2005 Crown Victoria LX Sport setup

[MGOOSE2754]

This is my 2005 Ford Crown Victoria LX Sport install. I have two 996t's using two RH-96 remote heads. The 996t's are mounted in the trunk on a sliding radio tray I installed. The remote heads are mounted on the center console where the cupholders are located. I lost the use of the cupholders but this is the best spot I could find for ease of access to the controls and wire concealment. I later added an HP-1 which is mounted on the dash. A Uniden Pro-510 CB radio is mounted in a space meant for storage. The CB fit perfectly in this space. A GPS unit is on the right side of the console.

 

[FFPM571]

Nice, some black antennas woudl make it sharp. Even some low profile 800's too.. The tray is nice touch. Its made by Lund.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

I have an assortment of antennas, those in the pics are high gain but I do have some black quarterwave 800 mhz low profile antennas that I do use sometimes. The slide-out radio tray is made by Havis Inc.

 

[10FORE]

Are you having any issues with the antennae mounted so close to the front edge of the trunk lid? My antenna isn't have as long as the center one displayed and smacks pretty hard on the rear window when someone other than myself opens it. A quick fix was to just run the wire a little farther across the deck lid or depending on how long I keep the car, I may just drill out a hole mid way across the deck.

Nice set up in the trunk too. Did you get the car with that, I know quite a few former pd cars have them? Very clean set up in the passenger area as well. Attention to detail... I like it.

 

[gewecke]

Be careful where you park! :twisted:


n9zas

 

[MGOOSE2754]

All the antennae are low-profile NMO trunk-lip mounted, so I didn't have to drill any holes. The large center antenna I was using for the CB, and if you were not careful and opened the drunk all the way it would smack the roof with the end of the antenna rod. Nothing ever touches the rear window. I only put the CB antenna on when I go on long trips, so it stays stowed in the trunk until I need it. I got the car plain, then I installed everything you see here, including the slide-out tray. It was easy to install, and can be installed in any crown victoria, not just police package vehicles. This was not a former law enforcement vehicle.

 

[tprmutch]

Hi MGoose What didyou use to mount your uniden HP_1 to your dash and by the way nice set up thanks for the info.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

I screwed the stand to the dashboard trim using two self-tapping screws. Then I put velcro-mount tape on the back of the HP-1 and on the stand. It holds the HP-1 in place perfectly while allowing me to remove the HP-1 quickly.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Very nice set-up. Very neat and clean.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

Nice, some black antennas woudl make it sharp. Even some low profile 800's too.. The tray is nice touch. Its made by Lund.

I went with your suggestion and bought some black low profile antennas. I ditched the trunk-lip NMO mounts and went to NMO body mounts. I bought the special hole saw from Laird to drill the holes and it was very easy. I have three phantom-style 800 MHZ antennas on the trunk lid. I bought a firestik no ground-plane low profile body-mount CB antenna that is mounted in the center and looks like a cellular antenna. It's not bad for close range on CB band and it's small and not too gawdy looking like some CB antennas are. I moved the GPS antennas for the scanners to the inside on the rear window deck. They work fine back there and it eliminated the clutter on the outside of the car on the trunk lid.

I wired this setup with a master switch on the side on my center console that turns on/off the power for everything mounted in the trunk (scanners, GPS units, etc) so I dont have to worry about leaving stuff on.

I'm going to upgrade from 996t's to 996xt's but I'm having trouble updating the firmware on the remote heads. If you have the old firmware version on the remote heads and you get a newer 996XT, they wont communicate. I found instructions online but I'm still having difficulty. Can anyone help on this one?

 

[Skypilot007]

How do those low profile antennas perform mounted on the trunk? Have you compared them to a whip style or loaded type whip of any kind? I was considering trying one. I see the police around here mounting these the same way.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

They are pretty good on 800mhz....they're okay on UHF in the city, VHF is ok if you're close. If you're looking to monitor multiple bands I would not suggest one of these. I've tried several different antennas from whip to loaded, etc. I'd go with a wide band scanner antenna for muti-band reception. I've got 3 scanners in the car so i can dedicate one to 800 mhz and another to VHF and UHF and plug in different antennas accordingly. I monitor quite a bit of 800 MHZ so these work good for me. If i'm going to travel i will switch to a wide band antenna. Comtelco makes a good wide band scanner antenna that is black and had a center loading coil:

Comtelco All-Band Low-Profile Scanner Antenna

 

[62Truck]

Sharp looking install

 

[Rt169Radio]

Very nice!

 

[Gezelle007]

Drooling..

 

[Dann]

Very Nice Setup.

 

[newsphotog]

How steep does the signal drop off on that low-profile Firestik, distance-wise? I thought they had discontinued that model.

 

[Skypilot007]

They are pretty good on 800mhz....they're okay on UHF in the city, VHF is ok if you're close. If you're looking to monitor multiple bands I would not suggest one of these. I've tried several different antennas from whip to loaded, etc. I'd go with a wide band scanner antenna for muti-band reception. I've got 3 scanners in the car so i can dedicate one to 800 mhz and another to VHF and UHF and plug in different antennas accordingly. I monitor quite a bit of 800 MHZ so these work good for me. If i'm going to travel i will switch to a wide band antenna. Comtelco makes a good wide band scanner antenna that is black and had a center loading coil:

Comtelco All-Band Low-Profile Scanner Antenna

Thanks for the input. They're probably not for me performance wise but they do look nice.