• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

2018 Ford F-350 install

Status
Not open for further replies.

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Tossing this out there for anyone else that needs to do an install in one of these trucks.

I've got a 2017 at work and a personal 2018, both are similar in their installation.
The work truck is a regular cab.
The personal truck is a crew cab. This info below is for the CREW CAB.

I only need one radio right now, but I chose to do what I normally do, which is put in a big enough power feed for multiple radios. Since the labor is the hard part and the wire is relatively cheap, it's my chosen way to do it. Running smaller conductors would be done the same way.

Power feed:
I did pretty much identical installations for both the work truck and the personal truck. The difference is the work truck has a service body, and I sent power back to one of the bins, so the work truck has two feeds leaving the battery.
Wire is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LIB5ASC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's got the SAE rating for vehicle use. Nice fine strands and a thick jacket. Easy to work with.

On the personal truck, I ran a single 6 gauge conductor (same as above) from the battery, under the air intake (it removes pretty easily) to the fire wall. The fire wall was the closest place I could fit the 60 amp circuit breaker.
Circuit breaker is:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FWMM09O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Wire is in braided protector. All connections are crimped and sealed with marine grade heat shrink:
Pt8y7qhb.jpg

This is the breaker on the passenger side of the firewall, just above the fuse box. Power comes in from the battery on the right side of the breaker and heads out to the cab on the left side of the breaker.

Routing the cable from the breaker into the cab is actually pretty easy. Just below the breaker and behind the fuse box is a large grommet. On the top of that grommet is a "knob" that can be cut off. That hides a hole that feeds through the grommet. It was just big enough for a 6 gauge wire and nothing else.

It's a bit hard to see in this photo since the cable is in a black braided cover:
lmpgyLxb.jpg

Trust me, it's there.
Since the hole is pretty tight for a #6, I had to run a smaller wire through to the inside and use that as a pull rope. Even with the glove box and surrounding trim removed, it's impossible to get to the other side of the grommet without removing a LOT of stuff. Feeding through a few feet of smaller wire made it easier to fish the larger wire through.

From there, the #6 runs to the back of the cab behind the rear seat. Since my jack is on the passenger side, I ran it across the back of the cab and put the radio on the drivers side.
Ground is picked up local to the radios.

Ignition sense lead:
The nice thing about these trucks is that they are designed for upfitters to add on to them, so there's easy access to circuits needed for things like this. Under the glove box, on the side of the passenger foot well, is a fuse box. In that area is a bunch of wiring that comes to a connector. Ford provides a mating connector with "blunt cut" wires you can tap into. In that bundle is a dedicated circuit that is ignition switched. It's fused in the factory fuse box at 5 amps, more than plenty for ignition switched circuits for a couple of modern radios. The Green/Orange wire is the one you want. You can get a list of all the "customer access" circuits by downloading document Q-259 here: https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/Q-259.pdf

I ran a 16 gauge wire from there back along with the #6 power feed to the back of the cab in split loom and under the door sill.


Mounting the RF deck:
I found an easy trick on my old 2011 F150… Unistrut will fit across the seat mounting bolts. You'll need to cut part of the strut off to get the washer/nut on there. The standard hole spacing on the Unistrut fits as is. I don't recall the stud size, but it is metric. I had some in my stuff so I didn't have to buy it.
XGyNnZnb.jpg

I used some brackets I had in my box-o-junk to mount the RF deck bracket. I've actually used this same radio, bracket and Unistrut from the 2011, just removed it when I traded the 2011 in, and reinstalled it in the 2018. Same stud size/spacing.

Power distribution, Lind Timer, ground buss:
I used similar parts on the 2017 Work truck, so I just reordered the same stuff. The #6 from the battery/breaker comes across the back of the cab behind the carpet and is tied down on the fuse block. It's a Blue Sea: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BV1MS1K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The ground block is also Blue Sea:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OTJ8A0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Time is a Lind. Picked up a new one off E-bay for $25 bucks. While I only use it to feed the ignition sense lead on the radio, I did wire/fuse it for the full 30 amps so I can use it later for other radios.
3BrXYhRb.jpg


The fuse block, ground block and Lind timer are mounted on a piece of plywood I cut to fit and painted black. It's bolted down to the Unistrut, like the radio bracket.

Ground is off the seat bolt, which is welded to the body.

More detail on the Unistrut:
iPjV7wOb.jpg


Control Head mounting:

I did a similar mount on the F-150. Using the stock Motorola head bracket and some custom fabricated aluminum brackets, I mounted it low on the dash. I don't need to access it often, so I don't need it sticking in my face. I also like my installs to be as low profile as possible. I want the radio there, I want it to work well, but I don't want it being center stage in my truck. It's a tool, not a center piece.
LlLsE0Yb.jpg

I drilled a hole in the back of the bucket in the lower dash to route the control head cable.

