INSTALLING AMATEUR AND CB RADIOS IN 2016 TACOMA

Relentless Fabrication Company "Ditch Light Mounts", equally good for radio antenna mounts.
Note the small vertical plastic rise; at the bottom of the sloping plastic surface below the window, inside the engine compartment. Some of this will be cut away on the other side of the hood, in a photo below. It is not necessary on this side.
Drivers side.

 

Make sure the ID of the hole is large enough to not touch the post of the antenna. I had to drill mine out a bit as the hole is designed for a light. Also, you will have to use the FireRing cable from FrieStik as the standard connection will not clear the hood.

 

Front Passengers Side.

 

Hood Closed Drivers Side.

 

Hood Closed Passengers Side. On this side only; you will have to remove some of that plastic rise where the mounting goes into the engine compartment, to clear the mounting on this side when the hood closes.
You can clearly see the small vertical plastic rise, at the top of that sloping plastic beside the mounting, where the mounting will go through it.

 

You will have to cut a little off the vertical top rim, on the passengers side, at the left (looking inside the hood) to let the mount close correctly.
I did it with a small saw; over from the left side (Fender side) of the cut you see below, and then downward to finish. A better photo of the cut is below this photo.

 

A closer view of the cut; on the left side, inside the hood.
It is not necessary to do this on the drivers side.
See the large bolt on the far left side of the photo?
This is where the Grounding Strap will go in a later photo.
Use it, and one of the bolts on the black Antenna Mount, and you will not have to drill holes to ground the hood. (Post #11)

 

Drivers side mount. The soft rubber on this side makes it unnecessary to cut the vertical rise on this side to let the mount pass through.

 

Yes, sir.

 

Outside view, both antennas mounted. Drivers side is CB antenna, Passengers side is Amateur Radio antenna. Why not a Firestick model? Because; while California public garages are legally mandated to be 7 feet plus, not all of them are, they have waivers. This antenna will bend; Firestick, even on a spring, will be damaged at the top. Not as good as a Firestick, but close enough. I did use the Firestick FireRing connector and cable for the antenna connector to the CB antenna. It allows hood clearance.

 

The Amateur side Antenna wiring; another reason to relieve that plastic lip, at the top left, inside the hood by cutting it. The antenna wire will not be continually crushed by closing the hood, or by hood flexing. The thicker hose is the windshield washer hose, the thin wire is the antenna wire. notice it is kept to the side of the mount (Taped it to the upper side of the mount to hold it in place).

The wide Grounding Strap you see in this photo:
Your vehicle hood is not always well grounded to the vehicle body by the metal hood hinges. Hood hinges, and hoods, are often coated, or greased, with coating that is not electrically conductive (Not grounded).
As are body parts, and the Antenna Mounts you have installed.
I had to scrape off coating and paint on bolts, antenna mount, and the body (on the left where the bolt goes through it), to get good grounding.
If you have a good grounded hood, it helps prevent engine electrical noise from escaping. Modern engines are terrible for engine electrical noise, grounding the hood to the body helps prevent some of that interference to your radios.
Grounding straps like this are available from Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) on the web. "Grounding", "Grounding Straps", "Ground Straps".
This is a "235-5X-1" ground strap in the HRO catalog. I did cut it on both ends; and soldered larger connectors on it to fit the available bolt holes, on mount and vehicle body.
You can do the same thing with large enough wire with connectors on it; around 10 gauge should be good enough for a good solid grounding.

 

Here is the Drivers side CB Radio antenna wire; high, and as far away from the engine as possible, to cut down engine electrical noise as much as possible.
You don't have to cut anything; it fits through and under the rubber you see on the right.

 

If you can avoid doing it, do not cut into the rubber boot your engine wiring comes through (on the right side of your engine compartment as you look into the engine compartment from the front) for antenna cables.
Only the main DC Power wire for your radio gear should be run through there. Having any stray RF (Radio Frequency Energy) near that boot entry cable is shaky for the below reasons.
Better is bringing your antenna wires across the top, and then down into the air conditioner drain hose outlet.
(Looking into the engine compartment from the front; it is left, near the bottom of the firewall)
Another reason we are grounding everything in this installation; to prevent stray RF.
Toyota only rates their vehicles for 100 watts max (Except first responders, and those vehicles have very well shielded electronics and airbags.); a very high power RF (Radio Frequency) signal near the cable carrying your truck's electronics signals might be very shaky.
In third generation Tacoma's your brakes and throttle are electrically, not mechanically, connected. Your engine control computer also will not like high power RF near it.
See below post #25 for references.

I would never use a high power CB linear amplifier in any modern vehicle for that reason. As a Amateur Radio operator; I wouldn't use a linear on CB anyway, even at 100 watts output.
Information is in later posts, and also in my thread:
USING LINEAR AMPS IN MODERN VEHICLES

The air conditioner drain hose easily pulls out from the inside of the truck cab, and is flexible enough to take several wires passed beside it (As shown in the photo).
The thin wire is the Amateur Radio antenna wire, the thick is the CB Radio antenna wire.
When all of your wires are run through the drain hole, simply push the hose back in place.



.

 

Inside view, thin wire is Amateur Radio antenna wire, thick is CB Radio antenna wire.
My power will come through that boot I told you not to cut into; but that is pure DC for power and not Radio Frequency energy (RF); and in the next few pictures I will show you how to make sure it is pure DC, without RF on it. (RF is Radio Frequency Energy)

 

Inside. The Amateur Radio is mounted on the center tunnel; the CB is mounted behind it, inside the former center front cup holders. I have no use for 17 cup holders in a truck that has five seats in it; and since the area for the so-called "wireless cell phone charger" turned out to totally worthless (It wouldn't charge my phone), the back of the radio takes that space up.
Note the grounding straps to both CB and Amateur Radio strapped to the front seat bolt. You will have to sandpaper off the mounting bolt area, and the bolt, to make sure you have good grounds; mounting bolts in this truck are coated with non-conductive paint.
The small round thing on the wire coming from the top of the Amateur radio set is called a "Choke", and stops RF from flowing back and forth along that wire (In this case to the Amateur Radio Remote Control head in the next photo).
Using Chokes on your wire helps to cut down much of the electrical noise in a modern vehicle. You will also see them on every red (hot side) power wire when you see the interior power box. You can buy a box of different sizes of chokes on Amazon very cheaply. Everything is also tucked up under the plastic center console tunnel to keep the installation neat.
Update: I did install a small speaker in the cup holder, below the CB Radio, near the drivers side, as a remote speaker for the Kenwood Amateur Radio. The speaker you see on the side of the radio was too small, and facing the wrong way, for good audio out of the Amateur radio set.
Speaker fits perfectly wedged below the CB radio in the cup holder, facing upward. Speaker is "

$20 Uniden BC7 Bearcat 7-Watt External Communications Speaker. Durable Rugged Design, Perfect for Amplifying Uniden Scanners, CB Radios, and Other Communications Receivers.,Black

Uniden BC7" 7 watt speaker; the audio is much better.

 

The control head for the Amateur radio. Not much room for radios in any modern Vehicle, you have to improvise a lot.

It is a two sided radio(2 separate channels can be monitored at the same time), and has a scanner function also, so I can be scanning for available towers on one side while monitoring a primary frequency on the other.

Since I am in the desert, and the Pacific Crest Hiking Trail runs through here, I do ARRL Wilderness Protocol monitoring here full time on 146.520 channel.
Cell phones are worthless in these hills, Wilderness Protocol works. There is always a tower in reach somewhere in the LA County area, and around it.

This radio can also listen on other frequencies outside the amateur bands, but cannot transmit on them.

Among other frequencies, I primarily monitor Federal and State wildfire fighting frequencies. This area is now fire country year round due to drought; and two wildfires have already come too close to where I live.

The thing to the left of the control head is the remote control head for a "Valentine One" Radar/Laser detector. Mike Valentine, who makes it, designed some of the Electronic Warfare Equipment used in my former job, and I trust his equipment.

If passing through a state that does not allow radar detectors, I simply remove it and the actual radar detector and put them away; leaving the wiring in place.
Update February 26 2018, newer installation of control head is in photos 28 and 29.

 

Another view of the interior arrangement. Amateur Radio Mike is mounted on the dash (Yes that is a phone pad on it); the CB radio mike is mounted to the side of the transmission tunnel, at the bottom left of the photo.
The thing taking over the output of my Dash Cigarette Lighter is power for the Valentine One Radar/Laser Detector, and it's control head. Notice I mark all power outputs.
Update February 26, 2018, newer control head mounting is in photos 28 and 29.

 

This power box is a "MFJ-1104" which is the equivalent of the "Rigrunner Power Distribution Panel" Model 4004U (The Rigrunner has 1 more outlet, info below). DC Power from the truck's battery comes into this panel at the bottom connector through Anderson Powerpole connectors (Info also below) on the box and wire. 30 amp fuse used on the input is a standard automobile fuse.
All lines are fused, and the line coming in from the truck battery is also fused at the truck battery (40 Amp fuse, also a standard automobile fuse).
All the red wires to and from this MFJ-1104 Power Panel have Chokes on them to block RF Energy from traveling to and from the truck battery along that path (The DC power wire going out next to the wire bundle on the drivers side of the truck firewall).
These Chokes are larger sized than the small one used for the control voltages from the top of the Amateur radio set to the control head on top of the dash.
You do not want RF (Radio Frequency Energy) flowing along any power wire, just DC power.
There is also a Choke, inside the engine compartment, at the firewall, where primary DC Power wire comes into the cab of the truck. That choke is large enough to cover both the hot (Red) and common (Black) wires.
Another large choke is at the back of the CB Radio; again installed over both hot and common wires where they go into the back of the radio.
There is no engine noise on the CB with the CB radio's Automatic Noise Limiter (ANL), and the radios Noise Blanker (NB), off.
Worth the effort of installing all the Chokes, in all those places.
Power entry is 30 amps in at the bottom wire you see on the box, fused on the box.
Power for the Amateur set is above that wire, fused on the output; and the CB radio set (top wire, 10 Amp fuse, standard auto fuse) is also fused on the box output. On the two Amateur radio power wires are 20 Amp fuses (supplied by Kenwood with the radio), also standard auto fuses as shown in the photos.
On this MFJ-1104 power panel, and on the Rigrunner 4004U power panel; if a fuse goes out, a small LED light at each connector entry point will light to indicate what fuse is blown.
"Anderson Powerpole Connectors" are on all the wires entering from the front of the power box in the photo.
Powerpole connectors are quick disconnect, and widely used by Amateur Radio Operators. The crimping tool used to install Powerpole connectors is available from "West Mountain Radio", and from other sources mentioned below.
Rigrunner Power Distribution Panels are available in various sizes ( 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 12 fused outlets) from "Ham Radio Outlet" (HRO), "West Mountain Radio", and "MFJ Industries". This panel is available from MFJ as their own panel.
Having your power box inside the cab of the truck, instead of in the electrical noise filled engine compartment, saves you having to put chokes on multiple power lines coming into the truck cab individually.

 

Things to do with the third cup holder in the front, since there are 2 more in each door. Thanks for the 17 cup holders Toyota .
This is called a "Car Power Adopter" from "CH Geek" and fits in a cup holder. It gives you two more Cigarette lighter adopters (In a previous photo you will see I used the regular dash lighter outlet to power the Valentine radar/laser detector and its remote head).
Looking closely around the edges of the cup, you will see I had to put a little padding around it to make a tighter fit.
Both of these lighter outlets are good for the same power output as the regular lighter fixture.
Power for this Car Power Adopter comes from that extra lighter outlet you have in the front inside of the center console in the Toyota truck.
There are also two USB Charger ports below the two lighter adopter sockets (The two buttons above the USB ports control the lighter outlets power).
The black rectangle in the center of this gives Battery voltage readout normally; and if any phones are charging in the USB charging ports, it also gives the phones charge rate.

 

First, you did a really nice job with your mountings. And I would have been OK with the antenna locations if it had just been a CB -- legally, you can't run but 5 Watts. But the Kenwood dual-bander can probably run 50. Since your antennas are omnidirectional, a chunk of the transmitted RF energy will be hitting you right in the face. A great reference for vehicle installations for amateur radios (which is also mostly applicable to CB) is Alan Applegate's website. There you'll find that the dinky snap-on ferrite bead you're using on the Kenwood's coax won't do much good, but, at least at UHF and VHF, it probably isn't doing any harm, either. A better location would have been on the engine side of the firewall, to block common mode current BEFORE it gets inside the compartment with the radios.

Someday, if it ever warms up and quits raining, I'll finish my ham installations in the Tacoma, and I'll be sure to post pictures. Until then, 73!

John DE K5JY