OriginalToken
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2018
- Posts
- 180
- Reaction score
- 155
There are oh so many answers to these questions, and all of them, or none of them, may be right, depending on your needs and wants. Suggesting radios calls for more input. If anyone says “Yaesu is best” (or Kenwood, or Alinco, or Icom, etc, etc) without more input on “best for what” then they are just being a fanboi. All of the major brands make good radios, some may fit specific applications better than others.
So before a radio can be suggested, more information is needed.
-What bands are you interested in running?
-What features are on your “must have” list? For example, do you want dual band monitor, cross band repeat, weak signal modes, etc.
-Is a remote head a requirement, or is a fixed head acceptable?
-What power level do you want?
-Does your radio have to be MARS/CAP modifiable? And no, I do not want to get into a discussion on the legality of using such a radio on various frequencies, that is a different subject.
-And a dozen other questions.
What do you want to use the radio for? And just saying “to talk to other people” is useless, answer this with real information. Repeater operation, local simplex operation, talking with people in your off-road group on a trail, etc. The more complete you can answer this the better the suggestions can be.
In my case I currently (I have had other installations in the truck at other times) have two radios in my Raptor, I have a Kenwood TS-480SAT for HF and 6 meters, and I have a Yaesu FT8900R for 10/6/2/70cm. Both of these radios have remote heads. The remote head for the 480 is on the dashboard in Builtright dash mount, the remote head for 8900R is in the overhead, in the sunglasses holder.
The main bodies of both of these radios are under the rear seat. The following picture shows the general idea, but is actually a previous install in this truck, I have cleaned it up a bit since then, but no new pictures online.
These two radios require different kinds of comm lines run.
In the case of the 480 the remote head and the microphone are two separate lines from the radio. I run both of these lines on the drivers side from the radio, under the carpet and door sill / kick plate, to under the dashboard and into the center stack. The control head wire goes up the center stack behind the entertainment system, up to the top of the dash and under the Built Right mount.
The microphone for the 480 runs the same path, but after it enters the center stack it comes back to the center console, and is stored inside the center console. This shows both mics in the console, left mic is for the 480, right mic is for the 8900R. This also shows a Uniden BCD536HP scanner that is installed, but I have not discussed yet.
The FT8900R uses a single control line out of the radio, to the control head, and then the microphone plugs into the control head. So, from the radio under the back seat a single control line goes under the carpet, forward under the passenger side door sill / kick plates, up the passenger A pillar (behind the airbag there so as not to interfere), over the headliner to the overhead console, into the sunglasses holder. The control cable plugs into the 8900R remote head there. The microphone cable plugs into the 8900R remote head in the sunglasses holder, over the headliner to the A pillar, down the A pillar, across the back of the dash to the center stack, and back along to the center console.
This is what the center overhead looks like, however this is a different radio in this picture, a Yaesu FT7900R.
Running the antennas for this setup was pretty easy, remember the radios are under the rear seat. Behind the rear seats, on both sides, on the vertical cab wall (facing the front of the bed) and behind the carpet, are pressure release vents. These are there so you don’t pop your ears when you slam the doors while setting inside. If you are careful and select the right coax/connector combos you can run the coax out these vents with no modifications required. Don’t damage the vent seals and use external rain loops and you should not have water intrusion issues.
My antennas are mounted in the bed and on a light bar. I chose this so that I could use the power up/down feature of the light bar to lay down the antennas, for example to enter parking garages or drive through. One of the Aux switches drive the antennas down, another drives them back up.
Antennas up:
Antennas down:
The big antenna on the back is an HF antenna, and is not on a lay-down, but the whip is on quick disconnect, it takes less than 10 seconds to step out, unhook the antenna, lay it in the bed, and get back in the truck.
The HF antenna mount is another Built Right product holding the factory Tarheel 75A mount.
T!
