MY THIRD RADIO INSTALLATION IN MY JEEP WRANGLER

[nokones]

I'm just finishing up with a third radio in my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. to complement my Motorola XTL5000 High Powered Remote Mount UHF radio and my Cobra 25 LTD Classic AM/FM CB Radio. My third radio is a Motorola XTL2500 Remote Mount 840 Channel VHF radio. I 'm going to use a Laird TE Connectivity B1442 Base Load Non-Groundplane antenna hanging on the driver's side at the cowl with a Rugged Radio mount.

I have the radio installed and the electrical connected however, I am waiting on a Powerwerx Anderson Power Pole Distribution Block. I had to remove my CB, Garmin Navigation Systems from the existing distribution block in order to power the newly installed radio.

Essentially, all I have left to do, is finished up on the antenna mount grounding system, running the NMO antenna mount cable, install the Mini UHF connector on the cable, and tune the antenna.

I intend to do that tomorrow. I called it a day at 3PM Arizona time. I've been out in the garage since 8AM and it was 113 degrees.

Then, I will need to program the radio.

 

[AK9R]

Curious about your "Garmin Navigation System"? Can you tell us more? Do you have a resource that I can research?

 

[nokones]

Curious about your "Garmin Navigation System"? Can you tell us more? Do you have a resource that I can research?

It is a Garmin Tread XL 10 Overland Edition system with the inReach subscription service. The monitor is mounted on Ram Mounts with a Bullet Point Mounting Plate on the Dash.

Garmin Tread® XL - Overland Edition | Powersport GPS

Tread XL - Overland Edition is an extra big all-terrain GPS with turn-by-turn trail navigation, custom routing, and built-in global satellite communication.

www.garmin.com

 

[prcguy]

As a suggestion, for about what you may have in the XTX-5000 and XTL-2500 you can put together a Harris XG-100M with hand held control head. The Harris is a triband that does 136-174, 380-512, 760-870 and receive 30-50MHz. Jeeps are a little lacking in radio space and the HHC-731 hand held control head is a dream to use in my Jeep JT.

Here is what the package looks like but ignore the price, you can put that together for about $650 if you make your own control head interface.

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[nokones]

Thanks. I got one hell of a deal a few months ago on the XTL2500 radio and controlhead and it had the Astro Digital and the 840 channel capacity so I couldn't pass it up. My original thought was find an APX series remote mount radio with VHF/UHF and an O9 controlhead at a reasonable price and dive into an APX mobile. I'm still on the hunt for one.

I've had the XTL 5000 remote high powered radio for sometime and I installed it just after I got the Jeep and has been in my Jeep for about a year now.

 

[jeepsandradios]

APX with 03 control head is what I use in my JT and JK. I was running XTL5000 with 03 control heads in the JK until I found a great deal on a multiband. The only issue with a single deck radio is hearing 2 channels at same time. That was my biggest issue going to my first 8500. Our SAR teams all operate on VHF and County is on UHF TLMR. So I need to hear VHF for our folks and still operate with county when in command. Anyway nice setup. I ran dual 2500's for a bit in the JK but quickly found the 5K so i could go with the HHCH

BTW...the Garmin XL is sweet. I have the older overland from them and love it.

 

[nokones]

Please confirm. I believe I am supposed to have ground continuity from the mini UHF connector all the way to the outside brass contact point that will mount to the base of my mounting bracket? Is that correct?

 

[KevinC]

Please confirm. I believe I am supposed to have ground continuity from the mini UHF connector all the way to the outside brass contact point that will mount to the base of my mounting bracket? Is that correct?
View attachment 170001

Yes. The crimp ring should be attached to the mount as in the below picture.

 

[prcguy]

Thanks. I got one hell of a deal a few months ago on the XTL2500 radio and controlhead and it had the Astro Digital and the 840 channel capacity so I couldn't pass it up. My original thought was find an APX series remote mount radio with VHF/UHF and an O9 controlhead at a reasonable price and dive into an APX mobile. I'm still on the hunt for one.

I've had the XTL 5000 remote high powered radio for sometime and I installed it just after I got the Jeep and has been in my Jeep for about a year now.

The Harris XG-100M is at least 95% of what an APX-8500 can do and it’s about 1/10th the cost. Non affiliate trunk scan is a no brainer and it also receives 30-50MHz which the APX does not. I had an APX-7500 VHF/UHF1 in my Jeep for a brief time then sold it for enough to fund several XG-100Ms. I’m sooo much happier with the Harris compared to an APX.

