N9JIG Mobile

[N9JIG]

Here is a shot of the mobile install in my vehicle.

From top to bottom:

RH-96 Remote Head connected to a BCD996T
BC796D
BC15
CDM1250 UHF
CDM1250 VHF
CD-1 Tone Decoder

On the right side of the console is the control head for my Kenwood TM-D700 dual bander.

Out of sight below the RH96 is a Garmin GPS used for the BCD996T. The BCD996T is tucked away between the passenger seat and console below the dual band control head.

The RH96 is actually mounted on a pull-out cup holder, pushed in the control head is almost flush with the stereo above it (as shown), pulled out the cup holders are clear and unobstructed and the RH96 is pretty close to and aligned with the 796.

The 3 mics are remoted with Cat 5 patch cables to a patch box on the back side of the console, that is the white box below the Moto mics. This helps avoid cord tangles. (I plan on spray painting this box soon to match the console)

The console is a Troy Command Console I picked up at a hamfest. It had no side rails or inserts when I bought it and it was in pretty rough condition. I did some patch painting and sanding off some rust spots, and replaced the side rails with aluminum stock.

There are 3 power leads, 2 directly to the battery for the CDM's and another to the accessory port on the interior fuseblock for the scanners and TM-D700. With the CDM's turn-on leads connected to the accessory port they turn and off with the ignition, and I can turn them on manually with the engine off.

I have 4 antennas on NMO mounts to the rear of the van. One is a dual bander for the TM-D700, one each as 1/4 waves for the CDM's and an Antennex center loaded scanner antenna for the 3 scanners. This feeds a Stridsberg amplified multi-coupler enclosed in the console. Directly below the UHF mic is a panel mount BNC that can be used for a handheld scanner when 3 just aren't enough.

I am waiting on a panel to replace the jerry-rigged arrangement for the CD-1, when it arrives from the shop I will take a Dremel tool to it to fit the tone decoder.

There are cigar plug sockets on the right and left sies of the console that are not visible in this picture.

I didn't notice that the displays were pretty much wiped out by glare when I took these pictures, they looked fine in the view finder!

 

[bezking]

WHOA, Man. AWESOME ALL THE WAY! Seems rather fitting after the base station pics you posted. Do you have any power issues? I wish I could do something like that, too bad mobile scanners are illegal in NY.

 

[n8myc]

Very impressive. Looks awesome!

 

[N9JIG]

WHOA, Man. AWESOME ALL THE WAY! Seems rather fitting after the base station pics you posted. Do you have any power issues? I wish I could do something like that, too bad mobile scanners are illegal in NY.

Nope, no power issues. The CDM's are powered directly to the battery and the scanners and Dual Bander share a single 20 amp circuit. Each scanner plus the CD1 and Stridsberg as well as each of the cigar sockets are individually fused to a block from the main power feed.

 

[N467RX]

What car is that? is it european?

 

[KC8JPZ]

That was nice of them to put the shifter on the dash. Very nice install.

 

[N9JIG]

What car is that? is it european?

Nope, American made... Honda Odyssey, made in Alabama. This is the Touring Edition with the built-in Nav system. Works great, but I can't seem to find a way to tap the GPS receiver that is already part of the car.

 

[SCPD]

just wondering

what are the two switches for at the bottom left you have all of the things hooked up to those 2 switch'

 

[N9JIG]

One is a power switch for the CD-1 and the other reversed the DPL polarity (one position causes the CD-1 to display correct polarity with VHF signals and the other displays correct polarity with UHF and 800).

 

[KC9LDB]

Nope, American made... Honda Odyssey, made in Alabama. This is the Touring Edition with the built-in Nav system. Works great, but I can't seem to find a way to tap the GPS receiver that is already part of the car.

What??? wow Honda was like a little cd player if you were lucky and cloth interior, I really thought thus was like an Acura MDX or a really new possible trailblazer. Hmmm. Very cool set-up!

 

[N9JIG]

What??? wow Honda was like a little cd player if you were lucky and cloth interior, I really thought thus was like an Acura MDX or a really new possible trailblazer. Hmmm. Very cool set-up!

The Oddysey Touring Edition has full leather interior, megawatt stereo system, with 6 disk CD changer, rear DVD system and a built-in touch-screen Navigation system, in addition to a rear view camera, XM, run flats etc, etc, etc. A far cry from those little Civics of the 70's that could just about fit in the rear of my Dad's old station wagon! (Don't need a spare tire, just bring along a spare car!)

One of the neatest things I found was a built-in AC Inverter, came in real handy when I forgot the DC adaptor for my 396 and the batteries died...

 

[N467RX]

Wow, nice minivan, I thought it was European because of the way the shifter is mounted.

 

[homerjay]

CDM1250 UHF
CDM1250 VHF

Hello. Very nice setup. I know you guy are down in the US, but what do you use the CDM 2-ways for? I was looking at getting a UHF one for the FRS/GMRS freqs.

 

[N9JIG]

Hello. Very nice setup. I know you guy are down in the US, but what do you use the CDM 2-ways for? I was looking at getting a UHF one for the FRS/GMRS freqs.

They both have my work and Mutual Aid channels on them. The VHF one has a few ham repeaters and simplex channels and the UHF one also has GMRS channels in it. The UHF one is a high split (450 to 512) so won't do 440. Since my work dispatch channels are 470.xxxx I can't use the low split (430-470 MHz.) CDM. There is supposed to be a hack to make the CDM go down to 440 but they are still under warranty and then go on a service contract (They belong to my agency...) so I can't really diddle with them that much.

 

[k9rzz]

How do you find time to drive??

John K9RZZ

 

[N9JIG]

How do you find time to drive??

John K9RZZ

That's just it, I spend so much time in the car that the radios come in handy.

My usual day to day set up has the 996 watching the StarCom system (using the GPS feature works great for this!), the 796 scanning local rail and fire channels, the BC15 on Close Call, the UHF CDM on my favorite GMRS repeaters, the VHF on ISPERN and a couple other mutual aid channels, and the dual bander on whatever channels I want to chat on. I am used to the audio levels and can usually pretty much tell what radio is squawking at any given time, and can pick out what is important to listen to...

 

[MdVolBaltoCo]

Wow.. very nice setup. Do you have the no drinking in the car rule? ( I def would)

 

[bezking]

Wow.. very nice setup. Do you have the no drinking in the car rule? ( I def would)

I would sure hate to spill soda on one of those CDM's....

 

[N9JIG]

I would sure hate to spill soda on one of those CDM's....

Actually... the CDM's are really not a problem if I spill on them...

When we bought a fleet of 50 of these for work there was an extra box in the shipment containing 24 CDM face assemblies. (The CDM comes in 2 peices joined together to allow easy conversion into remote mount radios.) I asked the company we bought the radios from and he checked up the supply line and we never figured out where these fronts came from. We all decided that I would hang on to them and use them for replacements if someone spills a pop into one and that the shop I bought from can have any if he needs any. I have already used one on one of our squads, saving a $300 repair bill on a $600 radio.