98 Ford F150 Home Made Console.

[Fury853]

This is my home made radio console for my 98 Ford F150. I started off with a bench seat in my truck. One day as I was looking at a junked f150 for parts I found a set of bucket seats and the center console. So started out with my radios mounted to it and I wasnt to crazy about the way it looked. So I went to home depo and got a sheet or ply wood and cut out the box. I started out covering my boxes in felt, untill I found out that tweed was what every one used for speaker boxes. While in search for the tweed, I found a thin area rug. This is when I came up with the idea to cover my console in that. On my console I have an Icom 706 HF/VHF rig, Yeasu 7100 M VHF/UHF, and a Kenwood TK-840 800mhz rig for the Alleghany County Fire and Rescue. One cool thing that I liked about my console is my mic connectors that I mounted in the console. I couldnt aford a fancy toggle switch panel so i made my own. Above the toggle switch panel you will find my grill and deck lights control. I wanted to place cup holders on my console and I couldnt figure out how. Till I found a cup holder thing im my shop and I cut it out to make it would. It turned out alot better than I thought it would. Behind the cup holder you will find my MFJ 901b turner. This compact tuner works great. Being as small as it is it really doesnt take up much space. The turner in mounted inside my console box. This is where I store my CDs as well as my portable/handhold radios. Im thinking about closing this in and mounting a scanner and my older Uniden Pro 520 CB. But thats up in the air for the time being. I run Hamsticks for my HF antennas, and NMO mount antennas for the Dual band, VHF, and 800 mhz. Well this is my console. Please look and let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy!


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978244979/" title="0905101934 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4978244979_082a679d0b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101934" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978246471/" title="0905101928 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/4978246471_e48ed4297c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101928" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978246253/" title="0905101937 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/4978246253_0e25bc9228.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101937" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978853850/" title="0905101932b by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/4978853850_a4ac23c13a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101932b" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978853640/" title="0905101931b by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/4978853640_278cde1446.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101931b" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978853376/" title="0905101929b by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/4978853376_5702123789.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101929b" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4978853162/" title="0905101929c by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4978853162_0dd8f3395f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0905101929c" /></a>

 

[KB0VWG]

Wow

Very Impressive, excellent job. I wish I could put something together like that but me wood dont get along . I will try to build a box and by the time i am thru it would like a triangle. Great Job
73s
Michael
kb0vwg

 

[n4yek]

Mic Jack....Nice touch!

 

[N2JDS]

Great job, home made is what ham is all about anyway. Anyone can go buy stuff, it takes a craftsman to build what you need. If I was forced to find something I'd change, I'd have built in a dual accessory 12v plug out the passenger side. And build an inverter outlet in also. Only because I always have a need for stuff like that. Great Job!

 

[N8DRC]

nice job

Hello
I liked to say that you did a very nice job on this, everything looks great job well done..Could we see some photos of the antennas? Thanks

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Wow, very nice!! That is an impressive setup.

 

[tglendye]

That's the best I've seen in a long time. I've saved this link so I can use it for ideas when the time comes. Good job!

Todd

 

[wdz]

Awesome! Very nice work!

 

[W2NJS]

Carpet sure beats the heck out of those flat black finishes. Very nice job.

 

[fischlerpromo]

Very Impressive!

 

[magicjellybeans]

Nice install

Great job ,ya should paint the screws gray to match ,you must be very handy to make such a setup!

 

[NCVFD1]

right lol

 

[Fury853]

Ok so I didnt get any antenna pictures. But I got bored and did some mods one my console. Before I was a ham I was a CBer. I had and still have a Galaxy DX959. On that rig I ran a Turner Road King Mic. My opinion this is about the best CB mic there is. So I wired it up an adapter to go from the Icom 706 Cat 5 8 pin connector to a 4 pin CB mic connector. This is what you see on the side of my console. The other pics is of in the console box. I wanted to pretty it up. So I add a divider behind the tuner. This gives me a space to place my handheld radios. Well I hope you like these pics. Im going to get antenna pics up soon!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4990100203/" title="0913101709 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/4990100203_6eac78a228.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0913101709" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4990100587/" title="0913101715 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/4990100587_bc338d283c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0913101715" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4990101133/" title="0914101232 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4990101133_3f5889ab50.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0914101232" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4990706494/" title="0914101233a by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/4990706494_c8021fd26e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0914101233a" /></a>

 

[Ky396t]

Thats a very nice job, very creative and and i bet theres not another one like it GERAT JOB!!

 

[torrescano]

that is realy nice.

 

[Fury853]

Ok so I got bored again! So I wanted to make headset set up for my 706. So I took some cat 5 cable and wired up some connetors and mounted in on my conole. Check in out! Im thinking about painting all the silver parts black. They are made out of Aluminum. So if any one has tips in painting that let me know!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4997297474/" title="0916101552a by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/4997297474_fb46ab2586.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0916101552a" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4996683883/" title="0916101555 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/4996683883_587c2c8bbe.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0916101555" /></a>

 

[NSWESP]

Ok so I got bored again! So I wanted to make headset set up for my 706. So I took some cat 5 cable and wired up some connetors and mounted in on my conole. Check in out! Im thinking about painting all the silver parts black. They are made out of Aluminum. So if any one has tips in painting that let me know!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4997297474/" title="0916101552a by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/4997297474_fb46ab2586.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0916101552a" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51623156@N08/4996683883/" title="0916101555 by john-fury, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/4996683883_587c2c8bbe.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="0916101555" /></a>

Headphones while driving? Is that legal where you live as i know down under its not.
Very nice install my only suggestion would be to go to one of the console manufacturers and buy one of their arm rests which would screw right onto the back of your console. However thats just me, i cant live without my armrest lol

 

[NoCoFire]

Black Vinyl Contact Paper??

Awesome set up,

Every time you get bored it just gets better!!

It has been a while since this was posted so I’m not sure if you painted the aluminum or not. Maybe if you scuffed the al up a bit with some #400 it would take paint better but I have not had much experience in that area. Another idea is to use black vinyl that has adhesive on one side (like contact paper) that way if you scratch it the vinyl may hold up better than paint.

Just a suggestion in response to your last post. Again awesome job!

-NoCoFire

 

[ncarpenter]

I would think the headphones idea is a good one as long as not being used while the vehicle is parked. Either way, nice install. I'm not a huge fan of carpet/fabric covered consoles, but you made it look good!

 

[OsloViking1975]

Nice