 

[nokones]

The Harris XG-100M is at least 95% of what an APX-8500 can do and it’s about 1/10th the cost. Non affiliate trunk scan is a no brainer and it also receives 30-50MHz which the APX does not. I had an APX-7500 VHF/UHF1 in my Jeep for a brief time then sold it for enough to fund several XG-100Ms. I’m sooo much happier with the Harris compared to an APX.

Thanks. My next radio install project is for my 21 Silverado Dually Diesel and I'm not in a hurry at the moment. I very seldom drive it. I currently have a Motorola XTL5000 Remote High-Powered UHF and I think it would be best to combined a VHF and UHF in this Truck to save console space.

The power for two radios would not be a problem because I have an auxiliary battery and a secondary alternator and currently I am powering the CB and UHF radios off the Aux battery.

I really don't need to monitor both bands simultaneously but it would be nice especially if I can in my travels throughout the country to/from my races.

I used to dabble in GE/Ericsson radios many years ago well maybe a decade or so ago now. The S825 controlhead was a tad of a space hog so I acquired an Orion to replace the S825/Rangers package. The Ranger also liked to suck power.

I really loved the Orion but trying to acquire the button caps was a problem after the radio was discontinued and the GE Sales and Service Dealers were drying up fast. That kinda told me to consider Motorola so got an account for buying the software and the accessories and I started acquiring Motorola stuff.

As for the portable, I had both a MPA and a MPD and they were great radios. I believe I still have the programming software.

I really don't have a need to monitor the low-band and 700/800 Freqs. I just need the VHF & UHF bands.

I've been wanting to get into the APX mobiles, but not the portables at this time. I am knee deep into the JEDI and Astro 25 XTS series audio accessories such as Speaker mics, headsets, ear pieces, race car and helmet audio harness, etc. and the APX audio accessories are not compatible with any other series radios.

When I get around to do something for the Truck, I'll take a look at the Harris stuff and if it would be a good fit for me and my Truck.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[nokones]

Well, tuning my Laird/ TE Connectively B1442 Non-Groundplane antenna was very eventful and educational and I wasted a perfect and my last spare mini-UHF connector for nothing. I guess I got sorta impatient and less-than-confident with myself regarding installing the connector on the antenna coax.

My VSWR reading was buried in the infinity zone and my 50-watt radio was measured with 10 watts forward with a bunch of reflected power according to my recently calibrated Bird 43 meter and slug. Humm, I may have a short or open circuit somewhere in the coax or at the mount.

So, just be on the safe side, I get my Telewave In-Line RF Watt meter and check the readings again and they were the same. Also, I disconnected the antenna lead and connected a dummy load and I was transmitting 50 watts.

So, thinking that I may have screwed up the installation of the mini-UHF connector on the coax, I decided to whack off the mini-UHF connector and install a PL 259 connector. The VSWR reading was no different than the mini-UHF connector at that point, I thought that I may have whacked off and wasted a perfectly installed mini-UHF connector unnecessarily.

I decided to use a magmount to check the antenna and the VSWR was 8 or so but, I haven't cut the antenna yet. So, I cut the antenna based on the cut-chart for my targeted center resonance of 154 Megs which I whacked off 6 inches of the antenna element. The VSWR was 4+. Ok, at least the antenna is good and heading in the right direction and no doubt that the antenna element at full length was contributing to the infinity reading.

So, I decided to start checking the antenna grounding system. My newly installed ground strap definitely had ground continuity to the mounting bolt, but not to the mounting bracket. I removed the bracket and wire-wheeled the paint off the bracket and reinstalled the bracket, and I had ground continuity at the bracket for the antenna coax mount to make a bonded ground.

I reinstalled the antenna and mounting bracket to the vehicle, and I decided to start tuning the antenna with a Rig-Expert AA-650 Antenna Analyzer. I got to 1.4:1 VSWR at 154 Megs by cutting off 4 more inches of the antenna element to make a total of 10 inches that were cut-off and 4 inches less than what the cut chart specified.

I decided to check the forward and reflected power with the Bird and my readings were a tad 50+ forward and what I estimate something way less than a watt reflected and the needle movement came pretting close of representing a VSWR of 1.3:1. That made me very happy.

Very valuable lesson learned and I have extra mini-UHF connectors on order, but, I'll leave the PL 259 on the cable.

 

[prcguy]

Well, tuning my Laird/ TE Connectively B1442 Non-Groundplane antenna was very eventful and educational and I wasted a perfect and my last spare mini-UHF connector for nothing. I guess I got sorta impatient and less-than-confident with myself regarding installing the connector on the antenna coax.

