HHR install

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stevpiz

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here are some pictures of my Chevy HHR install, a very friendly RF car with battery in rear storage well below big removable storage tray with plenty of room for mounting radios, access panels on both sides of rear cargo area, top mount removable glovebox provides means for running cables thru dash, full length console for running cables front to back and long flat roof for antennas
 

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Grog

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Hands up how many people DO NOT have a GPS device in there vehicle?



I have an older one (no maps, etc) in my "oh hell" bag in the back of the truck.


On the HHR, talked to a guy who said it's not very good for tall people, have you had any issues with that?


long flat roof for antennas


Yet you used ham-grade hatch mounts?
 
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b7spectra

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On the HHR, talked to a guy who said it's not very good for tall people, have you had any issues with that?

When I sold cars, the HHR was definitely a tight fit for us people over 6' (7' if you are Herman Munster). Now the Scion xB (09) has lots of headroom!
 

KD4KNR

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Nice install...

What size coax coming off the radio? (Seems like RG-8 size, why that big??)
 

stevpiz

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I am 5'10 and have no problems in the HHR, the 2008 seat adjusts up and down maybe the old ones didnt, but if you are 6'4" you might have a problem. The scion may have more headroom but the HHR has more room then the PT cruiser, scion and element in the back, gets better gas mileage and the employee pricing was nice

yes I used diamond HAM hatch mounts (pricey at $73 each at HRO) in lieu of magmounts. on my old car I used mag mounts but didnt want to do that on a brand new one. if I had the roof rack I might have gone that route with a motorized mount, I used diamond foldover 7700NMO antennas and in one of them I used an antenna element from a wideband scanner antenna vs the dual band diamond element. I had RG58 cable so I used that for the scanner

the diamond antenna mounts use RG316 coax cables which make it easy to get in the hatch grommet and then transition to PL-259
 

SCPD

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Nicely done.

Hands up how many people DO NOT have a GPS device in there vehicle?
->both hands up

I don't! In rural areas GPS units are fairly worthless. Outside of big cities the maps are terrible, even for some of the larger towns (over 3,000 people). For large cities in California and Arizona I use Thomas Brothers guides, which have remained a good product in spite of Rand McNally purchasing the company a few years ago. Thomas Brothers guides have excellent street address indexes, ranges of address numbers on each street, and a freeway on/off ramp index that tells you if your on ramp begins in the right or left lane of a surface street. Once I have an address located on a map, I prefer to do my own route selection, instead of having a computer do it.

I've used software from two different companies for calculating trip mileage prior to taking a trip. Both drew routes that included both paved and unpaved roads that are not maintained in the winter, i.e., not plowed. They don't seem to factor in the slowness of driving mountain roads that are steep and curvy. Often a route that is 50-100 miles longer is quicker than the quickest route shown by the software. Sometimes the longer, flatter routes are more fuel efficient as well.

As for handheld units for use on dirt roads and in the backcountry, the maps provided with the proprietorial software that comes with these units is pretty poor. I purchased a handheld some years ago and found that in order to find your position on a paper USGS topo map I had to carry a 8 x 10 plastic template.

Until someone makes a handheld that will allow me to load in about 10-12, 7.5 minute USGS topographical maps, into the memory that is not proprietorial, I'm quite happy to use my map and compass skills to keep track of where I'm am. GPS units don't always work that well in mountainous terrain anyway, due to the topography blocking the signals of most of the satellites, except those that are almost directly overhead, which don't provide very good information for obvious reasons.

In remote locations putting all your navigational eggs in one basket, which rely on an electronic device, and batteries, is not such a wise idea. Map and compass skills should be solid before setting out on hikes or vehicle trips in remote areas.

If I lived in a big city my opinion of GPS units, especially if I traveled for business purposes, would probably be different. However, I'm not too confident about the route selection they make, due to my experience with route finding I outlined above, and hearing from friends who have experienced some interesting situations based on in-vehicle GPS routing.
 
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W9WSS

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TM-D700 Control Head Bracket "Foot"

I see you left the bracket "foot" intact on your TM-D700 control head. My installer bent off and removed the extra parts of the "feet" because we didn't need them. Leaving the bracket intact makes it look like it has web feet!
 
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