Microphone hook is mounted to the dash and grounded to the metal supports under the dash. On the work truck, I used MagnetMics, I may add that to the personal truck later.

Speaker Mounting:

I had the dash pulled apart to mount the control head bracket, and I noticed there was a big void space behind the radio head LCD display. There were a couple of studs welded there that -almost- lined up with the Motorola speaker bracket. I had to drill a new hole in the bracket to make it line up, but that, a couple of washers and 6mm x 1 Nylock nuts and the speaker was mounted.
Caution, Dash Board gore:
ZiKiesyb.jpg

There's plenty of room for it, and there's not enough attenuation to be an issue. I really prefer having the large speakers since it really improves audio intelligibility and provides more than enough volume for highway speeds with the windows down.
Speaker wiring is routed back with the control head cable to the RF deck.

Antenna mount:

If you are serious about installing a radio in a vehicle and you want it to work well, you drill the hole. This truck was less than a week in my possession. I've done others the same day I brought them home from the dealer. Man up, drill the hole. The body on these trucks is aluminum, so magnetic mounts won't work anyway. As for resale value, it has never impacted it on any of my trucks or other leased vehicles. They don't care as long as it's done right. Most dealer sell the trade ins to a broker anyway, so the dealers really don't care.

Since this one is a crew cab, I've got -lots- of real estate to work with. Since I may eventually add more radios, I didn't want to waste space up there. Like my 2011 F150, the center of the roof has a brace that runs down the center from front to back. If you drill in the center, you can easily fit the NMO mount in there and use the channel underneath to to route the coax to the back of the cab. There is a dome light, but it's not in the way. If you remove the dome light, you can access a hole in the channel to feed the coaxial cable out of, just like the F-150's:
KPAYCj4b.jpg


I chose to drill the hole about 24 inches from the back edge of the cab. More than sufficient ground plane for VHF:
lAE801Xb.jpg

1f934VYb.jpg


Routing the cable to the back of the cab and down the "C" pillar was easy enough. If you go to the back corner of the cab, it avoids the air bags. Routing down to the radio is easy enough.

Antenna is a Larsen Wide Band 1/4 wave VHF. With the near perfect ground plane, it's got less than 1.5:1 SWR from 144MHz to 174MHz. 1.05:1 at 158MHz, which is close to some of my work stuff. Even centered at 158MHz, the SWR is below 1.5:1 on the 2 meter band.

I'll try to remember to get a photo of the antenna installed tomorrow. Thought I had a shot of it.

Doing it right the first time takes longer, but it works well in the long run. I had a similar install in my 2011 F-150 and never had any issues with it. Taking the time to run the wiring correctly prevents issues. Sizing conductors for future needs prevents having to re-run new wire. It also makes adding additional radios later really easy.
The permanent NMO mounts will not give any issues if installed correctly. After 30 years, I've never had one leak. Never had an issue with trade ins. Never had an issue with things not working the way I want them to.
The large external speaker really makes listening easy.
Making sure everything is secure is important. Both the work truck and the personal truck are F-350 4x4's. Vibration can be an issue when on rough roads or trails, so you don't want to rely on sheet metal screws to hold RF decks or control heads in place. Through bolting with large washers prevents issues down the road.
Being able to fabricate your own brackets really helps, too. Makes it much easier to squeeze radios in where you want them.
 
Last edited:

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Want to come finish my V71A install?

Actually…
Since I don't have to do installs for a living, I've found that I kind of enjoy it when I do one. I'm still achy the next day, and my hands look like I stuck the in a running blender, but there's a lot of satisfaction in the work.

Honestly, though, if I was a bit more local, I'd do it for a cold beer or two
 

Ravenkeeper

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
236
Location
Antelope Valley, CA
Actually…
Since I don't have to do installs for a living, I've found that I kind of enjoy it when I do one. I'm still achy the next day, and my hands look like I stuck the in a running blender, but there's a lot of satisfaction in the work.

Honestly, though, if I was a bit more local, I'd do it for a cold beer or two

This is as close to a "LIKE" button as this forum gets.
 

03msc

RF is RF
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Messages
3,962
Location
The Natural State
Always good to see a proper install! Wish the photos were a little larger (I'm on the computer and they are less than 2" wide on my screen...not sure if that's my issue or just how they are) but it's an excellent write-up and professional install. But, honestly, I wouldn't expect anything less from you.
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
Always good to see a proper install! Wish the photos were a little larger (I'm on the computer and they are less than 2" wide on my screen...not sure if that's my issue or just how they are) but it's an excellent write-up and professional install. But, honestly, I wouldn't expect anything less from you.


