Friends;
I traded in my Honda Pilot (See http://forums.radioreference.com/pi...up/334899-temporary-update-n9jig-vehicle.html) after I got a few dozen hailstone dents while returning from a trip across the country.
Luckily there was no broken glass on my car but there were a dozen of so vehicles in the same hotel lot as mine that did. Imagine watching out the window of your hotel room 4 floors up watching baseball sized hailstones pounding on your year-old truck and not being able to do a darned thing about it except cry...
I had my eye on a larger truck anyway and had considered (and almost bought) an Expedition last year when I got the Pilot. This pushed me over the edge and I worked out a great deal.
So I got me a 2016 Ford Expedition Limited (2016 Ford Expedition | View Full Gallery of Photos | Ford.com) with the full Nav system. The center console also contains the gear shift so this kind of limits the mounting possibilities. I was thinking of removing the console itself and replacing it with a police style installation but I think that may not pass approval from the wife. I am not sure if these would fit my model anyway.
My current thoughts are to install 2 or 3 RH-96's with 996XT's as well as my Alinco DR-638. I would probably construct or purchase some sort of box to put in the rear cargo area. Since the spare tire and jack access is there I would have to allow it to be lifted to access this stuff. Alternately I could leave enough slack to allow it to be slide forward onto the top of the lowered right side seat.
I was also thinking of the same type box set on the floor between the 2nd and 3rd row seats on the passenger side. They are 60/40 rear seats and while this would preclude lowering the "40" seat I think I could live with that. Of course I would have to paint it to match the interior brownish beige color of the seats and carpet.
Antennas are going to be challenging. I have an installer friend who will install the NMO's but he thinks the moon roof might become an issue and limit me to 2 antennas. I would prefer 4 but could live with 3. 2 would mean only 1 scanner or using a multicoupler. Again, I could live with that but would prefer to have separate antennas for each scanner. It would however look a lot better with only 2 antennas so the wife is pushing for just 2.
As for power I am thinking of having the installer run 3 wires from under the hood to the rear cargo area, Ground, Battery and ignition relay Switched and terminating them with PowerPoles. I would then put a PowerPole block in the radio box. The RH-96's would be powered from a power lead run to the forward fusebox on a ignition switched port.
As for mounting the heads I think I can get 2 RH-96's between the gear shift and dash. There is a little rubber mat on a tray there, and I can remove that, mount a small block of wood in there and mount the RH-96's on the block.
For the Alinco I am thinking of cutting a wood piece to fit into the little cubby to the right of the Nav screen below the AC vent and mounting the head on that. With a little bit of a camber to it the block should fit right into the hole with a little compression to keep it steady.
If I think I can get away with it I might put a third RH-96 or a CDM1250 control head vertically alongside the right side of the console or perhaps use a cupholder mount. I think I can get along with just 2 scanners and the dual-bander but one never has enough radios.
As always any suggestions are welcomed. I have not made any hard and fast decisions yet and am still exploring options. I have plenty of time before I have to commit to something.
I wonder if anyone has replaced the console on an Expedition with a console gear shift using a Havis or Jotto style system.
I traded in my Honda Pilot (See http://forums.radioreference.com/pi...up/334899-temporary-update-n9jig-vehicle.html) after I got a few dozen hailstone dents while returning from a trip across the country.
Luckily there was no broken glass on my car but there were a dozen of so vehicles in the same hotel lot as mine that did. Imagine watching out the window of your hotel room 4 floors up watching baseball sized hailstones pounding on your year-old truck and not being able to do a darned thing about it except cry...
I had my eye on a larger truck anyway and had considered (and almost bought) an Expedition last year when I got the Pilot. This pushed me over the edge and I worked out a great deal.
So I got me a 2016 Ford Expedition Limited (2016 Ford Expedition | View Full Gallery of Photos | Ford.com) with the full Nav system. The center console also contains the gear shift so this kind of limits the mounting possibilities. I was thinking of removing the console itself and replacing it with a police style installation but I think that may not pass approval from the wife. I am not sure if these would fit my model anyway.
My current thoughts are to install 2 or 3 RH-96's with 996XT's as well as my Alinco DR-638. I would probably construct or purchase some sort of box to put in the rear cargo area. Since the spare tire and jack access is there I would have to allow it to be lifted to access this stuff. Alternately I could leave enough slack to allow it to be slide forward onto the top of the lowered right side seat.
I was also thinking of the same type box set on the floor between the 2nd and 3rd row seats on the passenger side. They are 60/40 rear seats and while this would preclude lowering the "40" seat I think I could live with that. Of course I would have to paint it to match the interior brownish beige color of the seats and carpet.
Antennas are going to be challenging. I have an installer friend who will install the NMO's but he thinks the moon roof might become an issue and limit me to 2 antennas. I would prefer 4 but could live with 3. 2 would mean only 1 scanner or using a multicoupler. Again, I could live with that but would prefer to have separate antennas for each scanner. It would however look a lot better with only 2 antennas so the wife is pushing for just 2.
As for power I am thinking of having the installer run 3 wires from under the hood to the rear cargo area, Ground, Battery and ignition relay Switched and terminating them with PowerPoles. I would then put a PowerPole block in the radio box. The RH-96's would be powered from a power lead run to the forward fusebox on a ignition switched port.
As for mounting the heads I think I can get 2 RH-96's between the gear shift and dash. There is a little rubber mat on a tray there, and I can remove that, mount a small block of wood in there and mount the RH-96's on the block.
For the Alinco I am thinking of cutting a wood piece to fit into the little cubby to the right of the Nav screen below the AC vent and mounting the head on that. With a little bit of a camber to it the block should fit right into the hole with a little compression to keep it steady.
If I think I can get away with it I might put a third RH-96 or a CDM1250 control head vertically alongside the right side of the console or perhaps use a cupholder mount. I think I can get along with just 2 scanners and the dual-bander but one never has enough radios.
As always any suggestions are welcomed. I have not made any hard and fast decisions yet and am still exploring options. I have plenty of time before I have to commit to something.
I wonder if anyone has replaced the console on an Expedition with a console gear shift using a Havis or Jotto style system.
