1992 Chevy Silverado 2WD STEPSIDE

[buckent]

attached is a pic of my mobile install...

Top radio is a Yaesu 1802 2m mobile which feeds a NMO mount Larsen 150C antenna, mounted on the centerline of the roof, as far to the back of the truck as possible... SWR is a flat 1.1:1 across the ham bands, and no worse than 1.3:1 across the entire range of the radio.

Bottom radio is a Uniden BCT-15X fed by a glass mount cell lookalike scanner antenna.,.. mounted on the front window glass in the upper right corner on the passenger side,

Power for both radios, is a direct battery feed 10 AWG both pos and gnd from the battery to a fuse block under the dash on the passenger side. of the 4 available fuses one 20A feeds the 1802, and one 5A feeds the BCT15X. the remaining 2 slots in the fuse block are for future expansion, ( hopefully a galaxy 10m mobile and an amplifier for the sony car stereo)

The battery feed is controlled by a relay wired into the ignition to energize the radios when the IGN is in the ON position... ( Ive tried transmitting with the engine shut down, and I don't get full transmitter power, and I wind up with a dead battery..) so the engine has to be running if the radios are on. All wire looms are in twistwrap tubing, and wiretied. all connectors were crimped and soldered.

as for stealth, the windows are tinted, and the console has a black Pepsi blanket I got in the mail... park the truck, and cover the rack with the blanket and the entire thing blends in to the interior carpet.. almost impossible to see..

 

[ridgescan]

I like it! That is a neat install-and that era Chevy truck is one of the better designs IMO.

 

[CoolCat]

That is a nice, clean, simple install. good job.

Regarding your "future expansion"; a single 10AWG wire is not going to be able to provide enough power for an audio amplifier, two transceivers and a scanner. Even if the wire could 'safely' handle the current, the voltage drop would put a heavy strain on your equipment.

Power for both radios, is a direct battery feed 10 AWG both pos and gnd from the battery to a fuse block under the dash on the passenger side. of the 4 available fuses one 20A feeds the 1802, and one 5A feeds the BCT15X. the remaining 2 slots in the fuse block are for future expansion, ( hopefully a galaxy 10m mobile and an amplifier for the sony car stereo)

 

[buckent]

That is a nice, clean, simple install. good job.

Regarding your "future expansion"; a single 10AWG wire is not going to be able to provide enough power for an audio amplifier, two transceivers and a scanner. Even if the wire could 'safely' handle the current, the voltage drop would put a heavy strain on your equipment.

I don't see how it wouldn't be able to handle the current if you stop and think about it like we did when we planned it.. First... the relay is wired so the radios are energized only with the key 'ON'... not in the 'ACC' position. Which means the engine's running so the system voltage is backed up by the alternatior.

Second, while the audio amp would be on the same feed as the radios, if I ave my audio amp on, that means my mp3 are jamming, and in no event would any of the other radios even be turned on... standby current for all 3 other radios is barely an amp, as measured my voltmeter across the the postive feed from the fuse block. which means the full current capacity of the feed is available to the audio amp.

in the opposite situation, the Ipod, AM/FM head unit and audio amp are powered off, and the radios under the dash are active.,.. even with all 3 radios on full blast in receive mode, current draw as measured under the dash across the positive battery feed is barely 10 amps...

in the last situation transmit mode, i can only say this.. when's the last time you keyed up and actively transmitted on 2 separate radios on different bands, at the same time? It's the only time any one radio would draw significant amps, the 1802 is rated at 15A, and the Galaxy at more than 20 I think. even then I am under the 40A projected for total load, and under the rated load of 55 amps for AWG #10 wire at 12VDC used in chassis wiring per my college electronics texts...

I appreciate your input, but, i did put some thought into this install, and I even went so far as to have the work done by a recommended vendor for the Kershaw County Sherriff's Office... When this was still just an idea on paper, I too the time to call the county and ask them for the number of the firm they used on their cars...

Thanks for your interest..

73's

Matt
K8WPJ
WQND 966
KNA 8758

 

[firetaz834]

attached is a pic of my mobile install...

Top radio is a Yaesu 1802 2m mobile which feeds a NMO mount Larsen 150C antenna, mounted on the centerline of the roof, as far to the back of the truck as possible... SWR is a flat 1.1:1 across the ham bands, and no worse than 1.3:1 across the entire range of the radio.

Bottom radio is a Uniden BCT-15X fed by a glass mount cell lookalike scanner antenna.,.. mounted on the front window glass in the upper right corner on the passenger side,

Power for both radios, is a direct battery feed 10 AWG both pos and gnd from the battery to a fuse block under the dash on the passenger side. of the 4 available fuses one 20A feeds the 1802, and one 5A feeds the BCT15X. the remaining 2 slots in the fuse block are for future expansion, ( hopefully a galaxy 10m mobile and an amplifier for the sony car stereo)

The battery feed is controlled by a relay wired into the ignition to energize the radios when the IGN is in the ON position... ( Ive tried transmitting with the engine shut down, and I don't get full transmitter power, and I wind up with a dead battery..) so the engine has to be running if the radios are on. All wire looms are in twistwrap tubing, and wiretied. all connectors were crimped and soldered.

as for stealth, the windows are tinted, and the console has a black Pepsi blanket I got in the mail... park the truck, and cover the rack with the blanket and the entire thing blends in to the interior carpet.. almost impossible to see..

Looks like a very good install, but the only concern that I wanted to pass on is your "stealth" process. It is nice to have your windows tinted, and the dark blanket to cover your equipment up, but as some people that have GPS equipment attached to there windows is that a thief looking for things will see your truck and the give away will be your antenna. He will see that and know there is something worth stealing and even with the tinting and blanket he will still break into your vehicle looking for something.

I had mentioned the people who had GPS equipment learning that lesson, they would hide there equipment in there vehicle (leaving the holder attached to the window) or remove the whole thing, but the marking left by the holder on the window was the give away. That is why I mentioned your antennas, even though everything else was very concealed would be the give away.

You would need to get fully concealed antennas to accent your work up to date.

Everything else looks really good and professionally done, what I've said is just my opinion. I know if I see a vehicle with antenna I know that there is equipment. I had even educated some of my local PD personel when they had a undercover vehicle and I was able to tell them they had a radio in the vehicle and they were impressed when I pointed out what I saw and made a few suggestions on how to improve there install so to keep the vehicle really looking undercover.

Hope what I said helps out, Again, really good install. Nice and clean and outstanding.

 

[buckent]

well there are a few other 'features' this truck has, that I didn't go into...

I am in a very rural area, and the truck is normally parked in a supervised area,
as for when I am in town, any attempt to mess with the truck would create an immediate problem.

I appreciate your interest..

Matt