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Need help with 2000 Chevy 1500 Pickup Install

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squirrel911

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Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
162
Location
Estill Springs/Decherd/Winchester/Franklin County
Ok, So I just got a 2000 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 truck. It is a single cab stick shift. There isnt any room in it that I can tell to place all I need to in it. I was hoping someone has already done this. I will list below what all I want to put in it. Also I need all the radio I got programmed but I want to program them myself. Would anyone know how I could get cheap cables and programs to use? Thanks ahead of time.

1) iCom UHF Model # IC-F420-10 (Mobile) {Listen to Law Enforcemant}
2) Motorola Radius VHF Model# CM300 (Mobile) {Want to use for Rescue Squad I am On}
3) HYT VHF Model # TC-780 (Portable) {Rescue Squad Radio}
4) Kenwood UHF Model # TK-860G (Mobile) {Listen to other FDs}
5) Kenwood UHF Model # TK-880 (Mobile) {Want to use for FD I am on}
6) Maxon VHF Model # SM-4150 (Mobile) {Listen to other EMS}
7) 7 Switch Light Control Box
8) Code 3 Siren Box
9) Cobra CB

Now I do have a seat setup that I think the center seat can be removed but IDK. If so thought about trying to find or make a console,
 

Av8tor56

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
72
Location
Roswell, NM
First of all you can cut down the number of mobiles to 3. One VHF, one UHF, and the CB. The Kenwood TK-880 has 250 channels and can handle pretty much all the UHF traffic. I believe the CM-300 is a 32 channel and the Maxon is a 16 channel so I'd say either use the CM and limit yourself to that number of channels or get yourself a radio with more channels. You may be able to trade your TK-860G for a 760G that would give you a 128 channel VHF. Just make sure it's a (G) series.
I would say to get a Havis Shield or Jotto Desk console. They can be had fairly cheap and you should have room for everything inside of it. You may be able to pick one up at a city or county action. You will have to get some external speakers for the Kenwood and the CB as the internal speakers will be enclosed in the console.
Since you're going to have a siren box and a switch box. I assume you're also planning to have a lightbar? If that's the case you'll want to place your antennas as far away as possible. Depending on the model of the siren box you might be able to wire your lights to it and eliminate the switch box. You may consider mounting the antennas in the back corners of the cab. You can also get a cross band duplexer and a dual band VHF/UHF antenna to cut down your antennas to two.
I would also advise that you use a 200 amp relay such as a Stinger to power all of your lights and accessory equipment. It can be wired to activate with ignition or on a toggle switch to power the equipment with the ignition off.
As far as cables go; check eBay. You may be able to find cables that will work there. Software should be purchased from Kenwood and Motorola. Almost anything else you'll find may be pirated.
 

squirrel911

Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
162
Location
Estill Springs/Decherd/Winchester/Franklin County
First of all you can cut down the number of mobiles to 3. One VHF, one UHF, and the CB. The Kenwood TK-880 has 250 channels and can handle pretty much all the UHF traffic. I believe the CM-300 is a 32 channel and the Maxon is a 16 channel so I'd say either use the CM and limit yourself to that number of channels or get yourself a radio with more channels. You may be able to trade your TK-860G for a 760G that would give you a 128 channel VHF. Just make sure it's a (G) series.
I would say to get a Havis Shield or Jotto Desk console. They can be had fairly cheap and you should have room for everything inside of it. You may be able to pick one up at a city or county action. You will have to get some external speakers for the Kenwood and the CB as the internal speakers will be enclosed in the console.
Since you're going to have a siren box and a switch box. I assume you're also planning to have a lightbar? If that's the case you'll want to place your antennas as far away as possible. Depending on the model of the siren box you might be able to wire your lights to it and eliminate the switch box. You may consider mounting the antennas in the back corners of the cab. You can also get a cross band duplexer and a dual band VHF/UHF antenna to cut down your antennas to two.
I would also advise that you use a 200 amp relay such as a Stinger to power all of your lights and accessory equipment. It can be wired to activate with ignition or on a toggle switch to power the equipment with the ignition off.
As far as cables go; check eBay. You may be able to find cables that will work there. Software should be purchased from Kenwood and Motorola. Almost anything else you'll find may be pirated.

What about the iCom radio?

I really like having multiple radios. The rescue Squad I am on responds to all counties in Tennessee so I sure I will need the channels.

No, I wont be installing a Light Bar. All my lights will be undercover. I thought about getting a combo siren/switch box. Still looking.

How hard is it to build a custom consol? I thought about doing it but I aint that good with wood.
 

