[VHFcontesting] Help mounting a new radio in a new car

[wemccourt at comcast.net]

Hi Guys,

Don't over agonize over mounting your radios.  Try to keep it simple.

I have an ICOM 706 Mk2g in a Subaru Forrester (previously mounted in a Honda Civic).  In my experience I have found it easiest to place the radio under the passenger front seat. In both cars there's a recess that the radio sits beautifully into.  I have mounted the control head using a suction/goose neck mount, designed for a GPS, on the windshield just in front of and above the instrument cluster on the dash.  The suction mount cost me $2 on ebay.  I ground the radio chassis to the vehicle body thru a seat mount bolt with a short piece of #8 AWG wire (larger than the power leads).

I try to hide all the wires under the edges of the plastic moldings and haven't had to drill any holes into the car so the radio can be removed in about 15 minutes when it's time to change vehicles.

Sitting in the sun has a tendency to craze the readout so I've covered the head with a small hand towel.

I use Hamstik type antennas on a 3 Magnet base for 80-6M (good for 80 MPH) and a lip mounted 2M/70cm vertical for FM repeaters.

This has given me much enjoyment while traveling cross country and stuck in the traffic around the DC Metro area.

I can send pictures if you want.

Bill-WF1L 
 
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Walter - K5EST" <walter.k5est at gmail.com>
> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 11:56 AM, Kelly Johnson <n6kj.kelly at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Sorry for the slightly off-topic post, but I figured this group would
> > be the best for this question....
> >
> > I just bought a new car...a relatively expensive one.  I have an
> > FT-7800R dual band FM rig that I want to mount.  I put the radio in
> > the trunk, but I'm having trouble figuring out a good way to mount the
> > head.
> 
> ....Don't know what kind of car, but does it have an ash tray built
> into the dash that you could extend a steel frame to mount the
> radio head?
> 
> My second thought, and it works for my vehicles, is to get under
> the dash and find at least 2 solid anchor points or bolts that
> you can attach a steel angle frame to curve under the dash
> and out to the driver's compartment area.
> 
> Another mounting I have seen that is pretty nice is a
> mount of the radio head on the steering column and
> run the control wires under the column. With all the
> plastic on vehicles now days it should not be very
> hard to accomplish this mounting.
> 
> Now you have me curious as to what kind of antenna
> your mobile ham shack is gonna be sporting?
> 
> 73....Walter - K5EST
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