Mobile 2-way Radio Installation

Just picked up my (and my Wife's) Amazon Green RTS last night. Gotta say it is an awesome truck! I have a fellow employee here at work that bought a loaded F-350 and loves it, Die Hard Ford fan. But he made the comment to me after seeing the RL, boy the RL would have been a much better truck for him. :rolleyes:

I would be interested to see how many others may have mounted any 2-way radio equipment. I have a Motorola CDM-1250 mobile radio and a Kenwood 2m/70cm mobile radio to install. I am considering something in the slide out console area, but would like to make it somewhat finished off rather than it being all opened.

I have been lurking on this site for several months and have gotten a wealth of information on the truck. It was fun when I was picking it up from the dealer to explain to them how some of the stuff worked... :)

Thanks in advance for the replies!

I have not a clue about the radio question but did want to say congrats and welcome.

Welcome!
I gotta admit I know nothing about radio's. Last week I saw picutres of another new owner with an antenna on his hood on the link below. May want to read about his radios and maybe pm him about his install.

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=54162#post54162

Here are a couple of Pics that may be what you had in mind. The antenna is mounted on a Retrax bed cover.

Here are a couple of Pics that may be what you had in mind. The antenna is mounted on a Retrax bed cover.

Ultra-HOG, I like the install, that is exactly what I am looking at doing. Just wondering how you get the scanner setup like that.

Also, how did you snake the antenna coax. Looks like a nice clean install on the cover. Unfortunately I don't have a cover on the bed, so I am thinking of the bracket on the fender (similar to the installation mentioned in the previous posts), but would prefer to do something like you did behind the cab, that looks nice .

I really want to keep it looking as clean as possible, but yet functional. Once I get the radios/antennas installed, I will post some pics.

Thanks again for the replies! :)

A simple bracket mounted under the tie-down cleat ought to do the trick. I snaked and fished the coax through the bed wall, down between the outer fender and the bed wall, down to the rear door rocker panel/sill, under the carpet to the console. If you remove the bed rail protector (one screw under a cap at the top rear), you can see down into the cavern between the bed wall and the fender. I had to drill one hole under the rear door sill for the coax. If I had more time and patience I think that I could have fished it without drilling the hole. The scanner fits nicely inside the console and remains hidden under the cover. It is only visible when the console is fully forward. The scanner is supported by the console dividers and a little bit of black foam rubber. I have an external speaker mounted in the pocket of the front console. I also have an old one-hander CB connected via a splitter. That radio is under the seat. I have not used it yet but it is there for emergencies, helping to give directions to lost motor-homes (very common here during PSU home games), and when I travel with motorcycles as a support vehicle for events. Sometimes my wife follows me when I ride for specific events and my bike has a CB as part of it's radio/intercom system. Comes in handy sometimes. And, no, I don't have a "handle" :rolleyes: .

I keep a pair of FRS radios in the truck. One in the console with a 12 volt adapter plugged into the rear seat socket and the other in tray above the glove compartment.

A simple bracket mounted under the tie-down cleat ought to do the trick. I snaked and fished the coax through the bed wall, down between the outer fender and the bed wall, down to the rear door rocker panel/sill, under the carpet to the console. If you remove the bed rail protector (one screw under a cap at the top rear), you can see down into the cavern between the bed wall and the fender. I had to drill one hole under the rear door sill for the coax. If I had more time and patience I think that I could have fished it without drilling the hole. The scanner fits nicely inside the console and remains hidden under the cover. It is only visible when the console is fully forward. The scanner is supported by the console dividers and a little bit of black foam rubber. I have an external speaker mounted in the pocket of the front console. I also have an old one-hander CB connected via a splitter. That radio is under the seat. I have not used it yet but it is there for emergencies, helping to give directions to lost motor-homes (very common here during PSU home games), and when I travel with motorcycles as a support vehicle for events. Sometimes my wife follows me when I ride for specific events and my bike has a CB as part of it's radio/intercom system. Comes in handy sometimes. And, no, I don't have a "handle" :rolleyes: .


UH-

Great response. Do you have any pics that you could share? Especially looking for pics of the antenna mount and the speaker in the front console. I bought Dear Hubby a Yaesu FT8900R 10/2/6/70 CM Mobile Tranceiver. He is anxious to install it. I bought the same for son and he is getting his installed tomorrow in his 01 Accord by the folks that do all of the police cruisers around here.

Thanks - Smoky

Thanks for the info! I am going to look at what can be done with the tie down and possibly fabricate a bracket to use. I love the forums on this site, they are great and very informative. I wealth of information here!

I will post pics of what I do for the installation for both the radios and antenna.

Thanks again.

Hope this is helpfull:

Here are some pics of the install my son did on my RL last month.

The radio is a Motorola Astro Digital with the W3 head, this head includes all controls and information on the mic. This is a speacial head for this radio but works great thus allowing the main radio body to be mounted under the passenger seat. ( out of site and clean )

The antenna is a lip mount type that he mounted to the rear roof cap that holds the centre brake light. it is close enought to the metal roof that the SWR is not too bad. I can hit the local repeters very well with it.