They were the same way for me as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
Actually…

Since I don't have to do installs for a living, I've found that I kind of enjoy it when I do one. I'm still achy the next day, and my hands look like I stuck the in a running blender, but there's a lot of satisfaction in the work.



Honestly, though, if I was a bit more local, I'd do it for a cold beer or two


Might have to limit you to one... it’s real beer lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Might have to limit you to one... it’s real beer lol

My family is Canadian. I was raised on real beer. Not the colored water that they served in the US for so long.

Tell you what, meet me at Craft Brew Market in Vancouver and I'll do the install in the parking lot. Craft Beer Market :: Vancouver - Welcome to the Craft Beer Market
I'll be up there this summer visiting my wife's aunt over on the Island.

I took a few of our techs up to Vancouver for some training at Alpha Technologies a few years back. Took them all over to Craft for dinner one night. Taught them about poutine, real beer and what real fresh salmon tastes like.
 
Last edited:

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Always good to see a proper install! Wish the photos were a little larger (I'm on the computer and they are less than 2" wide on my screen...not sure if that's my issue or just how they are) but it's an excellent write-up and professional install. But, honestly, I wouldn't expect anything less from you.

Thanks man, I appreciate that.

I've been a tech or engineer all my life and I just enjoy going hands on with this sort of stuff. Can't stand being in an office all day. I get a few hours into the day and I have to go out and hit some sites or I get cranky.
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
My family is Canadian. I was raised on real beer. Not the colored water that they served in the US for so long.

Tell you what, meet me at Craft Brew Market in Vancouver and I'll do the install in the parking lot. Craft Beer Market :: Vancouver - Welcome to the Craft Beer Market
I'll be up there this summer visiting my wife's aunt over on the Island.

I took a few of our techs up to Vancouver for some training at Alpha Technologies a few years back. Took them all over to Craft for dinner one night. Taught them about poutine, real beer and what real fresh salmon tastes like.


Unfortunately I won’t be making it to Vancouver this year. My second child is due in mid-June, and we are hosting a huge family/friend party in our town over August long.

I figured you knew what real beer was:) how many of your co-workers did you have to pour back into their hotels! The salmon is amazing. Montreal is the place to go poutine sampling!

Be prepared for sticker shock when you cross the 49th. In White Rock, just over the border from Blaine, it’s C$1.559/L for regular gas, upwards of C$1.709 for premium gas and C$1.409/L for diesel.

For those that can’t work in Litres it’s about U$4.60/gallon for regular, U$5.05/gallon for premium and U$4.15/gallon for diesel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Unfortunately I won’t be making it to Vancouver this year. My second child is due in mid-June, and we are hosting a huge family/friend party in our town over August long.

Wow, congratulations!

I figured you knew what real beer was:) how many of your co-workers did you have to pour back into their hotels! The salmon is amazing. Montreal is the place to go poutine sampling!

They were OK, I warned them ahead of time. They seemed to take it as a challenge, though.


Be prepared for sticker shock when you cross the 49th. In White Rock, just over the border from Blaine, it’s C$1.559/L for regular gas, upwards of C$1.709 for premium gas and C$1.409/L for diesel.

Yeah, I think when I was up there last year I was paying somewhere around $1.50/l or so.
 

n0xvz

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 5, 2013
Messages
317
Location
San Angelo, TX
Actually…
Since I don't have to do installs for a living, I've found that I kind of enjoy it when I do one. I'm still achy the next day, and my hands look like I stuck the in a running blender, but there's a lot of satisfaction in the work.

Honestly, though, if I was a bit more local, I'd do it for a cold beer or two

Your installs are great! I wish I had half your skill and knowledge.

I keep thinking about a real install for my F-150, but the truth is I'm not on air...like at all. It's hard to justify the expense when my premise is "just in case". So I make due with my portable setup which isn't pretty, but it is affordable the amount I transmit (once in the past 5 years).
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Your installs are great! I wish I had half your skill and knowledge.

I keep thinking about a real install for my F-150, but the truth is I'm not on air...like at all. It's hard to justify the expense when my premise is "just in case". So I make due with my portable setup which isn't pretty, but it is affordable the amount I transmit (once in the past 5 years).

Thanks,

Yeah, there are good reasons not to do an install, and while I personally dislike mag mounts, they can be a good option.

I do use the radio heavily at times, both for work and for play. We do a lot of camping/ATV'ing and that usually involves long tows through the mountains to our favorite places. We usually go with family, and they all are hams, so everyone has a radio in their trunk as well as their UTVs. Once you get accustomed to having good communications on the road, it's hard to go back.

