta get me one of those phone dash mount things. Which one are you using? I haven't seen one that pops up like that or has USB integrated into it.

Where phones are concerned, I'm an Apple Guy. I know. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
But I love the ability to tinker with the Android platform (basically Linux at the core) and there are faaar and above more apps for Android.

One of the Ham-Toobers I follow on Social is The Tech Prepper. He seems to be about 3 months ahead of where my interests lie. As soon as I start thinking "Hey wouldn't it be a good idea to...." then he has a video out on it the next day or week. So I was already in the market for an Android phone or tablet as a dedicated comms platform to drive digital communications when he started releasing his current set of videos about a mobile HT hooked into an Android with the new DigiRig Lite. I've got the DR-L on back order with an ETA of September. When it gets here I'd like to have a nice clean way of mounting the Android so that it can run the radio while I drive and instead of pushing data our through a 5w HT on a low efficiency whip antenna, I can use the full 40w radio in my truck with a 6dbi Diamond SG7500 antenna. I know someone will pop up and say "you don't need that much with digital" and you are right 90% of the time. Rolling around town I'd likely be overkill pushing the low power setting of 5w through that 6dbi antenna (440mhz). But when and if I need it out on a trail, miles away, then I'd like to have the ability to juice up the signal.

But as is the nature of this thread - I want to do it with a clean install that keeps it hands free and minimally clutters the space. I'll likely have three cell phones (my apple driving the CarPlay maps, my Android driving the radio and maybe some Bluetooth OBDII stuff, and the passenger phone) and a mic mount to contend with.

So what is the best dash rack for the accessories? What is the one in the pic above? Is there one to stay away from?

 

How are you mirroring APRSDroid onto the radio screen?

I've got a FTM-400 in my truck, and while it has APRS, the message capabilities aren't great. I usually use a Mobilink connected to the radio, and use either a PC, or an android phone for APRS messaging. It works well for hitting the space station too, but you gotta be quick with your messages! I'm usually using a different radio for that though. I have an Icom IC2730 for satellite work as it has full duplex.

 

Don't know if it's the best, but I'm using the Dashtop Multi Mount from the Taco Garage. Very happy with it, and the install was easy. I'm running a phone cradle, a Garmin ZumoXT sometimes, and can hang a portable radio off it too. I use a Moto APX600 for GMRS and P25 stuff once in awhile.

 

2nd Gen but Im stoked on how this Midland has been working out for me. Keep a few rocky talkies in the center console to hand out to plebs without comms.

 

Get the Expedition Essentials 3TPAM. It had been nearly $300, but it is currently on sale for $129. I got mine for $116 w/ vet discount. Your choice of USB-A or USB-C power. I opted for USB-C.

 

The Tacogarage mounts are great: