One more photo, of the install straight-on:

I may attempt to trim the compartment door that I had removed to make a bezel that wraps around the bottom and sides of the radio, but can be opened. We'll see if I get that far or not. If I do I'll have to get creative with leaving room to get my fingers in to the top buttons.

Still to do, I need to figure out where I'm going to place the radio body (probably behind the back seat), how I'm going to power the radio body (probably install a relay off the battery controlled through either the ACC or IGN switched circuits), if I'm going to try for dual-battery (advantages in operating with the key off, but more to maintain, and if going with a newer chemistry might require a special charging device), and how I'm going to wire the separation and handmic cables (likely using flat ribbon "modular" cable from the radio body to this compartment for the separation, and from the radio body to a 6P6C "RJ12" socket I'll install on the dashboard for the handmic), along with the antenna wiring, but it should all be doable.


For someone that doesn't want to use their XM radio receiver, I think there's room up above the headliner for the radio body itself and that through-hole would make a nice place to mount an antenna, but for myself, I'm not aiming to get rid of the factory XM antenna. But it would be an option.

To be continued...

 

One more photo, of the install straight-on:
View attachment 386520

I may attempt to trim the compartment door that I had removed to make a bezel that wraps around the bottom and sides of the radio, but can be opened. We'll see if I get that far or not. If I do I'll have to get creative with leaving room to get my fingers in to the top buttons.

Still to do, I need to figure out where I'm going to place the radio body (probably behind the back seat), how I'm going to power the radio body (probably install a relay off the battery controlled through either the ACC or IGN switched circuits), if I'm going to try for dual-battery (advantages in operating with the key off, but more to maintain, and if going with a newer chemistry might require a special charging device), and how I'm going to wire the separation and handmic cables (likely using flat ribbon "modular" cable from the radio body to this compartment for the separation, and from the radio body to a 6P6C "RJ12" socket I'll install on the dashboard for the handmic), along with the antenna wiring, but it should all be doable.


For someone that doesn't want to use their XM radio receiver, I think there's room up above the headliner for the radio body itself and that through-hole would make a nice place to mount an antenna, but for myself, I'm not aiming to get rid of the factory XM antenna. But it would be an option.

To be continued...

Diggin the location and set-up.
The FTM-500 is a nice radio. Friend of mine owns same as a base. Sucker can reach out very well with his J pole.
I myself am looking at the FT-891 for more HF.

73

EDIT: Noticed the 'real' Impala in the back. 1996?? My father had the same maroon color back then. Accident had it totaled

 

Diggin the location and set-up.
The FTM-500 is a nice radio. Friend of mine owns same as a base. Sucker can reach out very well with his J pole.
I myself am looking at the FT-891 for more HF.

I briefly considered trying to mobile-install an FT-991A, but at over nine inches wide it wasn't going to be a quick or simple thing to place into the dash. Most likely if I do ever get one I'll end up putting it into the travel trailer after setting it up as a light-duty ham shack.

EDIT: Noticed the 'real' Impala in the back. 1996?? My father had the same maroon color back then. Accident had it totaled

It's a '95. I'm up to just a little under 43,000 miles on it if I am remembering correctly.

It's a blast to drive, but I think that the front suspension is going to need a rebuild soon due to aging rubber bushings.

 

I've looked at that spot for my Kenwood TM-D701 radio about 100 times. I have mine mounted under the dash and I've never liked it there. I may need to look at it again.

I have the radio body mounted under my Driver's side front seat (added an external speaker as well). I have a fire extinguisher mount that is bar stock across the front mounting brackets of the seat and I added a bar going under the seat to mount the body of the radio to. I think there are photos buried in my build thread somewhere. I also ran the Mic plug remotely to the side of the center console so I don't have to reach under the seat to plug in the mic.

 

I've looked at that spot for my Kenwood TM-D701 radio about 100 times. I have mine mounted under the dash and I've never liked it there. I may need to look at it again.

I have the radio body mounted under my Driver's side front seat (added an external speaker as well). I have a fire extinguisher mount that is bar stock across the front mounting brackets of the seat and I added a bar going under the seat to mount the body of the radio to. I think there are photos buried in my build thread somewhere. I also ran the Mic plug remotely to the side of the center console so I don't have to reach under the seat to plug in the mic.

I have an external speaker as well, I picked up a used Kenwood CB / HAM radio speaker in a box. I mounted my 8900's chassis under the passenger's seat, drilled and bolted the Yaesu mounting plate to the factory FR mounting bracket, then bolted both of them back to the floor. Worked out great, cut the carpet back a bit to leave room for airflow in the onboard cooling fan and Bob's your Uncle.

 

The more I look at it, Could you get some fabric that is similar to the headliner fabric and cover the inside of the area around the radio? I think the only thing throwing off the look is the plain smooth black plastic. if it matched the headliner, it might look legit.

 

I may just try to trim the old door itself to cover the open area forward and to the sides of the radio. Since the latch mechanism is mounted up high in the aft end of the compartment I might be able to make it work if I'm careful, even leaving room for accessing the top buttons.

 

That came out clean 👍 Do you have to remove the console in order to remove the sunglass holder? I'm like you, I live in the desert and I've never used it. I want to do something with it.

 

Yes. Once the console is down, there's a screw attaching it to the console, and then a dozen or so friction-fit clips around the perimeter of the sunglass compartment that are difficult to undo. Once the compartment and lid are removed from the console, then you can remove the quarter-turn gear cog that holds one side of the lid to the compartment, allowing you to slide the hinge over to take the lid out.

 

That radio is very fancy looking, I like it

 

Good to hold tacos though

 

But I thought it's a Fronty, not a Taco!

 

@RyanD1966 I never thought to go under the passenger seat. I looked at the RF Stuff and just went with the driver's seat. nice.

 

@TWX off-topic: How's the SS running? My neighbor used to have a '95 on nitrous, for it's size that thing was a beast up until the transmission went to 💩 and he got rid of it

 

Powertrain is just fine. I learned after my Chrysler not to screw around with a daily driver too much. Completely stock it's got enough get up and go that I haven't felt a need to do anything to the engine, transmission, or differential other than routine maintenance.

Suspension could use some attention and a couple of the window regulators are busted for what it's worth. Three of the four were broken when I bought it, I fixed the driver's but haven't ever gotten around to the passenger or rear behind the driver's.

I have a kit to rebalance the brake proportioning that some day I'll install. When the car was designed they used the same proportioning valve as the front-disc-rear-drum Caprices got, despite this being four-wheel-disc, and the rear brakes don't engage as hard as they ideally should.

 

Proposed electrical system addition:

Any feedback on what I've designed, so i avoid feedback on my radio if you catch my drift, would be much appreciated.

 

Challenge accepted...

 

That's a very clean install and a good idea for mounting location. I live in a cold enough area where you can use that spot for sunglasses - yet hardly any pair of glasses fits in the small holder they supply.

 

I used one of Kick ***'s wiring harnesses to wire in my second battery / DC/DC charger.

Wiring – KickAss Products USA

I used the three wire one so the ignition trigger wire was in the harness. Super stout wire, having the Anderson terminals already on is really nice.

 

Here you go (updated with missing fuse):

 

Here you go:
View attachment 386580

This is a good plan, but is missing one critical piece. The secondary battery should have a fuse at it's positive lead after the isolator and as close to the battery as possible, just as shown w/ the main battery; if the line from the primary or the battery isolator shorts out at the far end, the wiring will burn and possibly burn out your truck as well, you have to think about this as two separate sources of power / shorts / ignition sources, as the aux battery is not a "load", as we would commonly think of it, but a source as well.

I have a compressor mounted in my bed and under the hood is a fuse, right at the battery; for the feed to the bed, then at the bed is a marine-style 50a circuit breaker that feeds the compressor and the subfuse block which is right next to the breaker. That way, in the future, if I add a second battery in the bed, the circuit protection parts are already there and since the C/B is also a flag-syle manual disconnect, I can shut down all the equipment in the bed w/o having to unscrew the fuse under the hood.

Raine, nice job with the graphics. They look good.

Amazon.com

 

There’s a former build on here that did a similar install location for the radio head.

 

It may be impractical to wire the second battery to the winch connectors, as I may end up going with a smaller battery for just radios and placing it inside of the passenger compartment. I'll have to see what things cost and decide accordingly.

 

I see that as a potential issues, yes, but still fuse the second battery regardless of whatever else you end up doing. Safety of you and the truck is paramount.

 

It may be impractical to wire the second battery to the winch connectors, as I may end up going with a smaller battery for just radios and placing it inside of the passenger compartment. I'll have to see what things cost and decide accordingly.

Understood... I was going off the idea that one would add a secondary battery to take a lot of added load away the main battery (traditional reason for aux battery).
I wasn't thinking that you'd add a secondary battery just to power small accessories that the main battery can easily handle in addition to the regular vehicle functions

Oh absolutely. That's why I'm inclined to ask questions before proceeding.

The fuse on my winch setup is as close to the starter battery as I could put it. I've heard of vehicles with front mounted winches lacking fuses catching on fire in collisions, wanted to avoid that. It would make sense to place one as close to the positive terminal as can be achieved, and sized for the wire connecting to that terminal.

All questions are good questions.

SOP is to have a fuse nearest the power source as practically possible. However for certain high-current/high-load devices I like to have another fuse closer to the "output" as well - in this case, I put the Anderson circuit fuses near the Anderson plugs, due to the higher loads I was imagining (like a winch). That way if something happens with the equipment connected to the Anderson plug, it will help protect the bulk of the cabling back to the power source (does that make sense?)

