OK, really long, but hopefully helpful to some!Some pics here...ask if you want some more http://homepage.mac.com/hmckee/Radio/PhotoAlbum4.html
Hello all, I thought I would attach a summary of some recent install work I’ve done on my 80 that may be of use to others. The first mod was to install some additional sources of power in the front and back of the truck as unobtrusively as possible. The second mod was to do a flexible install of a mobile radio (Amateur in this case).
Auxiliary Fuse Block
For the first mod, I started with getting rid of as much of the rats nest that I had directly connected to the battery and installed a set of in-line, high amp breakers for a second fuse box as well as a second marine fuse block (more splash- than waterproof). This is still sort of temporary (it’s mounted on a block of wood in front of the the battery) as I’m trying to figure out the best place to install a more permanent version!
It’s a relatively simple install of two breakers that are wired in-line using low gauge wire directly from the positive and negative battery terminals. The breakers feed a small 8 circuit, fused marine 2nd fuse box. My preference is to keep this under the hood vs. inside the truck – mostly so I don’t have a long run of high power cable, potential safety issues, etc.
The fuse box is an auxiliary block that currently runs the circuits for my (1) Slee light harness for a set of Hella 4000 fog lights, (2) a rear Hella fog light, (3) my rear fuse box and mobile radio (see the following) (4) the dash power outlet
For wiring, I used “marine grade” wiring for the battery connection and then used low gauge wire (a good quality 10 ga, multi-strand wire) to run the radio and some similar quality cable (12 ga) to run some of the other circuits.
Dash Power Outlet
For inside the cab, I wanted a good quality power source that was ‘universal’ and could run the usual mix of 12V accessories such as a GPS, battery charger, small inverter, phone chargers, cooler, etc. I have always found the traditional 12V outlet to be a bit of a pain and hate how much ‘real estate’ multiple outlets take. Not to mention the fact that factory version are not wired for any amount of substantial power.
I wanted the convenience of being able to quickly access the outlet (could easily be installed in other places) and a number of additional high-power outlets while still preserving a ‘factory’ look.
The simple solution is a thing called an “Anderson Power Pole” connector. Most have likely never heard of these as they tend to be used mostly by amateur radio operators, RC hobbyists, etc. These are quickly becoming the standard in amateur radio (e.g., the Amateur Radio Emergency Service – ARES – effectively provide back-up radio communications in emergencies and has adopted these as a standard) as the universal connection for a lot of good reasons, including:
Once wired, impossible to reverse the connections and colour-coded
“Genderless” connection – no “male” and “female” connections = you only need one part. This allows you to build simple ‘modules” that can be used in a variety of applications / different devices (e.g., power extension cords, connector to alligator clips, connector to banana plugs, connector to lighter-plug)
Ability to handle relatively high power demands (up to 30 amps for this version)
Self cleaning – the contacts rub against each other to provide an ongoing positive electrical connection
Relatively small profile vs. “lighter-plug” connections
“Plug and Play” - Provides a universal 12V connection that can be used on any 12V device and allows for devices to be quickly moved (eg from truck to house) vs. some of the proprietary connections.
Relatively cheap components (if you buy a specialized crimping tool, it can be a bit more expensive)
Allows for “hot connect” – can connect things while power is running in the circuit – no big sparks
If wired properly (wires not exposed), unlikely to short (eg of the connectors touch)
Once you have the pieces, you go though a relatively simple process of cutting-off the lighter-plugs on all your toys and replacing them with powerpoles. Fast and simple process – all it requires is a simple crimp connection.
As a practical illustration, I have a mobile radio in the truck that requires 12V power and has a proprietary power lead connection. I run the same radio in the truck, in my house (using a 12V power supply) and in a remote cabin (using a deep cycle battery). With the powerpole connections, I simply unplug the radio (the proprietary connector is attached to the radio-side) and plug it into the new power source. I would have had to buy three proprietary leads to do the same thing. I can now move the radio is about 5 minutes.
For the dash, I used one of the dash blanks and installed a four connector powerpole connection point. As you can see, it’s not obtrusive and I can now power 4 devices if needed (I never have). In this case, there is one main power line back to the secondary fuse block and then it splits at the dash into the four connection points. If you wanted to run more power to each connection, you would have to wire them as different circuits.
Back of the Bus
Similarly, in the back I have an additional 5 power outlets from a specialized box. Most of you will not need this as it tends to have a specialized application, but you get the idea of being able to run additional power to the rear.
