The Ham Van ('04 Odyssey)

[KD2OFU]

Current work in progress.


Currently I've got a BTECH 25x2 mobile, along with an ASTRO Spectra, and that's about all that's currently running. I do, however, have a set of XTL's (one for me, one for a friend) coming in, and may be getting an XTVA for my many XTS portables.

I built and designed the center console myself. I plan on upholstering it in faux beige leather to match the rest of the interior and add some padding within the next month or so. Ignore the MCS head, I got it in a lot of parts, and it was one of the few things I didn't really need. It was nice to have on hand for building the console, though.

Shot of the console from the rear. I used to have a 19" monitor on the VESA mount right there, but took it off because it was a bit too big. I'm probably going to use a 17", since it'll fit with the pilot seats a bit better.

The trunk is pretty cluttered right now, so I'll show the engine bay instead. In the top left of the image you can see my isolator for the dual battery system I've set up (35Ah battery in the trunk, isolates when the key is in the off or accessory positions). I do want to consider getting a solar panel to help sustain the rear battery when the car sits for a while when I'm at school, even though there *shouldn't* be an issue.

Also been fixing a lot of issues that have been ignored on the van for a while, such as a power steering leak, cracked air intake after the filter (you can see the solution in the above picture- lol), poor AC performance, and a few other odds and ends.

More details will follow, as I continue to get the van cleaned up from this past semester of school!

 

[N9JIG]

Look for some of my older Pilot and Odyssey installs, they might help you out. The Odyssey and Pilot have rear storage compartments that are awesome for radios. The Odyssey pit in the rear is actually the seat well for when you fold the seats down but you can buy or make a cover that protects the radios from view and allow you to put boxes etc. on top of it.

Some of the pics have been lost to time and server changes but here are a couple links to start wth:
Pilot Radio
https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/n9jig-van.255552/#post-1876193

 

[KD2OFU]

Thanks for the pointers, N9JIG! I was thinking of building something for that purpose, but now that I know they (used to) make those trays, I'm going to scoop one up off eBay in a matter of time. Worst case is if/when I need to put the rear seat down, I can completely remove it- it's just four 14mm bolts on the bottom.

Got my living room speakers out of the trunk, and now you can actually see some of the stuff I've done in the rear.

Got my rear/aux battery on the left, my 800 spectra brick on the beneath the seat adjacent to the battery, and a bunch of high power spectra I plan on fixing up and getting some money back on. On the right you can see my latitude docking station, which I plan on using for programming, SDR, research, and mobile reference. Still need to do some cleaning, but it's getting there.

Figured I'd show a better picture of the antenna farm, since I have the opportunity.

The black super loading Nagoya is attached to my UV25x2. The MFJ "Big John" RuffRider currently isn't hooked up, it'll go with my UHF XTL that's coming next week (also getting a tri-magnet base for it as well). The no-name stainless whip is hooked up to my 800 spectra. Finally, the TRAM antenna is hooked up to my twin SDR brick, which combines two SDR's into one little box and antenna, making trunked scanning a lot easier.

 

[03msc]

Great start. If you’re doing a permanent install like this, ditch the mag mounts and properly install the antennas on nmo mounts. Safer, cleaner, no damage, and better performance.

 

[KD2OFU]

Very true, only thing is that I'm still "borrowing" the van, so drilling a huge hole in the roof for an NMO mount is currently off the table. For now, at least. Not to mention I'm still figuring out where I'd want to stick everything, so the magnets afford me that modularity for now.


The new base came in yesterday. I'm leaving the old mount in place, since I think I'll probably stick a Laird Phantom on it at some point for the system I use while at school.

My box of remote W5 heads should be getting here tomorrow, and I'll be converting one of them to a W7 for use in the van with either my 800 Spectra or my UHF XTL.

 

[W9WSS]

Tom, as a licensed ham of 51 years, I have always had mobile installations in my cars, even as a teen in my parents' car. I have used trunk lip mounts, NMO's, and magnetic bases for my mobile antennas. For all the cars that I have leased, purchased, and traded in, I have never had any kind of issues with dealers or private parties that I either sold or traded my used cars in to them (with NMO mounts). I would either leave the mount intact, with a nice chrome or black cap screwed on the base, or removed the NMO mount, and placed a black rubber plug in place.

