It took me a while to get up the guts to start tearing apart my new truck but it was time. When I do installs I don't drill holes unless I have to and then not where they can be seen. I like to maintain the resale value.
I had a scanner (BCD996T) and a ham radio (Kenwood TM-D700A) to mount, along with a GPS unit for the APRS part of the ham. I started by mounting the scanner and the body of the Kenwood to a piece of wood because I could not find a good spot in the truck to mount them out of the way without drilling...or so I thought. This would end up being slid under the drivers seat.
When I pulled the center console apart I found there is lots of room to mount radio bodies under there but I would have a power problem if I did that since the Uniden remote head will not control the scanner power (That is my one big complaint about the remote head). I ran a Garmin GPS 18 (self contained hockey puck) up under the dash and stuck it with double sided tape to the top of the glove box. My truck has a great installed GPS/Nav unit but no output for the data so I needed the separate unit. This ran to a 12 volt outlet I installed under the console. I also installed two Motorola speakers under the console, one for each radio. Sound is great even through a layer of plastic and they are completely hidden and out of the way.
The radio heads were mounted using a Pro-Fit mounting bracket and the cables run inside the dash.
I installed a master power switch on the board under the drivers seat that be reached from the door side. It's easy to reach when getting in or out and it also controls power to the GPS so no battery drain if I leave the truck too long.
The antennas are mounted on each side of the front, just aft of the hood hinge. The roof, although the best for performance, would have made most parking garages and drive through areas off limits, and that was no good. I used "L" brackets and Larson mounts. I always use black antennas so they don't show up so much. A trick I learned when I used to outfit police cars is to use black rods and to paint the mount and antenna base with touch up paint the same as the car. They blend right in if you do that (great for unmarked cars).
What do you think?
I had a scanner (BCD996T) and a ham radio (Kenwood TM-D700A) to mount, along with a GPS unit for the APRS part of the ham. I started by mounting the scanner and the body of the Kenwood to a piece of wood because I could not find a good spot in the truck to mount them out of the way without drilling...or so I thought. This would end up being slid under the drivers seat.
When I pulled the center console apart I found there is lots of room to mount radio bodies under there but I would have a power problem if I did that since the Uniden remote head will not control the scanner power (That is my one big complaint about the remote head). I ran a Garmin GPS 18 (self contained hockey puck) up under the dash and stuck it with double sided tape to the top of the glove box. My truck has a great installed GPS/Nav unit but no output for the data so I needed the separate unit. This ran to a 12 volt outlet I installed under the console. I also installed two Motorola speakers under the console, one for each radio. Sound is great even through a layer of plastic and they are completely hidden and out of the way.
The radio heads were mounted using a Pro-Fit mounting bracket and the cables run inside the dash.
I installed a master power switch on the board under the drivers seat that be reached from the door side. It's easy to reach when getting in or out and it also controls power to the GPS so no battery drain if I leave the truck too long.
The antennas are mounted on each side of the front, just aft of the hood hinge. The roof, although the best for performance, would have made most parking garages and drive through areas off limits, and that was no good. I used "L" brackets and Larson mounts. I always use black antennas so they don't show up so much. A trick I learned when I used to outfit police cars is to use black rods and to paint the mount and antenna base with touch up paint the same as the car. They blend right in if you do that (great for unmarked cars).
What do you think?
