mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Dumping photos out of my phone and found these from a few weeks ago.
My dad traded in his truck on a new 2019 Chevy Silverado half ton pickup. He put a Yaesu FT-7800 in it.
The radio install/power wiring were done by him. He dropped by my place for the antenna install. He knows better than to do half-a$$ed magnetic/glass/bracket mounts. He learned the value of a properly installed antenna, even on the roof a brand spankin' new truck.
For the record, like every truck I've turned in, —zero— ($0.00) impact on trade in price for the NMO mount on the roof. I turned in a 2011 F150 with two NMO mounts on the roof, and I got more than Kelley Blue Book top end trade in value on the trade in price since I tend to look after my trucks.
Anyway, 2019 1/2 ton Chevy pickup, crew cab, sun roof, LTZ trim. I didn't get as many photos as I normally do, but here's what I got:
Of course the sun roof is always a concern. We did a bit of searching, mainly by pulling the center dome light and pulling down the roof trim at the rear doors. No an issue, we were able to fit the NMO mount in with almost enough ground plane.
These cabs have the funky rear cap. Its composite/plastic, so non-conductive and not part of the ground plane. Didn't try pulling it apart, no visible screws on the outside or the rear stop lamp.
Measuring from the rear edge of the cab steel, and comparing to what we could visualize through the dome light hole, 16" lands you in OK territory. I know, not a full 1/4 wave, but with the sun roof, compromises needed to be made…
At 16 inches on the crew cab models, it clears the cross brace that's located just behind the dome light. Photo is a bit blurry due to trying to jam my phone up there and take a picture, but you can see the cross member and the shiny brass NMO mount:
Coax was run over to the passenger side B pillar, over the TOP of the curtain airbag, down the pillar, into the wiring trough under the door sill and to the radio. Cable cut to length + 6 inches and a new PL-259 crimped on the end with marine grade heat shrink for strain relief.
Control head was installed in the center console. I didn't like where the mic was mounted and he ran into issues with it later, it's been moved, but I don't have a photo of it.
(Yes, he likes Good & Plenty…
He had the RF deck and speaker mounted under the front passenger seat but it was a lousy location. He ended up moving it to under the rear seat. He ditched the weak MFJ external speaker and put in a proper Motorola speaker.
He did the power wiring. Direct to the battery, as it should be. Wiring is in split loom, run down the passenger side firewall. He ran it up through a hole under the door sill. Sealed up with RTV. He didn't see the firewall grommet with the nipple that can be cut off to feed wiring through like most modern trucks have. If we'd redone it, we would have routed the power wiring that way.
The battery attachment had space to route the wiring, which made it look pretty clean when it's all closed up:
Always a challenge doing an install on a new model. This one, like most full size American trucks is pretty easy.
My dad traded in his truck on a new 2019 Chevy Silverado half ton pickup. He put a Yaesu FT-7800 in it.
The radio install/power wiring were done by him. He dropped by my place for the antenna install. He knows better than to do half-a$$ed magnetic/glass/bracket mounts. He learned the value of a properly installed antenna, even on the roof a brand spankin' new truck.
For the record, like every truck I've turned in, —zero— ($0.00) impact on trade in price for the NMO mount on the roof. I turned in a 2011 F150 with two NMO mounts on the roof, and I got more than Kelley Blue Book top end trade in value on the trade in price since I tend to look after my trucks.
Anyway, 2019 1/2 ton Chevy pickup, crew cab, sun roof, LTZ trim. I didn't get as many photos as I normally do, but here's what I got:
Of course the sun roof is always a concern. We did a bit of searching, mainly by pulling the center dome light and pulling down the roof trim at the rear doors. No an issue, we were able to fit the NMO mount in with almost enough ground plane.
These cabs have the funky rear cap. Its composite/plastic, so non-conductive and not part of the ground plane. Didn't try pulling it apart, no visible screws on the outside or the rear stop lamp.
Measuring from the rear edge of the cab steel, and comparing to what we could visualize through the dome light hole, 16" lands you in OK territory. I know, not a full 1/4 wave, but with the sun roof, compromises needed to be made…
At 16 inches on the crew cab models, it clears the cross brace that's located just behind the dome light. Photo is a bit blurry due to trying to jam my phone up there and take a picture, but you can see the cross member and the shiny brass NMO mount:
Coax was run over to the passenger side B pillar, over the TOP of the curtain airbag, down the pillar, into the wiring trough under the door sill and to the radio. Cable cut to length + 6 inches and a new PL-259 crimped on the end with marine grade heat shrink for strain relief.
Control head was installed in the center console. I didn't like where the mic was mounted and he ran into issues with it later, it's been moved, but I don't have a photo of it.
(Yes, he likes Good & Plenty…
He had the RF deck and speaker mounted under the front passenger seat but it was a lousy location. He ended up moving it to under the rear seat. He ditched the weak MFJ external speaker and put in a proper Motorola speaker.
He did the power wiring. Direct to the battery, as it should be. Wiring is in split loom, run down the passenger side firewall. He ran it up through a hole under the door sill. Sealed up with RTV. He didn't see the firewall grommet with the nipple that can be cut off to feed wiring through like most modern trucks have. If we'd redone it, we would have routed the power wiring that way.
The battery attachment had space to route the wiring, which made it look pretty clean when it's all closed up:
Always a challenge doing an install on a new model. This one, like most full size American trucks is pretty easy.