Got my first ham rig from a buddy and decided it needed a proper install. I'm not a fan if wires and such littered about the inside of the car so heres my install and pics to follow:
1) I already had a hole in the firewall from an inverter I installed so I ran just the positive from a block under the hood through the firewall and back through the sill plate under both drivers side doors. The ground was covered by using one of the rear seat bolts.
2) As its been said before "Man up and drill the hole" Dead center in the roof coincidentally is right over the dome light so antenna install went smoother then thought. Drilled the hole and fed the cable (via coathanger) to the passenger side "B" post, down the floor and into the sill plates to the back of the truck.
3) Radio is under the back seat secured to floor with some self tapping screws. Antenna, power, and speaker wires run under rear seat rest to a rats nest on rear bulkhead. Just took care that nothing would get pinched by the folding of the seats.
4) Remote head wire run under passenger seat, zip tied to inverter ground and stuffed through inverter conduit up under dash exiting below climate controls. I was out of connectors so clipping it and feeding under carpet with aforementioned coathanger method not an option.
5) Microphone can plug into head or radio itself via CAT5 extension. So a length of CAT5 was fed under carpet to under drivers side seat where a standard wall jack was stuffed between the cup holder and the seat. Easy access to connector to remove and hide.
6) The head: Thought about mounting it in overhead console but again out of connectors and phone cable and not keen on the idea of losing storage space I decided to dash mount. Theft always being a concern I didn't want anything permanent. Though of velcro but then settled on a small "L" bracket screwed to the mounting plate on the head and a small shim glued to back for viewing angle. The clip hangs it right under the cubby and it is at a nice angle and easy to reach. Again pull the plug and it lifts right out for hiding.
7) Speaker was simply running wire up sill plates to speaker mounted to floor. Not all the visible while passing by but plenty loud
Here are the pics
1) I already had a hole in the firewall from an inverter I installed so I ran just the positive from a block under the hood through the firewall and back through the sill plate under both drivers side doors. The ground was covered by using one of the rear seat bolts.
2) As its been said before "Man up and drill the hole" Dead center in the roof coincidentally is right over the dome light so antenna install went smoother then thought. Drilled the hole and fed the cable (via coathanger) to the passenger side "B" post, down the floor and into the sill plates to the back of the truck.
3) Radio is under the back seat secured to floor with some self tapping screws. Antenna, power, and speaker wires run under rear seat rest to a rats nest on rear bulkhead. Just took care that nothing would get pinched by the folding of the seats.
4) Remote head wire run under passenger seat, zip tied to inverter ground and stuffed through inverter conduit up under dash exiting below climate controls. I was out of connectors so clipping it and feeding under carpet with aforementioned coathanger method not an option.
5) Microphone can plug into head or radio itself via CAT5 extension. So a length of CAT5 was fed under carpet to under drivers side seat where a standard wall jack was stuffed between the cup holder and the seat. Easy access to connector to remove and hide.
6) The head: Thought about mounting it in overhead console but again out of connectors and phone cable and not keen on the idea of losing storage space I decided to dash mount. Theft always being a concern I didn't want anything permanent. Though of velcro but then settled on a small "L" bracket screwed to the mounting plate on the head and a small shim glued to back for viewing angle. The clip hangs it right under the cubby and it is at a nice angle and easy to reach. Again pull the plug and it lifts right out for hiding.
7) Speaker was simply running wire up sill plates to speaker mounted to floor. Not all the visible while passing by but plenty loud
Here are the pics
