Pontiac G8 Update - Part 2

[mrweather]

Playing around a bit more with my radio installation...

I removed the Yaesu FT-8900 and it's doing duty in the shack. I recently picked up a new Kenwood TM-V71A. I've also got a Kenwood TK-690H for six meters. Here's the end result:

The V71A head sits in the storage shelf at the top of the dash. The remote cable runs out the back and down behind the dash and out to the trunk where the drawer is installed. The speaker for this sits hidden below the stereo. The mic cable runs out the bottom of the dash and plugs into the radio body. Not sure if I like the green display. I might switch it back to amber.

The 690H head is mounted in the storage bin below the hvac controls. The remote cable runs out the back and out to the trunk where the drawer is installed. The V71A mic cable comes out under the 690H head.

The "big picture". The 690H mic is on a hanger. The V71A mic sits in a storage recess on the right side of the console. Interesting factoid: the mics are interchangeable.

The left antenna is a Larsen 5/8 wave UHF and the right one a Larsen NMO150 that works as a 5/8 on two meters and as a loaded 1/4 wave on six meters.

The big drawer is the TK-690H; the small one the TM-V71A. Both are mounted to a piece of 3/4" plywood. The NMO150 feeds the 690H through the low-band lead of a Comet triplexer; the VHF lead from the triplexer goes to the VHF input of a Comet diplexer, and the UHF antenna goes to the UHF input of the diplexer, which is connected to the V71A. It all seems to work together well.

And yes, I need some split loom.

 

[bezking]

Now THAT is a NICE setup. It seems like that car was designed for those radios.

 

[Warthog1]

Hey....I like that set up. (nice car too)

 

[WatnNY]

414.5875? What are you monitoring on that freq on the TM-V71A???

Mike

 

[b7spectra]

Now, that looks GOOD!

 

[mrweather]

Thanks for the comments.

414.5875 is the dispatch frequency for my city's fire department. All other comms are done on the 800 MHz trunked system but for some reason they do their call-outs on UHF.

As far as the car being designed for radios it could be because it's sister the Holden VE Commodore is used as a patrol car in many police departments in Australia. The only annoyance is the full console precludes "traditional" radios and anything I want to use must be remote mountable.

In case anyone is wondering why I swapped one radio that does it all (the FT-8900) for two separate ones, well, the 690H puts out 110 watts on six meters (the FT-8900 only does 50) and sometimes you need that extra punch to get through.

 

[wv8mat]

thats nice install, but i would have to move that mic, my legs and that cord would be fighting for space, lol

 

[K4APR]

I noticed you are using PowerPoles for power connectors. I would suggest somthing like a Rigrunner to clean that up:

RIGrunner 4005 [RR-4005] - $64.99

I used the 8 port version in my install:

 

[WatnNY]

Well that explains it -- you're not from the States! And I think it's a great set up!

Mike

 

[brutalpilot514]

That looks really really good.

 

[mrweather]

I noticed you are using PowerPoles for power connectors. I would suggest somthing like a Rigrunner to clean that up

Actually, I'm using a 5-port Rigrunner. In the last picture it's off to the left out of the field of view. The car battery is in the trunk on the driver's side which makes grabbing power really easy.

Nice organization of your radios in that long bin.

 

[K4APR]

Actually, I'm using a 5-port Rigrunner. In the last picture it's off to the left out of the field of view. The car battery is in the trunk on the driver's side which makes grabbing power really easy.

Ah, ok! Good man!

Nice organization of your radios in that long bin.

Thanks. This was actually a second version for a new car. I originally built this box and had it bolted to the back of the cab, of my old S-10 pickup. When I sold the truck and got an Impala, the box was perfect to lay in the trunk, right against the back seat, but was about 6" too long. I pulled the black flet back, chopped the end, replaced the end panel and then trimmed/reattached the felt.

That picture was right after the resizing and I just got started on mounting and wiring. So it did'nt look all that nice yet. The black cable ties you can see above the box really help with cable management in a small space like that.