2010 Chrysler Town & Country Van Install

Status
Not open for further replies.

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Good afternoon everyone. The last time I posted any install pics was in 2011 when I bought my Hyundai Elantra. My wife and I swapped vehicles and now my full time ride is a black 2010 Chrysler Town & Country "Touring Edition" van. I've been driving it since around November of 2012 but because of the back surgery I had I've not been able to start my install on it until now. It is still a work in progress because I can only do so much before having to take a break. The following pics are from what I've worked on today. As the installation progresses I'll keep updating the thread until I finish it and that's if I ever decide to stop adding stuff LOL. At this moment this is what is planned for the install:

- Motorola Spectra ( UHF ) w/ A9 head. The head for the UHF is the very top in the stack. This is used for my activities with the Red Cross, LE dispatch channels and mutual aid, Ham monitoring, and the nationwide UHF channels from the NIFOG manual.

- Motorola Maratrac ( Low Band ) w/ A7 head (middle head). Used for Red Cross, monitoring NCSHP, and Emergency Management, and NIFOG channels.

- Motorola Syntor ( VHF ) w/ A9 head (bottom head). Used for Red Cross, FD & EMS, surrounding counties fire & EMS, 2m Ham Monitoring, and NIFOG channels.

**Note there are 2 Motorola speakers on the rear of the console. One goes to the LB Maratrac and the other the VHF HB Syntor. The speaker for the UHF Spectra is in front underneath the factory cupholders. Antenna use is as follows:
- Front is a "homemade" UHF and works surprisingly well and runs the UHF Spectra.
- Middle is a Motorola 700/800 whip and is used for my 396XT when needed.
- Rear is a Maxrad VHF 1/4 wave and runs the VHF HB Syntor.
- Driver side fender mount is a dual band V/U Maxrad with spring. That mount is actually going to be used for the LB Maratrac & the antenna is just a place holder right now. In this same picture if you look at the windshield drivers side corner you'll see a little yellow square. That's the GPS antenna I use with the DeLorme mapping software on my laptop.

Also in the pics are the portables that go with me on a daily basis and they are as follows:
- EF Johnson 5100 Model 3 ( VHF ) FPP enabled - My main VHF portable "daily driver"
- Motorola JT1000 ( VHF ) - Backup VHF FPP Portable
- Motorola Systems Saber Model 3 - Used on incidents where more than one portable is needed but FPP isn't required.
- Uniden BCD396XT and BC346XT scanners. I use the 396XT to monitor various Motorola digital & P25 systems, & the 346XT is used for conventional monitoring and testing.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics!!!!

View from the passenger side front seat:


Looking in from passenger door:


View from drivers seat:


Backseat looking forward:


Driver side fender antenna:


Roof antennas from driver side front corner:


Roof antennas from the front:


Roof antennas from the rear:


Head on shot:



Again I hope you guys like the pics. I will continue to update this thread as the install progresses. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in your replies or inbox me. Thanks again for looking!!!!!
 

xrorx

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
69
Wow, very nicely done and neat! Just watch where you park with that candy store.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Great job and it looks very professionally done...

I appreciate the compliments guys. And as far as looks professionally done, before I was forced out of work on disability for my back injury and surgery in 2012, I worked in radio as an installer and systems tech for almost 13 years :lol:
 

KC4YIN

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 29, 2003
Messages
448
Location
Kinston NC
And I especially like the bracket across the top for mic holders. I run a couple of remoted CDMs and I'm going to add that to my stack.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Do you have pics of the wiring? I like checking out what others have done.

Not yet. I've not made it that far. With all the trouble my back gives me I wanted to make sure that I could get the 3 heads in there for sure before pulling any cables or wires. Pulling all the needed cable/wire is usually the first thing I do when I'm doing remote mount installs. I didn't want to do all the crawling, bending, etc that is involved with that and then find all 3 wouldn't fit and have to take it all back apart. Now that I know I can fit all 3 heads in there then I'm going to start pulling the needed wires & such. I'll be taking pics throughout the rest of the process.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
And I especially like the bracket across the top for mic holders. I run a couple of remoted CDMs and I'm going to add that to my stack.

