Any Ideas? - Honda Civic LX - 2001

[KB1MZR]

Hi All,

I'm looking at taking a 2001 Honda Civic LX and converting it into the mobile shack. It is a 4-Door (as it may make a difference antenna wise). I know it's a small car so I'm not going to be able to do much with it. It is going to be used by a ham/scanner/Civil Air Patrol member. I'd like to do the following radio wise:

Yaesu FT-7800R (Ham) - now comes with the separation kit
ICOM IC-F5061 or Kenwood TK-760HG (undecided at this point)
Radio Shack PRO-2055 Scanner
A Cheap CB

Non-Radio:
New Pioneer CD Player
Garmin Nuvi 200W GPS

Does anyone have any ideas on the radio stuff? similar installs? I'd like to get a console for tha but nobody really makes anything that would go good in a Civic. I'm not too good at stuff like this, I know people who will help me install it but planning is going to be the hard part. I want a nice clean install and I don't want things to look too....out of place if you know what I mean.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!

Tom

 

[FlashP]

Honda 2003

My 2003 Civic 2dr might be close enough. I put the transceiver body in the trunk, on the right rear wheel well. Removed factory radio and had room for a stereo and a scanner (996), and hung the transceiver head under the lower center dash (below the recirc button). Chopped up the pocket next to the hand brake, and put the CB in there. RigRunner power strip and rat's nest of wiring is under the CB. Load-shedder device is behind the glove compartment, and master power switch is in a small panel that replaces the little pocket in front of the gearshift.

Had a pro put in two NMO mounts in the roof, run down the right front (A) post. CB antenna is on an NMO mount on front lip of the trunk. GPS hockey puck under the front windshield between the defroster vents; that went in recently and I'm still looking at stuffing the wire through a notch in the dash above the four-way flasher switch (there's no reasonable way to drop it directly near the defroster vents).

Wire runs under the rear seat between trunk and center console, it's easy to push it under the carpet. Biggest hassle was getting power through the firewall.

Oh yeah - the microphones wound up looking relatively huge!

Flash

 

[key2_altfire]

If you haven't purchased the scanner yet, you might consider a Uniden BCT15 instead of the 2055, because you can use a remote control head with the BCT15.

My favored installation in passenger sedans is NMO mounts on the trunk lid, radios in the trunk, and control heads up front. That way the coax runs are very short, and no excess equipment to catch the eye of thieves.

 

[wwhitby]

I've got a 2004 Civic LX sedan, which I believe is the same body style as yours. What I did was buy a PanaVise indash mount to hold my PSR-500 scanner. It fits next to the radio, and is at almost eye level.

Ham radio is my old Kenwood TM-733 with a remote mount kit. The head is next to the 12 volt recepticle on the dash, with the body in the trunk.

I had a hard time finding a place to put speakers for my ham radio and scanner. I finally mounted them to the seat adjuster handle that in front of the driver's seat, by zip tying the brackets to the adjuster handle. They are out of the way, and plenty loud enough for me.

I do have a CB in there, but I only hook it up when I go on trips or out of the local area. Its a Uniden PRO-510, with a mag mount antenna. I wish someone made a remote mount CB radio!

I have two antennas on each side of the trunk using NMO trunk lip mounts.

BTW, when I was active in CAP, I was Goldenrod 133.

Take care, and good luck!

Warren

 

[roadranger]

Mag mounts are OK

I guess the best thing to do for an hf (20m) antenna would be to mount it with three giant, connected magnets. It would be hard to try to pull it off.

 

[firetaz834]

For the CB, you might try to find a remote head unit. I have a motorola CB with a remote head. Again, that will save you precious space in the passenger compartment and also allow for a shorter coax run.

Hope that helps.

Here is a link that you might find useful:
http://www.instawares.com/cobra-c75-wxst-mobile.75wxst.0.7.htm