 

@raine that is the reason I added a second battery to my truck. Fridge, bed lights, power point in the bed, Diesel heater are wired / run off the house battery. I'll eventually move the Ham and GMRS wiring to the house battery as well. I can run anything I want and never worry about the start battery being run down and the truck not cranking over.

 

An update...

For now I've decided not to do a dual-battery setup. I wanted to get the radio in. I was in the mood on Friday after working a bit on my wife's Jeep so I started...

Running 12AWG power cable and 8P8C Modular cable from the back to the front...

Yeah, I know, it needs a good vacuuming-out.


In the firewall I found a rubber grommet next to a major cable passthrough, I was able to remove it, drill a hole in it, and run the cabling through and into corrugated tubing.

Closing up the rear of the cab for now.

...to be continued.

 

...continuing.

Installing the 8P8C bulkhead-mount coupler in the former sunglasses holder:

And connected with the control head in place:

Positive battery connection with fuse (yes, the battery is filthy, it's due for replacement any day now):

Temporary bracket hanging down from the screw hole for the LATCH top tether and radio bracket attached to it:

I need to clean up the cables and dress everything out, it's just thrown it, it was 11:30pm or so when I got to this point.

At this time of night it was late, I haven't spoken to anyone on the radio yet. But it's alive and I was receiving strong signal from those few I picked up. Wasn't in the mood to butt-in to their conversations tired as I was.

I haven't yet chosen exactly where I want to install the 6P6C bulkhead coupler for the handmic cable. It can't stay on the radio head, and there is a jack on the radio body for it.

We'll see what I end up working on next.



Since this radio has the ability to pick 30 minute intervals for auto-power-off 30-60-90-120, and hour-increments up to 12 hours, I may not need a dual battery setup. I may be able to just do one hour or so and it will be good enough. We'll see. The battery is old and weak so once I've replaced it I can set a longer interval to see if it works how I want or not.

 

Nice job there... everything except:

View attachment 387591

...at least swap that out with one of these, for safety purposes:

I haven't yet chosen exactly where I want to install the 6P6C bulkhead coupler for the handmic cable. It can't stay on the radio head, and there is a jack on the radio body for it.

This is how I mounted mine (for my GMRS); although it's an RJ45, I don't see why one can't do something similar but with an RJ12:

 

Nice job there... everything except:


...at least swap that out with one of these, for safety purposes:
View attachment 387601



This is how I mounted mine (for my GMRS); although it's an RJ45, I don't see why one can't do something similar but with an RJ12:

Looking good so far, heartily agree with Raine, but it sounds like you already knew this wasn't ideal, so I guess maybe more for the electrical N00Bs that might hop in and read this thread.

 

The fuse I used was one I happened to have. I didn't have any holders on hand at 10pm or so when I got to that phase. Grabbing a pair of crimp-on terminals and some heatshrink was a quick improvisation but based on the work I've seen when I've disassembled decommissioned UPS units. Either way I'll look at it again when I have a chance.

The handmic is going closer to the center console because then I could hand it back to a passenger in the back seat.

I need to also revise how the antenna wire is done, I can't actually take off my camper shell at the moment because I screwed up and forgot to put a detachable coupling on the antenna cable.

 

I ran my mic plugs further up the console.

https://www.clubfrontier.org/threads/the-other-seans-build.237386/post-4079139

 

I finally had time to try operating on Saturday. Made my first QSO using this radio with another operator on a repeater around 18 miles away on my mid power setting, 25W, on the 70cm band.

I think I'm going to revise my memory configuration across all of the slots to mid-power, his signal report was basically perfect clarity. There are some other repeaters that are a bit further away, I may see how they perform with this power level. Did reconfigure the buttons on the handmic, P4 is now power level change and P1 is squelch toggle.

Admittedly the position of the radio control head makes it a little awkward to read the screen, I can't simply glance, but if I were to revise the mounting bracket location in the sunglass compartment I might be able to improve it. Not sure if I will try making changes or not, it may depend on if I find another ceiling console to work on.

 

 

That does depend on how the antenna is designed. For half-dipoles absolutely.

The Compactenna is basically a capacitance-hat antenna, so it behaves a little differently. Some using it have found that it works better when it's on a mount corner like on that diagram, or on the corner of the roof.

Due to how my canopy is acting as a poor man's radome it's probably less than truly idea, but it works well enough for basic communications in the area. My wife's half-dipole install on her Jeep Renegade is a little more effective but it's also a higher gain antenna design.

 

I personally have a Diamond Back cover on the bed of the truck. While I have not operated every band from the truck, the cover is an excellent ground plane for most antenna set-ups I have used thus far. I usually use an antenna analyzer to get the antenna as close to resonate as possible, and if need be, use an antenna tuner for the final tweaking. The Yaesu Atas antenna system seems to be a nice 'all around' antenna? I have not used one yet, but a few local club members love them.