NoCoFire
Member
I had some time over vacation and a warm garage to finally mount my ID 880 and a local agencies CM300. I wanted a clean look without too many (or any) wires showing, easy access to the radios, and easy access to the microphones.
I purchased two hood mounts from pro-fit. I am unable to mount antennas on my roof because my garage doors are 7’ and my truck is about 6.5’. The mounts are only for the driver’s side as stated on their website. However, the identical mounting location exists on the passenger side but the angle of the bracket is incorrect. If you were to mount your antenna on the passenger side with the drivers side mount it would tilt forward. The brackets are made out of stainless and therefore I had a chance to heat it, straighten it, and then bend it back the other way. I did that and it worked and remained strong. After buffing with a wire wheel it looks “factory”.
I contemplated purchasing a rig runner or a blue sea systems load distributers but I found them to be expensive compared to the cost of direct wiring. I know the rig runner has its benefits but these are the only two radios that I foresee using. Anderson Powerpoles are a nice concept but pricey. Both radios are protected at the battery with manufactured recommended fuses on both the positive and negative leads. Icom makes a nice 10ga harness that was included with the radio that has inline fuses and for the Mot I made a harness with 10ga waterproof/resistant fuse “capsules” from Powerwerx and then spliced it into 10ga thhn. The thhn is a little hard to work with and I should have used automotive grade 10ga but I have used this in the past and it is oil/water resistant. All splices are covered with heat shrink.
After making the wiring harness and zip tying everything together I cut through the firewall next to the master cylinder. This grommet was unused and provided direct access to the cab. There is a grommet located behind the battery that I planned on using but it was much too small for four 10ga wires and two rg58 coax leads. I completely wrapped the harness where it goes through the firewall to hopefully impede water from coming through but I will be keeping a close eye on that. As an afterthought I should have covered all the wires with wire loom, maybe next time.
On my F150 I did not want the center console that goes all the way to the dash because I am very tall and wanted the extra room and…. I had a feeling it would make an excellent radio location. I removed the radio, hvac control, and cigarette lighter fascia and then had access to remove the black plastic molding. Now I pulled out this molding and drilled two holes in the back, one side for power and one for antenna leads. After that I mounted the Icom factory bracket directly to the plastic piece leaving it far enough out so that the fan in the back of the radio would have space and all the wiring would have space. This also allows the radio to be tilted up so I can read it. The CM300 is mounted below the Icom as seen in the pictures. This project turned out better than I anticipated.
I purchased two hood mounts from pro-fit. I am unable to mount antennas on my roof because my garage doors are 7’ and my truck is about 6.5’. The mounts are only for the driver’s side as stated on their website. However, the identical mounting location exists on the passenger side but the angle of the bracket is incorrect. If you were to mount your antenna on the passenger side with the drivers side mount it would tilt forward. The brackets are made out of stainless and therefore I had a chance to heat it, straighten it, and then bend it back the other way. I did that and it worked and remained strong. After buffing with a wire wheel it looks “factory”.
I contemplated purchasing a rig runner or a blue sea systems load distributers but I found them to be expensive compared to the cost of direct wiring. I know the rig runner has its benefits but these are the only two radios that I foresee using. Anderson Powerpoles are a nice concept but pricey. Both radios are protected at the battery with manufactured recommended fuses on both the positive and negative leads. Icom makes a nice 10ga harness that was included with the radio that has inline fuses and for the Mot I made a harness with 10ga waterproof/resistant fuse “capsules” from Powerwerx and then spliced it into 10ga thhn. The thhn is a little hard to work with and I should have used automotive grade 10ga but I have used this in the past and it is oil/water resistant. All splices are covered with heat shrink.
After making the wiring harness and zip tying everything together I cut through the firewall next to the master cylinder. This grommet was unused and provided direct access to the cab. There is a grommet located behind the battery that I planned on using but it was much too small for four 10ga wires and two rg58 coax leads. I completely wrapped the harness where it goes through the firewall to hopefully impede water from coming through but I will be keeping a close eye on that. As an afterthought I should have covered all the wires with wire loom, maybe next time.
On my F150 I did not want the center console that goes all the way to the dash because I am very tall and wanted the extra room and…. I had a feeling it would make an excellent radio location. I removed the radio, hvac control, and cigarette lighter fascia and then had access to remove the black plastic molding. Now I pulled out this molding and drilled two holes in the back, one side for power and one for antenna leads. After that I mounted the Icom factory bracket directly to the plastic piece leaving it far enough out so that the fan in the back of the radio would have space and all the wiring would have space. This also allows the radio to be tilted up so I can read it. The CM300 is mounted below the Icom as seen in the pictures. This project turned out better than I anticipated.