Av8tor56

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
72
Location
Roswell, NM
The ICom is only a 32 channel radio. It's also old enough that it's not "true" narrowband. It won't accept all of the Narrowband frequencies. It will also require DOS or a DOS emulator to run the programming software.
Quite frankly, I really think your best option is to get two really good radios (I'm partial to Kenwoods) and use them. If you have two high channel radios (you have one now, the 880) you should be able to cover nearly all the public safety channels. The only reason for having multiple radios on the same band will be if your truck is going to be a relay station or a command post.
Most states have dedicated, state-wide frequencies for SAR and interop. Also, in many states each county has dedicated repeaters for incident use. There's also the federal interoperability frequencies in both UHF and VHF.
You can add more radios but you're limited on roof space. With a regular cab you can fit three antennas and keep a reasonable amount of seperation. One in each back corner and on at the front of the cab. You want to keep about 18 to 24 inches separation between antennas. You can put one of your antennas on the fender but you'll want to avoid mounting to the bed rail. Just remember that any antenna mounted on the fender will be masking part of the time. You'll also run the risk of high reflected power so you'll probably want to get a no ground plane antenna if you're going to mount there.
As far as a console goes; on this forum there are a lot of people with the knowledge to give you advise on making a wooden console. Just don't ask me: my last attempt looked like modern art but I'm sure that there are people here willing to help you.
 

squirrel911

Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
162
Location
Estill Springs/Decherd/Winchester/Franklin County
The ICom is only a 32 channel radio. It's also old enough that it's not "true" narrowband. It won't accept all of the Narrowband frequencies. It will also require DOS or a DOS emulator to run the programming software.
Quite frankly, I really think your best option is to get two really good radios (I'm partial to Kenwoods) and use them. If you have two high channel radios (you have one now, the 880) you should be able to cover nearly all the public safety channels. The only reason for having multiple radios on the same band will be if your truck is going to be a relay station or a command post.
Most states have dedicated, state-wide frequencies for SAR and interop. Also, in many states each county has dedicated repeaters for incident use. There's also the federal interoperability frequencies in both UHF and VHF.
You can add more radios but you're limited on roof space. With a regular cab you can fit three antennas and keep a reasonable amount of seperation. One in each back corner and on at the front of the cab. You want to keep about 18 to 24 inches separation between antennas. You can put one of your antennas on the fender but you'll want to avoid mounting to the bed rail. Just remember that any antenna mounted on the fender will be masking part of the time. You'll also run the risk of high reflected power so you'll probably want to get a no ground plane antenna if you're going to mount there.
As far as a console goes; on this forum there are a lot of people with the knowledge to give you advise on making a wooden console. Just don't ask me: my last attempt looked like modern art but I'm sure that there are people here willing to help you.

My truck will be considered the command truck for the Rescue Squad. I am the Communication Officer for the Squad.

Atleast I need UHF, VHF, Lo-Band, Scanner, and a CB in the truck. Would a Dual Band or Tri-Band radio work?
 

Av8tor56

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
72
Location
Roswell, NM
With most dual band radios that I know about you have to operate on only one band at a time. Also , there's a cost factor. Most dual or tri band radios cost a lot of money.
 

Av8tor56

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
72
Location
Roswell, NM
Yes, you only need three radios. You have a good TK-880 that will give you 250 UHF channels. If you can get a TK-780 you'll have 250 VHF channels. With the Kenwoods you can have all of them in the scan list if you so desire. If you need more channels then you could look at the TK-7180/8180 series radios. Those will give you 500 channels each and they'll also scan all 500 if so desired. The high power versions of all of these radios will give you 45 watts output. Kenwood doesn't have a very good selection of low band radios but you can look at the Motorola CDM series. Those will give you a lot of channels, they're fairly easy to program and very durable. The only drawback is that the CDMs will only let you scan 16 channels at a time. You have to set up several scan lists for the areas you'll be working.
 

iamhere300

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2004
Messages
1,346
Location
Chappell Hill TX
What about the iCom radio?

I really like having multiple radios. The rescue Squad I am on responds to all counties in Tennessee so I sure I will need the channels.

No, I wont be installing a Light Bar. All my lights will be undercover. I thought about getting a combo siren/switch box. Still looking.

How hard is it to build a custom consol? I thought about doing it but I aint that good with wood.

Pray tell, what rescue squad responds to all counties in TN?

Get rid of the Maxon. It is wideband only. Useless in just over a year.

Use the state interop channels. You have no need for everyones dispatch channel, just use the VTAC, UTAC, 800TAC channels. One radio for each band.
 

squirrel911

Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
162
Location
Estill Springs/Decherd/Winchester/Franklin County
Pray tell, what rescue squad responds to all counties in TN?

Get rid of the Maxon. It is wideband only. Useless in just over a year.

Use the state interop channels. You have no need for everyones dispatch channel, just use the VTAC, UTAC, 800TAC channels. One radio for each band.

The rescue squad I am on is UAW Rescue Squad. We are a highly trianed and specialized rescue squad. We have a building in Nashville, TN and run on our own VHF frequencies. We are not part of any local and state agency. We respond to any county in Tennessee when called. During the May flood we responded to multiple counties to help out with rescues.

Where or who would buy the maxon?

We do use the interop channels but when we go to other counties we must use there freqs sometimes also.
 
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