In this case I ran high quality 10 ga wire from the aux fuse box, through the fire wall and down the PS floor channel. All of the wires are enclosed in split loom or other protective covers. This main power line terminates with a powerpole connection. I can either run one device off of this or, as in this case, I power another specialized fuse box. Given that the primary use of this power line is to run a high-powered radio (which is susceptible to electrical noise from the truck), I have installed some snap-on filters to help surpress the ignition, etc, noise from the truck – you likely don’t need these.
The specialized fuse box is called a “RigRunner” and this version has additional plug-in points. Each connection point is also fused and the entire box can handle 40 amps total (required for how power applications like radios). More importantly, this helps filter out additional “noise” (RF) that can cause problems with radios. Now I can also connect other 12V devices to this box as needed (e.g., fridge, inverter).
The Radio Install
I recently purchased a Yaesu FT-857 amateur radio to use as both the radio in my truck, as well as at home, etc. This is a specialized type of next generation of radios that are “all band” meaning that they cover amateur radio frequencies in the VHF (2M) and UHF (70cm) range as well as HF frequencies. I can use this radio to talk line-of-sight using VHF and UHF and use local repeaters to boost my signal. In addition, HF frequencies allow for global communications on a variety of different ‘bands’. For example, I have monitored communications from a sailboat that was 10,000 miles from my location and from a lighthouse in NZ.
I can legally transmit and receive on all of the amateur frequencies, with the capability of using “all modes” (e.g., AM and FM voice, single side band, CW ‘Morse Code’) with power levels up to 100W (~25X the power of a legal CB radio).
In addition, these types of radios have ‘wide receive’ so I can also monitor other, non-amateur, frequencies like aircraft, marine, FRS, GMRS, CB and emergency services. The radio can be programmed and controlled by a computer, scans, has memory locations and all sorts of other do-dads.
Black Box
In addition to being all band, the radio also has a great feature of being module. This is especially helpful when trying to do an install. The main “box” with all the major components is the size of a good hard-cover book (which is still small considering what this thing can do), but it’s still a pain to mount. The good news is that the head unit (ie all the dials, displays, etc) detaches from this box and can be remotely mounted. Similarly, the mike (which can also control the radio remotely) can be wired separate from both the box and the head unit, as can an external speaker.
In my case, I mounted the main “box” hidden away in the PS rear storage compartment where I have the RigRunner fuse block. It is powered with the powerpoles, so I can easily remove the radio and bring it to the house. I can close the box when I’m not operating or leave the cover off when I am transmitting (it doesn’t create too much heat while monitoring, but much more when transmitting).
The head unit control cable is run from the radio, along the PS floor rail, up the PS A pillar, to the sunroof / light control box (all in split loom). The actual head unit is mounted using a short “RAM Mount” that I bolted to the forward side of the sunroof / light control panel. I put a small aluminum backing plate in to spread the load and used both washers and posilock nuts to keep things secure.
With this mount, I can “articulate” the head unit into a variety of locations to change the dials, look at the display, have a passenger do the same, etc. I personally like it here as it allows me to generally keep my eye on the road while making small changes (more on this later). I can still easily operate the visors, lights and sun roof and see out the rear view mirror as long as I don’t have the head unit in its ‘lowered’ position. I still have the double din radio, so I really didn’t want to put it there (and I find it a bit low) and I also didn’t want to put it even lower on the centre console – way too far down! When I’m not using the radio, I unplug the cable and tuck it behind the sun visors and remove most of the RAM Mount except for the mounting ball. Very sturdy even when I’m off road.
The Microphone Remote Control
Similarly, the mike / control unit is also remotely mounted. The cable also comes from the back along the PS, but then at the B pillar it runs across the floor (in split loom) to the DS of the centre console (bit of a pain getting it under here!). There is a plug-in connection beside the parking brake that the mike connects to. The great thing about the mike is that its buttons can also be used to control almost all of the functions of the radio, so I don’t have to continually be playing with the head unit.
I can power on and off the radio, adjust volume, change memory locations, scan, enter a frequency, access the menu system and activate the “hot” keys, etc. It is mounted to a clip on the DS of the centre console. just inside the hand brake. Like the head unit, it’s also very easy to remove. I generally take the head unit and mike into the house and leave the ‘black box’ hidden in the back.
