Josh
Member
Yeah, so here's what I'm working with while on the go, looks kinda like my room- but for a reason, and FYI, they're not the same radios, I've become a bit of a spectra addict.
1) On the car, I've got an 800Mhz Moto antenna, on a trunk-lip mount, and up top is my fairly aged Moto mag-mount w/VHF whip.
2) Inside the trunk, the my formerly Motorocycle Spectra, now remote mounted in the trunk, but the cable is a little short and can't be routed too well into the passenger compartment, so that's one thing I'm fixing to change. Motorcycle Spectra remote-heads use a 7' cable. One of the wires visible in the trunk goes to the CD player, but clearly adds to what probably looks like a mess.
3) Inside the car, is my VHF Spectra (dash-mount) on a locking bracket, and the remote head from the spectra 800 in the trunk. The speaker for the VHF radio is right there on the hand-brake, but it's odd location doesn't at all inhibit use of the parking brake. The 800 speaker, is out of view mounted on the backside of the transmission linkage hump, in the back-seat. Also, when I drive, especially around home, I put my XTS3K on the downriver system in the "change holder"- or whatever it is, which is also in the center console. It fits snug and at an angle that the speaker faces up, it works well.
Now, the radios are wired directly to the battery via fuse box- and the system works great as-is, but the 800Mhz spectra screen is difficult to see because the shifter gets in the field of view, so I am looking to do some changing, and here's what I have in mind...
Putting a real remote-head cable on the trunk spectra, with the added length of cable, I can put it somewhere else in the car- location undetermined. Then remounting the VHF spectra under the passenger seat, and remote mounting the head using either the motorcycle cable (shorter run for head mounting) or, getting a regular cable (these are 17 footers) and running an A9 head, I'd actually like to put an A9 on both- I received two A9 heads in the mail yesterday, and a 17' control cable- but head mounting locations are rather hard to find.
I've taken a great liking to the A9 control head because it allows for an 11 character display (rather than just 8) and can handle a lot more programmable features. I found out that you can even program a button (on trunking radios) so that you can see the system time, which is pretty cool IMO- even though trunker can decode that too, but around here, the time is seldom accurate.
Oh well, enjoy. Some tips from fellow escort owners who value the leg-room of their passengers, are welcome to give me some advice on where to put the heads, I'm fairly set on having on A9 and one A7 in the car, the A7 for the 800Mhz spectra, and A9 on the VHF....
-Josh
1) On the car, I've got an 800Mhz Moto antenna, on a trunk-lip mount, and up top is my fairly aged Moto mag-mount w/VHF whip.
2) Inside the trunk, the my formerly Motorocycle Spectra, now remote mounted in the trunk, but the cable is a little short and can't be routed too well into the passenger compartment, so that's one thing I'm fixing to change. Motorcycle Spectra remote-heads use a 7' cable. One of the wires visible in the trunk goes to the CD player, but clearly adds to what probably looks like a mess.
3) Inside the car, is my VHF Spectra (dash-mount) on a locking bracket, and the remote head from the spectra 800 in the trunk. The speaker for the VHF radio is right there on the hand-brake, but it's odd location doesn't at all inhibit use of the parking brake. The 800 speaker, is out of view mounted on the backside of the transmission linkage hump, in the back-seat. Also, when I drive, especially around home, I put my XTS3K on the downriver system in the "change holder"- or whatever it is, which is also in the center console. It fits snug and at an angle that the speaker faces up, it works well.
Now, the radios are wired directly to the battery via fuse box- and the system works great as-is, but the 800Mhz spectra screen is difficult to see because the shifter gets in the field of view, so I am looking to do some changing, and here's what I have in mind...
Putting a real remote-head cable on the trunk spectra, with the added length of cable, I can put it somewhere else in the car- location undetermined. Then remounting the VHF spectra under the passenger seat, and remote mounting the head using either the motorcycle cable (shorter run for head mounting) or, getting a regular cable (these are 17 footers) and running an A9 head, I'd actually like to put an A9 on both- I received two A9 heads in the mail yesterday, and a 17' control cable- but head mounting locations are rather hard to find.
I've taken a great liking to the A9 control head because it allows for an 11 character display (rather than just 8) and can handle a lot more programmable features. I found out that you can even program a button (on trunking radios) so that you can see the system time, which is pretty cool IMO- even though trunker can decode that too, but around here, the time is seldom accurate.
Oh well, enjoy. Some tips from fellow escort owners who value the leg-room of their passengers, are welcome to give me some advice on where to put the heads, I'm fairly set on having on A9 and one A7 in the car, the A7 for the 800Mhz spectra, and A9 on the VHF....
-Josh