My VSWR reading was buried in the infinity zone and my 50-watt radio was measured with 10 watts forward with a bunch of reflected power according to my recently calibrated Bird 43 meter and slug. Humm, I may have a short or open circuit somewhere in the coax or at the mount.

So, just be on the safe side, I get my Telewave In-Line RF Watt meter and check the readings again and they were the same. Also, I disconnected the antenna lead and connected a dummy load and I was transmitting 50 watts.

So, thinking that I may have screwed up the installation of the mini-UHF connector on the coax, I decided to whack off the mini-UHF connector and install a PL 259 connector. The VSWR reading was no different than the mini-UHF connector at that point, I thought that I may have whacked off and wasted a perfectly installed mini-UHF connector unnecessarily.

I decided to use a magmount to check the antenna and the VSWR was 8 or so but, I haven't cut the antenna yet. So, I cut the antenna based on the cut-chart for my targeted center resonance of 154 Megs which I whacked off 6 inches of the antenna element. The VSWR was 4+. Ok, at least the antenna is good and heading in the right direction and no doubt that the antenna element at full length was contributing to the infinity reading.

So, I decided to start checking the antenna grounding system. My newly installed ground strap definitely had ground continuity to the mounting bolt, but not to the mounting bracket. I removed the bracket and wire-wheeled the paint off the bracket and reinstalled the bracket, and I had ground continuity at the bracket for the antenna coax mount to make a bonded ground.

I reinstalled the antenna and mounting bracket to the vehicle, and I decided to start tuning the antenna with a Rig-Expert AA-650 Antenna Analyzer. I got to 1.4:1 VSWR at 154 Megs by cutting off 4 more inches of the antenna element to make a total of 10 inches that were cut-off and 4 inches less than what the cut chart specified.

I decided to check the forward and reflected power with the Bird and my readings were a tad 50+ forward and what I estimate something way less than a watt reflected and the needle movement came pretting close of representing a VSWR of 1.3:1. That made me very happy.

Very valuable lesson learned and I have extra mini-UHF connectors on order, but, I'll leave the PL 259 on the cable.

View attachment 170044
View attachment 170045

Is there a reason you didn’t consider a trunk lip mount on the hood? I think the mount you used is a terrible thing to subject an antenna to placing it way below hood level. Is the curved piece with the mounting bolt holding the antenna mount made of plastic like on my truck? If so that further reduces the ground plane which is directly tied to antenna pattern and performance, even on a no ground plane type antenna.

 

[nokones]

Is there a reason you didn’t consider a trunk lip mount on the hood? I think the mount you used is a terrible thing to subject an antenna to placing it way below hood level. Is the curved piece with the mounting bolt holding the antenna mount made of plastic like on my truck? If so that further reduces the ground plane which is directly tied to antenna pattern and performance, even on a no ground plane type antenna.

Not that I can't think of a real reason, except there isn't much of a lip and there is curved/raised portion of sort on the underside of the hood from the edge/lip I think may get in the way of the mount. Yes, the curved piece is plastic.

 

[prcguy]

Not that I can't think of a real reason, except there isn't much of a lip and there is curved/raised portion of sort on the underside of the hood from the edge/lip I think may get in the way of the mount. Yes, the curved piece is plastic.

Did you see the pics of the trunk lip mounts on my Jeep JT? I liked so much I put one on each side. One has a Larsen NMO 2/70B for a Yaesu FTM-400DR and the other has various triband models for the Harris XG-100M. I‘ve also run a Laird CW27 wide band CB/10m whip on one of the mounts and that works great. The mounts fit perfect with nothing in the way.

 

[nokones]

Did you see the pics of the trunk lip mounts on my Jeep JT? I liked so much I put one on each side. One has a Larsen NMO 2/70B for a Yaesu FTM-400DR and the other has various triband models for the Harris XG-100M. I‘ve also run a Laird CW27 wide band CB/10m whip on one of the mounts and that works great. The mounts fit perfect with nothing in the way.

Yes, I did. I guess I should buy one and see if it will fit my hood lip. Also, I have a Light Bar and Ditch Lights in that Area where a lip mount may go. I would like to try the CW27.

 

[prcguy]

Yes, I did. I guess I should buy one and see if it will fit my hood lip. Also, I have a Light Bar and Ditch Lights in that Area where a lip mount may go. I would like to try the CW27.

I have spares, if you were closer I would loan you one.

 

[nokones]

Thanks. I'll just order the mount and antenna one to see if I can make it fit. It won't break the bank. If it doesn't work out, I'll just add it to the rest of my spares stuff or give it to another Jeep Creep.