I will say this, and I know others *may* agree, you will cause more damage to a vehicle's finish with the remnants of a magnetic base attached to it. Even using plastic or vinyl protective shields between the magnetic base to the car's surface failed miserably, because in a few friends' installs, the magnetic base was compromised due to lack of total strength of the magnet, or possible performance of the antenna.

I'm not trying to say that your very nice appearing install will fail, but with the THREE magnet antenna mount you will cause paint finish damage unless you remove the antennas daily or weekly, shine up or polish the surface of the vehicle, then re-install the magnetic mounts.

One last caveat, beware of low-hanging branches, low clearance garage doors and entrances to buildings, etc., because if the magnetic mounted base gets knocked over, it might "clang" against the side of the vehicle, causing dents and further damage to the finish of the vehicle, and maybe dent it up.

 

[03msc]

Yep, as Will said - drill them. Unless it’s borrowed for a week from a friend or something (which I doubt, considering the console you’re building) drill them. Mag mounts look terrible, do damage, and offer subpar performance, period. Not meaning to knock your install - it’s a good start, as I said earlier - but Will expanded on it better than I so I had to jump back in.

 

[KD2OFU]

Thanks for the heads up on mag mounts, guys. My dad is strongly opposed to me drilling through the roof (understandably), so I'm going to look for some alternate installation options, such as maybe something that'll hook onto my roof rack, and maybe clip onto the spoiler on the trunk- or even find a spare one that I can drill into. Until the title's eventually in my name, I've gotta get creative with how I do everything.

Anyways, if I find the time tomorrow, I'll probably do some work on rewiring the center console, since it's a big mess in there right now (there's a reason I haven't shown the inside of it yet... that's what happens when you just continuously add on to something), but at the very least I'll get the W7 installed, a speaker, and another remote mount cable ready for later this week.

 

[W9WSS]

Roof racks are historically non-conductive, so you must run a ground from the mount to the vehicle's chassis. Or opt for a "no ground plane" antenna. There are several of them on the market, you just have to check around.

 

[KD2OFU]

Spent all of yesterday redoing the wiring and tucking it all away. The wires in the center console don't look a whole lot better, but at least it's not tangled like it was before.


Took out the entire driver side rear interior panel. Came off a lot easier than I was expecting.

Wires all neatly ran and tied down prior to reinstalling the interior panel. Note how I ran the wires along where the tread plate goes, and then over top the wheel arch.

Checking to see how it'd look. Seems like I need to drill a hole for the wires.

So that's what I did. In the end, I managed to remove ~30 feet of unneeded wire, and I'm happy with how it all looks now, even if the tread plate doesn't click into place anymore.

My UHF XTL 5000 is showing up today, which I'm super hyped about. I'll get a few more pictures of how it looks once I get that installed and programmed up.

 

[W9WSS]

You're doing everything the correct way (reminds me of mine when my technician did the installation of my car's radios) so why wouldn't you install the antennas with NMO mounts? You're just going to have to tear everything apart again running the wires for the antennas! Again, the amount of damage you'll do, even with a short period of time, is paramount to the excellent performance you'll be missing with antennas installed properly using permanent NMO mounts! I'm not trying to jam this theory down your throat, but the disappointment factor using trashy mounts vs. properly installed antennas is the key! You did say that this *will be* your car in short order; Do it the right way, and you'll be the happiest guy on the list! NOTE: The "particles" on the antenna photo are raindrops, not dirt or metal bits!

 

[FFPM571]

its a 15 year old car...drill the holes..

 

[KD2OFU]

Pet peeve of the day: Cheap NMO magmounts cost less than a basic through hole NMO mount.

In other words, I've ordered a through hole NMO mount, along with a rain cap. Just waiting on my summer job to start before I get the rest.

Got the UHF XTL5000 installed and running on the W7. Ignore the backwards volume and mode buttons on the W9... Mixed them up when I swapped in buttons that were in better shape.


Also installed some rear work/cargo lights on the tailgate. They're wired into the cargo light, so I can turn them on from the front dome light controls, or the switch on the cargo light fixture.

Huge fan of how the lights fill both the trunk, and the area outside of it. That's exactly the effect I was going for. Notice how there isn't even a bulb in the stock cargo light fixture.