When I was fitting everything in this afternoon I didn't think of where I was going to put the mics. I had an extra Spectra bracket so I just popped the plastic inserts out and it fit perfectly & it makes the mics a heck of a lot easier to get your hands on then having them down beside the seat.
 

mrweather

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
1,251
Very nice! Interesting how you used the roof ridge to install the antenna mounts. Are they wide enough for a standard 3/4" NMO or are you using the smaller 3/8".

My wife's 2008 Grand Caravan has one NMO on the roof just ahead of where the ridges start.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
I appreciate the kind words everyone. I've actually gone back and changed a few things since yesterday when I started this thread. I got the antenna on the drivers front fender changed to the needed VHF-Lo. On the roof I changed the 800 antenna from the Motorola 7/800 whip to an Antennex "Phantom" style antenna, changed the UHF to a Maxrad "Phantom" style, and I took the dual band VHF/UHF antenna that I was using as a place holder on the front fender and put it in place if the VHF 1/4 wave on the roof.

Inside I kept the VHF HB Syntor and the UHF Spectra, but I had some issues with the Maratrac (Low Band) acting up so it got swapped for a Syntor with A9 head as well. I'll get some updated pics posted in just a little bit after I finish lunch.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Very nice! Interesting how you used the roof ridge to install the antenna mounts. Are they wide enough for a standard 3/4" NMO or are you using the smaller 3/8".

My wife's 2008 Grand Caravan has one NMO on the roof just ahead of where the ridges start.

Well the biggest influence in making the decision to put them there is my OCD couldn't bear the idea of them having to be offset. I'm using the standard 3/4 NMO. The hole stayed within the sides of the ridge but the NMO mount does hang over just a touch on each side. In addition the the rubber O-Ring gasket that you put around the base of the NMO, I also applied some clear silicone gel to the under side of the mount (inside roof above the headliner. No issues with leaks and it survives the high pressure car wash at the Sheetz gas station where I live.
 

kg6nlw

Railroad & Ham Radio Extrodinare
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
1,060
Location
Sonoma Co., California
Great looking setup! I had a similar van for quite a while and could only temporarily mount stuff in it!

Regards,

-Frank C.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Great looking setup! I had a similar van for quite a while and could only temporarily mount stuff in it!

Regards,

-Frank C.

Thank you Frank! I was going to get pics this morning of the stuff that I changed around yesterday & still plan to but I'm just waiting on the clouds to clear out from the rain we got early this morning.
 

KM4WLV

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
1,050
Location
Rockwell (Rowan County), NC
Updated Pics from today 5-24-14

As promised here are a few more pictures. I posted yesterday about rearranging the antennas and I did that again today as I decided to add something else into play. I mentioned in my post yesterday that I had to pull the Maratrac and replace it with one of my Syntor's with A9 head. Here's a run down of the antennas and use (for now) lol :

Drivers Side Fender (Front) :
-- Antenna Specialists Low Band ( P/N escapes me at the moment)

Roof (Front to Rear) :
-- 800 MHz closed coil w/ spring - Used for my 396XT when needed)
-- PCS / Cell - Used with my Wilson cell amp
-- VHF/UHF Dual Band closed coil w/ spring - Runs to a U/V splitter and then runs one line to the UHF Spectra and the other to the VHF HB Syntor.

Behind Rear Luggage Rack (Left to Right):

-- 800 MHz Phantom / "Low Profile" - Uniden BCT-8
-- UHF "Low Profile" - Spare / Place Holder (Have future plans for it.

Hope you guys enjoy this next round of pics and as I work on it more I'll keep updating this thread. Thank you again to everyone for all the compliments !!!

Passenger side looking in door:


Passenger seat POV (point of view):


Driver side looking in door:


Driver seat POV:


Low Band Antenna:


Roof Antennas from front driver side corner:


Roof Antennas looking from the rear forward:


Roof Antennas (Wide Shot):


Shot of the low profile antennas (center antenna is the Sirius/XM Antenna):


Again thanks for looking and all the compliments so far!!! It's encouraging. And as I said, stay tuned because I'll be posting more as the install progresses. Next step is mounting the radio drawers and pulling cables / wires :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top