External Speaker
I also have a low profile remote speaker mounted (there is also a speaker on the black box and a jack on the head unit for headphones). I’ve played around with various locations for the speaker (eg on the console, beside the driver) and finally decided on mounting it on the DS, at the top of the B pillar on the roof behind my ear. I like this location as I can monitor the radio with relatively low volume (which my wife loves! And helps the kids sleep and avoid hearing some of the more disturbing radio traffic “medivac 799 20 back from McMaster with 24 yo female ejected from car...” kind of stuff). The split loom that has the mike cable also had the remote speaker cable and it just continues under the drivers seat, where I plug the radio in. At some point, I may also wire speakers into the tweeter locations, but not in the near term.
This is a bit of a temporary install while I test this location. The cable is tucked behind the trim on the DS B pillar and then taped down on the trip. The speaker itself is held in place with some industrial duct tape.
VHF / UHF Antenna
I have two antennas on the truck. On the DS, mounted to the roof rack is my dual-band VHF / UHF antenna for the 2M and 70cm bands. I have it mounted to a good quality Diamond mount that allows the antenna to move in almost any direction. The coax is fed - very carefully - through the split in the window (the mount kit comes with thin coax for this one section). The antenna uses a standard NMO mount and terminates with a PL-259 connector (actually it has a NMA mount, which is handy because I can use it with my hand held - and then this screws into the PL-259 connection.
I like this location as it gets the antenna up nice and high (~6’) and it’s totally clear of any blockages from the truck. On the weekend, I was able to monitor some repeater traffic from ~120 mile away (....ok, it was coming from the repeater on the CN Tower, but still!).
The antenna coax runs along the top of the window, down the DS of my cargo barrier where it is zip-tied in split loom and then along the base of the cargo barrier behind the second row of seats. It enters the trim piece on the PS and then is fed into the PS storage box. This works quite well and is relatively easy to move. I would probably drill a hole in the roof for the antennas, but I just really haven’t had the time to tackle the removal of the head liner.
I generally unscrew the antenna, put a cap on the mount and leave the antenna in the back of the truck.
HF Antenna
The second antenna is for HF frequencies. It is a Yaesu ATAS-120 (Automatic Tuning Antenna System) that is designed to handle most of the HF bands. In simple terms, this antenna adjusts its length automatically to tune the appropriate frequency. It does this “automatically” in the sense that I change to a different HF band (eg 20M) and then hit the “tune” button and a little electronic servo in the antenna slowly adjusts the length until it is “tuned”
As a newby to amateur radio, I’m not fully able to explain this, but the reality is that the tuning (and the antenna) is a compromise! For real HF work you really need an antenna of the proper length. For example, I recently made a 20M “home brew” antenna and it is ~40 feet long. The ATAS-120 effectively creates a reasonable electrical match between the radio and the antenna such that the radio doesn’t blow up, but it’s not the greatest thing for real HF work. Similarly, the antenna is “vertically polarized” (think of the signals coming off the antenna like vertical sticks) vs. “Horizontally polarized”, which is what you really need to work HF (eg it allows the signal to bounce off of the different layers of the atmosphere). Finally, I think the antenna is likely a bit sensitive to rain, etc, so I’ll have to see how it likes a good Canadian winter!
As I said, it’s a compromise that allows for mobile HF with a relatively simple tuning process and no need to jump out of the truck to tune, etc. I’m still trying the antenna out and have yet to make any real significant contacts. I got the antenna quite cheap as part of a package deal, but I probably wouldn’t pay full retail for it. For home use I plan to make a few HF antennas or use a tuner and a long wire.
The antenna is also mounted with a solid Diamond mount on the PS hatch. Full retracted, the bottom potion of the antenna is mostly in the wind shadow of the truck with a few inches of the bottom potion and all of the whip above the roof line. As it extends, obviously more is exposed. The reality is that I didn’t want the antenna fully exposed as I was worried about the pressure this would place on the mount.
The antenna cable is currently taped in place to make sure I like the mount location and that I’m not pinching the cable in any way. It runs up the hatch towards the roof and then comes down the C pillar on the PS (in split loom), where it is fed into the PS storage compartment with the black box.
Next Steps
As you can see, there is still work to be done as I try things out and finalize the install. Some things include:
- Finding a better way to mount the fuse box and breakers in the engine compartment
- Covering the cables in the engine bay with split loom and securing them
- Installing the mounting bracket for the black box in the storage compartment
- Installing the RigRunner more permanently in the storage compartment
- Replacing the tape used to guide the coax for the HF antenna
- If I like where the speaker is mounted, do a more permanent install of the cable and speaker
- Doing a proper grounding of the HF antenna, body, etc.
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