But, yeah, I sort of enjoy doing the work, as long as I only have to do it occasionally. I find it to be a good technical challenge. I've seen a lot of "professional installs" on PD and Fire vehicles, and I quickly realized that it wasn't difficult to do better than some of them. But, of course, I am not on the clock and trying to rush out a fleet of vehicles in a few days.
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,617
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Had my work truck home this weekend. Figured I'd add some photos to this thread.

This is a 2017 F350 regular cab.
I installed 2 work radios, a Kenwood NX-700H for VHF and an NX-900 for 800MHz.
Antennas are Larsen.
I did this truck back in October, some of the parts are identical to what I used on my personal truck above. Wiring is routed the same, control heads are mounted in a similar manner, however the speakers are mounted behind the seats.

There are two power feeds off the battery, one is for the radios in the back of the cab, the other is feeding one of the bins on the service body. Both use 6 gauge wire and feed 60 amp circuit breakers on the firewall. The firewall was the closest location to mount them to the battery.

47fr9Fd.jpg


The #6 going to the cab runs through the grommet just below/behind the under hood fuse box on the passenger side. There is a nub on there that can be cut off and there is enough room to fit the 6 gauge wire through, but nothing else.
The #6 going to the body runs down the firewall, under the cab and into the service body. In one of the bins on the passenger side (curb side) I mounted a piece of plywood with a fuse block and ground buss. There is also a disconnect switch that feeds a 400 watt pure sine wave inverter. In that bin is a Streamlight Vulcan rechargeable light, a Power Products battery charger for the Kenwood portable batteries, a pair of cigarette lighter plugs and a few spare spaces on the fuse block for future needs.

The RF decks are mounted behind the seat on a piece of painted plywood. There is a ATO fuse block and a separate ground buss.
Ignition switched circuit for the radios comes off the passenger side footwell upfitter connections similar to what I used on my personal truck.

qqdqgMs.jpg

ngU2CKC.jpg


Control head cables are routed across the back of the cab and forward along the drivers side wiring space under the door sill.
The #6 from the circuit breaker comes back along the wiring space under the passenger side door sill along with the ignition switched lead.

Two permanent NMO mounts are on the roof. Since it's a regular cab, they were mounted side by side, about 20 inches in from the side and roughly centered front to back.

QTWuA1K.jpg


Coax runs to the rear corner of the cab on either side and down the B pillar. From there, across to the center of the cab where the radios are mounted.

Control heads are mounted under the center of the dash.

SAUo4Bf.jpg


The truck has the service body, and I had the upfitter not install a full lumber rack, but just two sets of "goal post" style racks, one on the front of the body and one on the rear. I didn't want to have to deal with the lumber rack interacting with the antennas.

The speakers mounted behind the seats, one on either side, worked well. They are plenty loud enough to hear even with the windows down at highway speeds. I chose to mount the VHF speaker behind the drivers seat and the 800 speaker behind the passenger seat. That separation makes it easier for me to tell which radio is receiving without having to look.
I used the MagneticMic hangers on this truck and they've worked well. The mics do not shake lose, even with the bumpy ride of a 1 ton truck off road. I had to make a slight modification to the hang up wiring to make that work correctly. Opening the mic and insulating one of the pins that connects the ground to the button does the trick. The magnetic mic hangers do need to be grounded for that to work correctly.

The Larsen antennas work well. The wide band VHF easily covers the range from 144 to 174 with low SWR (below 1.5:1. Since the work stuff is all between 151 and 159, I could have done with less bandwidth, but adding 2 meter amateur stuff to the radio as well as some marine VHF RX makes it a bit more useful.
The 800MHz antenna works well. Was going to use a 1/4 wave, but I had that antenna surplus from another project and put it to use.
The spring bases work well. The aluminum body isn't an issue with the NMO mounts, either. I've hit some low tree branches off road and the antennas easily absorb the hit. The roof doesn't flex enough to cause concern.
Took about 2 days to do the full install in the truck. Routing all the power took some time since there were two runs to take care of. The antenna install was probably the easiest part, had those done in less than an hour.
The PowerProducts charger has come in handy a few times. I've got a couple of repeater sites I have to maintain that are about 75 miles south of where I normally work. It's a long twisty drive down the coast, then another half hour back up into the mountains along a two track path. Having fresh batteries makes life a bit easier.
The inverter has really come in handy. I've had to repair a few things in the field and being able to plug in a soldering iron, charge/run test equipment, power laptops, etc. can really save the day, and it's a heck of a lot easier than carrying a generator with me. 400 watts has been sufficient for my needs and is small enough that it doesn't take up much room. I can always take a generator if I need more juice.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top