My stepson is an avid off-roader and his new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is his pride and joy. He calls it a "Lego set for adults". He was looking for a GMRS radio for it, with the ability to use for ham ops when he gets his ticket. We chose the Anytone AT-5888UV-III, a 2m-440-220 rig that has Part 90 type approval so is good on GMRS. Another good feature is the speaker in the mic, it actually sounds good, better than other CCR's I have used. I have the older AT-5888UV (no 220) and really like it, so this was an obvious choice for his Jeep.
As is common with most vehicles these days interior space is limited so we bought the remote head kit, basically a bracket to hold the removable head. It is connected by CAT-5 cable. The radio itself was stashed up under the dash on the driver's side, pretty much the only place it would fit. This required some serious bodily contortionism and some admittedly janky bracketing but it is secure and out of the way of ventilation, steering columns and other stuff. It is also pretty immune from photographs, the ones I took don't show anything.
What we are most proud of is the remote head setup. We ran a Cat-5 patch cable from the radio up to a pass-thru mounted in a tray on the top of the dash, along with a USB pass-thru for the phone (for CarPlay) and a couple USB charger ports. The head was mounted to an accessory bar with a ball-mount. A short Cat-5 patch cord then connects the head to the port on the dash. We only had a blue short patch but have ordered a replacement black one.
For the antenna he bought an "S" bracket for an NMO mount. For now we are using a UHF 1/4 wave as he is only licensed for GMRS but when he gets his ham license we will replace it with a dual-band antenna.
We are happy with the results, it is easy to view, access and does not block the Nav screen.
Here is the antenna mount. He will likely paint it to match eventually.
Here is the remote head mounted to the accessory bar. There is also a mic hanger on the bar along with cellphone charger-mounts.
Here is the remote head mount and cable going to the pass-thru. The blue cable will be replaced by a black one with a right-angle plug when it arrives in a few days..
Now we can easily communicate when he is out Jeeping, and he can talk to other Jeeps out in the desert who use GMRS.
As is common with most vehicles these days interior space is limited so we bought the remote head kit, basically a bracket to hold the removable head. It is connected by CAT-5 cable. The radio itself was stashed up under the dash on the driver's side, pretty much the only place it would fit. This required some serious bodily contortionism and some admittedly janky bracketing but it is secure and out of the way of ventilation, steering columns and other stuff. It is also pretty immune from photographs, the ones I took don't show anything.
What we are most proud of is the remote head setup. We ran a Cat-5 patch cable from the radio up to a pass-thru mounted in a tray on the top of the dash, along with a USB pass-thru for the phone (for CarPlay) and a couple USB charger ports. The head was mounted to an accessory bar with a ball-mount. A short Cat-5 patch cord then connects the head to the port on the dash. We only had a blue short patch but have ordered a replacement black one.
For the antenna he bought an "S" bracket for an NMO mount. For now we are using a UHF 1/4 wave as he is only licensed for GMRS but when he gets his ham license we will replace it with a dual-band antenna.
We are happy with the results, it is easy to view, access and does not block the Nav screen.
Here is the antenna mount. He will likely paint it to match eventually.
Here is the remote head mounted to the accessory bar. There is also a mic hanger on the bar along with cellphone charger-mounts.
Here is the remote head mount and cable going to the pass-thru. The blue cable will be replaced by a black one with a right-angle plug when it arrives in a few days..
Now we can easily communicate when he is out Jeeping, and he can talk to other Jeeps out in the desert who use GMRS.
