F350 - Major Install

[WatnNY]

Holy Crap!!! I think I'm gettin' a woody!

 

[CCHLLM]

Holy Sensory Overload, Batman! Su-weet install! Makes my 5-radios-in-a-Ranger FX4 seem minor. Some very, very nice wire layout and connection work shown there, and oughta be used as an example of how gear SHOULD be installed. Makes me wanna go out to the shop and improve my own crap.

I take it by the number of radios that you're utilizing some sort of comm management by dedicated service, area, or functional programming for each radio. Something like a radio for UHF LE, a radio for VHF LE, a radio for UHF fire, a radio for VHF forest service, etc?

 

[AnsonWilson]

Nice clean install. Why did you use dedicated radios as opposed to scanners?

 

[ChatoB]

This is the first time that this truck has been photographed and posted on anywhere on the net. There was another guy with a tow-truck in Texas who had several radios for what he did. I guess who-ever gets to an accident first in Texas gets the tow.

I did have an Expedition before this truck which had six radios in it. I'll post those pictures below. I had the Exped set up like that when I was just doing the news and no repos. I took all of the equipment out of that Expedition and traded it (the Exped, not the equipment) in for my wife’s current car. Most of the radios/equipment went into the F350.

The Troy consoles are two of the adjustable models. I believe I have a CC-C16 and a CC-C18. There is information about them on their website. Again, I did have to cut off one end of both consoles (which was hard to do because they were brand-new and like $600!) and weld them together to get the length I needed. I got the adjustable models because I wanted to bring the radio faces up as high as I could… also some of the Motorola radios are deep and I didn’t want them to stick out more then any other radio in the console.

I mounted the console through the floor-board, above the tranny with lag-bolts. I stacked strips of 1/4-inch aluminum under the console in the front to ramp it up a bit for better viewing of the radios closer to the dashboard. Once I covered the console with wood and carpet, you could no-longer see that void between the console and the floor. I can post pictures if you’d like…

The 800MHz radios were programmed identically. San Diego County is mostly on two 800MHz trunked systems. One is (mostly) digital and the other is all analog. The scanner was placed in there for versatility since it is easily field programmable.

 

[ChatoB]

There is a-lot of cell tower interference in the metro San Diego area. The dedicated radios worked better then scanners. I was always going to need to listen to 800MHz anyway, so a dedicated radio on a specific band made sense to me. Besides, if you can't tell, I'm a big fan of Motorola products.

 

[NYRHKY94]

Like all the other posters, I must say WOW! Talk about radio envy ;-) I thought my home shack with 7 scanners was a bit over the top.

P.S. How the heck did you get this stuff OK'd by the boss ;-)

 

[ChatoB]

Heh, well... it was a numbers game. I said I needed the radios for work. I had money comming in, so she "OK'd" it. It's funny though... she complains about the cost of the equipment sometimes. Especially the PDRC.

 

[texasemt13]

Oh my gosh...

That sir is an impressive rig...

 

[N1SQB]

Dear God Man!.........

Mother of God!

Jesus Mary and all the angels!

I have died and gone to mobile radio heaven.

Awesome install.

Manny

 

[trooperdude]

Care to share any of your sources for the power distribution system ?

I'm having trouble locating anything locally that's not auto stereo garbage.

 

[daveMICU]

Wow!

That setup is awesome, thanks for the pics!
-Dave

 

[KC0QNB]

This is the first time that this truck has been photographed and posted on anywhere on the net. There was another guy with a tow-truck in Texas who had several radios for what he did. I guess who-ever gets to an accident first in Texas gets the tow.

I did have an Expedition before this truck which had six radios in it. I'll post those pictures below. I had the Exped set up like that when I was just doing the news and no repos. I took all of the equipment out of that Expedition and traded it (the Exped, not the equipment) in for my wife’s current car. Most of the radios/equipment went into the F350.

The Troy consoles are two of the adjustable models. I believe I have a CC-C16 and a CC-C18. There is information about them on their website. Again, I did have to cut off one end of both consoles (which was hard to do because they were brand-new and like $600!) and weld them together to get the length I needed. I got the adjustable models because I wanted to bring the radio faces up as high as I could… also some of the Motorola radios are deep and I didn’t want them to stick out more then any other radio in the console.

I mounted the console through the floor-board, above the tranny with lag-bolts. I stacked strips of 1/4-inch aluminum under the console in the front to ramp it up a bit for better viewing of the radios closer to the dashboard. Once I covered the console with wood and carpet, you could no-longer see that void between the console and the floor. I can post pictures if you’d like…

The 800MHz radios were programmed identically. San Diego County is mostly on two 800MHz trunked systems. One is (mostly) digital and the other is all analog. The scanner was placed in there for versatility since it is easily field programmable.

Lag bolts? like to put wood together? real coarse threads?, just curious about the terminology

 

[AZScanner]

What, no Nextel iDen service monitor?

Just kidding, that's an awesome set up. Nice job.

-AZ

 

[pm1072]

One heck of a nice install. If only I had the room. It's easy to say that you're without a doubt a fan of bat-wing products.... I'll have to make sure a buddy of mine, or two, or three see this thread.

 

[b7spectra]

Has to be one of the best yet. Maybe we should nominate you for best of show?

 

[rescue1017]

Holy crap batman that is awesome

 

[HarryWilly]

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That is an awesome install. I can't imagine the patient you must have had to figure out the wiring. That console is awesome too... much much better than anything I have ever seen commercially available for a Super Duty.

I have to ask... why didn't you decide to go with a whole bunch of scanners to reduce total AMP draw?

Also.. how did you do audio output? I only spot one speaker.

 

[KE5MC]

Care to share any of your sources for the power distribution system ?

I'm having trouble locating anything locally that's not auto stereo garbage.

Lacking input from ChatoB at this point I can give you some direction.

On-line order might be you best choice for a better line of electronic components depending on your area. Mousher (sp?), Digikey and Newark electronics are a few choices.

I am looking in the Newark catalog and some choices for Terminal blocks and barriers are Tyco Electronics, Cinch and Molex. For terminals (ring lugs/spade lugs) Tyco, Molex, SPC Technology and Tomas&Betts.

It will get expensive, not so much for the quality, but the premium you are charged for a small order. The distributor will be buying in high part count from the manufacture and passing the cost to the small buyer.

 

[SCPD]

Very nice! You are an inspiration! I'm presently rewiring the axillary electrical system I put in my Toyota Land Cruiser that I put in it shortly after buying it in 1977. I've got a two battery system with a 100 amp hour deep cycle marine battery for the accessories. I'm removing the overhead lights and the cigarette lighter from the primary electrical system and putting them on the auxiliary system so they don't drain the starting battery. I only have 3 radios to wire into the auxilary system but won't worry about leaving them on or using one of them for 12-14 hours at a time as a cross band repeater (actually an extender).

Did you do anything under the hood as far as getting a larger capacity alternator or adding a second battery? If you mentioned this and I forgot by the time I read all the posts, I apologize. If you did anything under the hood for this installation I would love to see pictures of that.

 

[w8hey]

Nice setup! I couldn't imagine listening to that many radios at once!