2013 Toyota Corolla S fire/EMS install

[Drachen_Fire]

This is my daily driver, a brand new 2013 Toyota Corolla S. I also use this car for fire police duties and to support the new ambulance service that I partially own. I have outfitted it so far with a Kenwood TK780 VHF and TK880 UHF. The antennas for it are a UHF Antenex Phantom and a Larsen black VHF 1/4 wave, both on Larsen L brackets. I am planning on maybe installing a Cobra 75WXST remote CB for future road trips, but not sure yet.

 

[dixie729]

Nice setup

Kevin Absher - HTC Inspire 4G

 

[Rt169Radio]

Cool setup, how good do those short antennas work? How does your dept use fire police?

 

[Dann]

Very Nice.

 

[SurgePGH]

What are you doing as far as an MDC identifier for the radios?

 

[microwave]

I sure hope you have the proper credentials to write display 'Police' and 'Fire' on your car. Do you have trouble talking on the radios while driving a stick shift?

 

[Drachen_Fire]

To answer some questions -

- I don't have MDC, but I do have Fleetsync, and I use it.
- Using them while driving stick isn't so bad. If I need to shift while the mic's in my hand, I drop it into the cupholder until after I shift.
- Fire police is used here primarily to block roads and redirect traffic around incidents. Occasionally, we patrol the scene to make sure no one is stealing from the trucks, but we've never had that bad of a problem with that.
- I do have proper credentials to have fire and police on the car, as I am Fire Police. It's a twin function of fire department members up here in some northeastern states that doesn't exist elsewhere.

 

[reconrider8]

what kind of brackets are they mounted to? the antennas that is. i have a 2010 S and i was just wanting to see how you had everything setup.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

I took two Larsen NMO L brackets, lined the up, put them in a vise, and bent them out ever so slightly to be level, then screwed them to the fenders inside the trunk lip area.

 

[SurgePGH]

To answer some questions -

- I don't have MDC, but I do have Fleetsync, and I use it.
- Using them while driving stick isn't so bad. If I need to shift while the mic's in my hand, I drop it into the cupholder until after I shift.
- Fire police is used here primarily to block roads and redirect traffic around incidents. Occasionally, we patrol the scene to make sure no one is stealing from the trucks, but we've never had that bad of a problem with that.
- I do have proper credentials to have fire and police on the car, as I am Fire Police. It's a twin function of fire department members up here in some northeastern states that doesn't exist elsewhere.

Allegheny County REQUIRES MDC for you to transmit on any of their repeaters. You might want to address that issue ASAP.

 

[GrumpyGuard]

Nice clean professional install.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

With the rarity I use these radios to transmit on an AC system, I've never gotten any flak. I do have two separate county-issued MDC identifiers, which I do have in my portables.

I usually use my portables to transmit is what I'm saying.

The mobiles are used to talk on my own company's UHF repeater system, and some occasional VHF comms on a Ross Township-owned system, and RARELY to use HEAR simplex for command consults if I'm out in the back country where the phone won't work.

I see no need to spend big money on something that can do MDC for the one, maybe two times a year, that I'll talk to County on these mobiles.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

However, this does raise the question in my mind:

Are the MDC encoding chips still available for the TK-x80 series?

 

[RadioDitch]

I sure hope you have the proper credentials to write display 'Police' and 'Fire' on your car. Do you have trouble talking on the radios while driving a stick shift?

Forum Police strike again!

Great setup, clean and straight to the point. Especially like the Clutch decal. Good taste! lol.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.600 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

However, this does raise the question in my mind:

Are the MDC encoding chips still available for the TK-x80 series?

I believe that the x80 series can only do fleetsync. I do not think any Kenwood radios will do Fleetsync and MDC at the same time. Motorola has equipment that will allow you to run multiple unique MDC identifiers on a per channel basis. And yes the radio police strike again!

 

[russellmaher]

Nice install Drachen_Fire. It looks like a snug fit in between the seat and console. Well done!

Russell

 

[Drachen_Fire]

It's incredibly snug, and thanks! I didn't even have room for a bracket, so they are mounted with industrial Velcro. I wouldn't really even need that, as it is such a tight fit.

As for the MDC thing, it's an Allegheny County biblical law about having MDC identifiers. Not that I disagree with it at all, because it's a good idea. Even if I did disagree with it, what would it matter, in that it's their rules, and overall the people at County are awesome. I just can't see dropping the dime for Motorola MDC-capable radios that won't even fit in the mounting location, when I use these to talk to County once, maybe twice per year. Mostly they are for listening, as I have some trouble hearing nowadays, and I can't hear my pager in the car. As for talking, I don't do that much of it, and when I do, it's usually on a portable.

It's kind of confusing, really. PGHSurge - I know I have heard Kenwood-protocol signalling on the police channels (particularly North Police 11), along with some DTMF ID's on West and North EMS, and one agency (Plum, I believe) on East EMS uses post-transmit Fleetsync. How are these being integrated, or do they have time to get new stuff?

 

[Drachen_Fire]

New life -

I have been a big fan of the Kenwood X80 series so far.........BUT

I am using my stuff more and more as the summer gets underway, and I don't need friction with the County over an MDC ID. I am preparing to switch up to something different. I will be removing my cubbyhole/cigarette lighter dash tray, and installing gear in it's place. What I am thinking is a Motorola MCS2000 UHF with the remote head setup. Problem is that I have open access to a Model I, but I am really thinking about the Model II. If I get the Model I, I have to source a remote head kit for it, and those are not easy to find.

For the VHF.....well, I don't use it too much around here. I'd still like to be able to listen to the Highspire Turnpike Comms when I hit the road, and I like to listen to the hams when the weather turns nasty. Also, a backup VHF would be nice for the occasional use on the current AC NW FIRE frequencies (which should be going UHF any day now). I'm thinking of discontinuing VHF in this car and just keeping my VHF HT1250 for the rare times that I use VHF.

Now, for CB. Yes, I still use CB occasionally. Mostly while out on the interstate on road trips. Does anyone have any experience with the Cobra 75WXST? It looks like a decent compact unit, and It does WX alert. The only problem I have with CB is the giant antenna. Is there any models that offer both performance and a compact size, or am I pretty much stuck with a Larsen NMO27? If that's the case, that's fine, but smaller would be better.

I will be hole-mounting the antennas.

As it stands now, I'd be happy going with UHF mobile and a compact CB, reserving a portable for VHF. That is as stands now. If I'm introduced back to 800MHz for any reason, my first choice would be an XTL or Astro Spectra with the W3 head and another NMO Phantom.

 

[sdsmith]

Power?

Apologies for resurrecting an older post. I found this whilst searching for info on my own 2013 Corolla. Curious how you ran the power for the radios.

I just got my car, and am looking at moving a Yaesu 2m rig from a Chevy Silverado. I've poked around under the hood and under the dash, but I don't see any easy way to run power from the battery.

Any thoughts?

 

[Drachen_Fire]

The power for mine is routed through the main wiring grommet in the firewall. It is just above the gas pedal mechanisms. I carefully cut a slit in both sides, and fished the wire through. If you have an automatic, look above where the clutch would be on a manual, and you will see another rubber grommet. Just use that to get through.