Yaesu FT-8800R Install

[alvarorb]

I've decided to upgrade my radio on my 80. I'd been wanting a dual bander for a while, plus the location where the FT-2800 was installed was not very "Poquita" friendly. She would step over the controls and change the frequency or turn the radio off completely. Plus the sound coming from the back is not always the best to understand.

With inspiration from FirstToy and Rick's installs. And the help of Ken Dean, I pull it off.
Here are some pics of the install:

FT-8800 Install

I used one of the factory worthless tweeters as a speaker. I removed the capacitor on the speaker to increase the audio range (not limit it to high frequencies). I'm really surprised with the quality of the sound coming from the little speaker. Good for HAM, bad for HI-FI audio.

Now I can take full use of my dual band antennas. Here's a write up of that install:

Mobile Radio Antenna Install

Regards

Alvaro

 

[e9999]

linky no worky ... must be an apple thing...

looking forward to seeing that, sure it's a great job as usual...

 

[alvarorb]

Eric,

Fixed. It was the copy and paste between forums that does not work.
I had to redo the links.

Thanks for letting me know.

Alvaro

linky no worky ... must be an apple thing...

looking forward to seeing that, sure it's a great job as usual...

 

[CaliCruiser]

Is the 2800 available for sale?

Dylan

 

[alvarorb]

Dylan,

Not yet. I'm thinking of setting a base station at home. That way my wife can talk to me when I'm on the Sierra.

Regards

Alvaro

Is the 2800 available for sale?

Dylan

 

[450 DUDE]

Looks super nice!!!!

I really like that radio or should I say radios ? and Im still kinda jealous about the nice clear output from the stock speaker.

Thanks again for programing the 7800 ....

ken

 

[CaliCruiser]

Well if you want to sell it, lemme know!
Nice install dudes. . .


Dylan

 

[Beowulf]

Nice job Alvaro. I thought there was an impedance issue with the stock speaker 4ohm or something like that. Did you do anything other than removing a (the?) capacitor?

I also mounted my FT-7800 under the driver seat. I used plastic wire ties instead of the metal bracket because I was worried about clearance with the seat. Is the metal bracket on top of or underneath the carpet?

I am jealous of your radio. The FT-8800 is nice because of the dual VFOs built-in.

-B-

 

[mrlocksmith]

Nice Install.... I took an MFJ speaker and put it with two tie wraps between the headrest posts on the drivers side of my FJ60. Cheap.... and now me deaf ears can hear

The wife thinks I am deaf still though..... OOPPSS she see's me on IHMUD again gotta go....


Mark

 

[alvarorb]

B,

Thanks.
No mods on the stock speaker, besides the removal of the capacitor. I thought about the 4/8Ω issue. But the sound quality is super good. What are your thoughts on this?

The metal bracket is under the radio. And the radio's heat sink is on top side of the radio. The radio is not much taller than the factory alarm. So I don't think on a stock seat setup it would touch. I have 4x4 Labs' one off seat extender brakett. So the front part of my seat is maybe 1/2 higher than stock.

I used 2 zip ties to hold the radio bracket unit to the carpet. We contemplated making an aluminium base. But after looking at the factory alarm. And how it's been attached for years. We figured, if it's good enough for Toyota, it's gotta be good enough for me. The zip ties keep the radio bracket immobilized.

Having the bracket holding the radio, keeps the radio about 1/2" off the carpet. I think that will provide better cooling for it. And it's still about 3" away from the bottom of the seat.

Regards

Alvaro

Nice job Alvaro. I thought there was an impedance issue with the stock speaker 4ohm or something like that. Did you do anything other than removing a (the?) capacitor?

I also mounted my FT-7800 under the driver seat. I used plastic wire ties instead of the metal bracket because I was worried about clearance with the seat. Is the metal bracket on top of or underneath the carpet?

I am jealous of your radio. The FT-8800 is nice because of the dual VFOs built-in.

-B-

 

[Brentbba]

Nice Job Alvaro!!!

 

[ginericLC]

Alvaro,

You can get around the 4ohm 8ohm problem by wiring both of the dash speakers in a series. The two 4 ohm speakers will create a 8 ohm load that way. That is how I dealt with it in my old 80. The positive radio goes to positive DS speaker and negative DS speaker runs to positive on PS speaker and then the negative from PS speaker runs to the negative radio.

Truthfully though I don't think the impedance is that important on the little amp in your Ham radio and unless your are really overdriving the speaker and it is distorting it probably isn't going to damage that little speaker either.

Eric V.

 

[alvarorb]

Eric,

Thanks for the suggestion.
I thought about running both speakers. But my wife would be much happier if I kept the HAMtalk to myself. She's not very found of the noises radios make at the end of each transmission. Nor the white noise sound.

I'll keep looking for a solutions (other than using two speakers or adding a 4Ω load)

Regards

Alvaro

Alvaro,

You can get around the 4ohm 8ohm problem by wiring both of the dash speakers in a series. The two 4 ohm speakers will create a 8 ohm load that way. That is how I dealt with it in my old 80. The positive radio goes to positive DS speaker and negative DS speaker runs to positive on PS speaker and then the negative from PS speaker runs to the negative radio.

Truthfully though I don't think the impedance is that important on the little amp in your Ham radio and unless your are really overdriving the speaker and it is distorting it probably isn't going to damage that little speaker either.

Eric V.

 

[Azrocks]

I thought about running both speakers. But my wife would be much happier if I kept the HAMtalk to myself.

Easy fix. I have a splitter I installed on the back of the radio. One goes to the external speaker and the other I can plug in a set of earbud headphones that I cut the inactive side off.

You don't really even need the splitter. Just unplug your external speaker when the wife is in the vehicle and plug in the earbud. She might look at you strange while you are talking to yourself! You will need to disable the "beep" because there is no volume control on that and it too loud on the earbuds.

I used a 10' extension to get the length I needed.

Anyway, just another idea.

 

[PabloVTA]

can you disable the beep on any yaesu model? or just this one?

I'd like to see how you have the grounding strap routed to the lip mount, and can you describe where you patched in for power?

thanks

 

[alvarorb]

Pablo,

I'll take more pics in the next few days. To do so, I need to let LaCabra out of the garage.

Yes, you can disable the beep. I think the earbud idea is not a bad one. However, headphones would be better....

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Azrocks]

I think the earbud idea is not a bad one. However, headphones would be better....

Regards

Alvaro

I've tried both. For driving, especially with other people in the car the earbuds worked better for me because I could still hear what was going on around me. Here's a picture of my temporary setup I have in my FJ showing the external speaker with the splitter next to it.

 

[Cabrito]

What "Beep"

If you have a beep you might have the "wires" function enabled - it's real easy to accidentally hit on the FT-8800's - You push the left volume knob in for a second and it will display "wires on" or off - Menu #17 (i think) will disable it for good. It can be annoying to others you are talking to. It's also annoying because you can accidentally turn it on without noticing.
-mg

 

[Azrocks]

We're just talking about the beep that happens when the radio is scanning, changing freq., etc. It is not tied to the volume control at all. So....even when the volume is lower for headphone use, the beeps the radio puts out are mega loud.

I know the beep you are talking about. When accidentally on, the only ones that can hear it are on the transmission recieve side. It took a little bit at the start to figure out what was going on with the Wires stuff.

 

[alvarorb]

I noticed that that beep is played on the radio's built in speaker as well as the remote speaker.

Alvaro