He fed the coax down underneath the roof cap to the right side and then down in behind the rear window trim, we then removed the box liner at the back of the cab and feed the wire behind it to a rubber gromet where we poked a hole and feed the wire into the cab area. Had to remove the rear seat on the passenger side to get the coax, then feed it throught the rocker panel channel to the front seat under the carpet to the radio.

The power was taken directly from the battery ( fused of course) throught a gromet above the drivers floor across the rear of the dash under the carpet to the radio under the seat.

Now just a little more info here. My son workes for the local communications company and they have the contract to do all of our Police vehicles, about 1500, so he is very comfortable tearing vehicles apart to install radio equipment. One thing he did say was that the Japanese vehicles are some of the hardest to work on as the construction quality is so good there is not much room to fidget stuff like wires and control bundles through.

Again I rest my case on why I havn't owned a big 3 vehicle for over 35 years.

Hope this helps ...

ALfer

ALfer

Alfer, Beautiful snow in the background!:)

Alfer, nice radio and control head, mine isn't anything fancy, just a plain ol' CDM1250. I was considering splitting the head on mine, but quickly check and it looks like it will fit in the console with enough room to still close it up and keep the radio covered. Now all I need is the time to install it.:rolleyes: Can't wait to get all the equipment in (my wife is happy to have it out of the CR-V).

Thanks again for the info.
:)

Here are a couple of pictures I grabbed quick today of the first antenna installation. The first picure shows the antenna protruding out of the bed, above the roof line.

The second and third are of the mount, one is a little closer than the other.

The mount consists of two pieces of flat metal, not sure the guage. I made it so that it come out from the tie down about 2", that way the antenna would clear the side of the bed/slope from roof.

Hope this helps anyone who is considering this. So far I have not had any problems with it, but may put an extra nut inbetween the two pieces of stock (the open area in the center of the tie down) to keep the two pieces of metal from compressing from the antenna movement and causing the mount to loosen up.

Also wanted to note, this is using an NMO style Motorola mount.

Looks GREAT !!

Good job !!

Thanks! Now I am just waiting on some parts for the radio and then I will be comencing the installation. Right now the antenna is not connected to anything in the cab:o .

CTRidgeline, good looking install on the brackets. I have looked at a few of these types of brackets on this site and I am considering installing another antenna or 2 for a scanner etc.

Just wondering if any body has seen a bracket that will hold an antenna fastened to the tie downs if you have a cover on the bed ? I am going to install the Torza Cover and did not want to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks ...

ALfer

I wonder what kind of SWR with antennas so close to metal?

I have a 1/4" aluminum 4" bolted on each upper tie down. It runs accross the bed. I have 2 antennas, but can put 10 if I wanted.

I have the radio mounted behind the back seat, and run speaker wire and cat5 to the front. When I get it finihsed I will post pictures.


73

AE6T

This is a great thread. I am a new owner and Ham Radio Operator and was wondering where to put the antennas.I was going to get a trailer hitch mount for the HF antenna.I didn't want to get a magnet mount for my VHF/UHF Radio.
I will Post Pics and comments when I install something. Tnx es 73

Andy,

Congrats! You may also want to check out this thread:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3539&page=6

Also, I have sent you a PM about your pet business.

Take care,

Smoky and Hubby KI4IVW 73's

...snip...
The power was taken directly from the battery ( fused of course) throught a gromet above the drivers floor across the rear of the dash under the carpet to the radio under the seat.
...ALfer

I used the grommet above the brake master cylinder:

Completed the upgrade of my mobile HF install in my RL this week. Works even better than it looks. Installed an SGC SG-500 linear (500-600 watt peak), auxiliary battery (Red Top Optima) and Rockford Fosgate 1 Farad Capacitor under the rear seat. It's all fed via 4 AWF flex (pos and neg) from the main battery to the aux battery both fused with 60 Amp Maxi fuses and fused again between the Optima and the 1 farad cap. The proper grounding and bonding alone took me a month to complete.

Here are some pics:
http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/IMG_0464a.JPG

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/IMG_0465a.JPG

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/IMG_0467a.JPG

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/IMG_0468a.JPG

By the way, in case you're wondering. It's all bolted to the floor for safety. Plus with the seats down, nothing is going anywhere. :)

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/IMG_0470a.JPG

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/truck5.jpg

http://w8nyy.olympuschess.com/truck/truck6.jpg

Here are a couple of Pics that may be what you had in mind. The antenna is mounted on a Retrax bed cover.



How did you run the wire???

Besides my own installation, the Photo Gallery on my web site has three Ridgeline installs. You also might want to read the Antenna Mounts article, and look at the bar mount made specifically for the Ridgeline by REP Designs (http://www.repdesign.us/).

Alan, KØBG
Welcome to KØBG's Web Site (http://www.k0bg.com)