Mobile install suggestions

[bryanthegoon]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but this seemed like as good a place as any.
Sorry in advance for the length of the post.....

I got myself a killer deal on a used Yaesu FTM-350R, and now I am planing out the install in my truck, wanted to get some ideas, and make sure some of my ideas are sound.  I am planing on putting an NMO mount in the roof of the truck. 

So first question is does anybody have any suggestions on a 2M/220/440 mobile nmo mount antenna?
Also any brand of NMO mount better than the others (so far leaning towards a Larson mount just cause I can pick it up locally at a decent price)

Here is my truck as a reference, it is a 2006 Dodge Ram Megacab


I am planing on mounting the radio itself behind the back seat, there is actually a significant amount of room, (almost a foot) behind the seat.


There is also a compartment down below


I am looking at 3 options for mounting the radio itself...
a. I would have liked to put it in the compartment, but I don't think that would be a good idea because of lack of airflow (especially living in AZ), thoughts??
b. Second option was to attach to the back wall, either through the carpet and directly to the sheet metal (this is behind the seat after all) or I was thinking of removing 2 of the "hooks" and making a bracket between them to mount it too.
c. Third option is on the wall to the right (again behind the seat

Here is the headliner (this is just the back portion again this is a huge truck)


Here is the roof (again only the back portion couldn't get a camera angle on the whole thing)


For the nmo mount, I am guessing that the center of the cab would give me the best radiation pattern, but that also means alot more headliner to deal with.  How much worse off am I by moving back some? 
Also I know I need to avoid the cross members and the dome light, any other words of wisdom on antenna location?

To get power back to the radio I am debating running through the firewall and the cab to get to the back, or just getting wire with decent insulation and going under, then come up into the compartment behind the seat with some kind of grommet or something.  Ideas?

ok, last but not least here is the dash


Currently the plan is to run the head extension cable around up and behind the dash and come out a hole in the upper "empty" spot (right below the stereo).  Then fabricate some kind of bracket that I can mount sticking out of the same hole.  If I remove the head I can just put the cord in the little compartment.  any thoughts, ideas, or issues relating to this?  To add to this I plan on using the optional GPS that goes in the head unit for playing with ARPS.

I am also going to try and see if there is an audio input on the back of the stereo, I would love to run the external output from the FTM-350R into the stereo.

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

[PeterRabbit]

Referencing the last picture, is the bezel at the front of the console removable?  If so, and if there's room behind that bezel, that would be an awesome spot to install your radio.  You could purchase another bezel and modify it to accept your radio.  Keep either the original or new one intact for when you trade or sell the truck.  As for the NMO, looks like putting it on top means you lose your ability to keep your truck in the garage.  Is that a big deal?  Just my 2 cents.  Good Luck

[bryanthegoon]

Thanks for the comments, I like the way you think on that bezel, not sure if it is removable or not but I will find out ( and do some looking on ebay to see what one runs).

As to the height issue, my truck already wont fit in the garage (by like half an inch) and I don't even try parking garages any more (after bumping the height warning bars a couple times)  Not sure why but this particular is just a bit on the tall side.  That being said the truck is mostly used for "fun" trips, camping, offroading, what not. And the occasional commute when it is too hot or wet to want to ride my motorcycle in.  Most of the time around town we are in the minivan (the joys of having kids).  on the minivan, when I get to it, I will definitely be looking at other mounting options that are garage safe....

[AD]

Bryan

I have seen cool goose neck mounts for the faceplates/seperation kit that slips under the passanger seat mount rail.   Saves from cutting into the dash.


Here is one version
http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045051049054045049045050051056085/Default.aspx


http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-009321


There are probably more.

[bryanthegoon]

I have seen cool goose neck mounts for the faceplates/seperation kit that slips under the passanger seat mount rail.   Saves from cutting into the dash.

That is an interesting approach, I will have to swing by HRO at some point and take a look at one of those in person, I would be worried about it being stiff enough and/or bouncing around.  Especially going down washboard dirt roads....

[PeterRabbit]

Those mounts both look great.  They would likely save you lots of time, too.  Not being a mobile user, I had no idea they were available.  And you can swing it out of the way when you need to.  Nice setup!

[PLA]

Bryan, there are rubber gaskets in the holes your wiring comes from the engine box to cab, I pried one open and ran my wires from the battery.

I ran my antenna wis between the cab and bed, crawled under and found another rubeer gasket to run ant cable. Took far less time to actually install, I detached the face and threw the radio under the drivers seat, used the adhesive coming with the face kits for a temp install on the dash, with the mic clip on the side of the doghouse in the center. Mobiles are very easy, just dont overthink it

Mike

[bryanthegoon]

So what is a consensus on dc wire size, 12 amp draw, haven't measured yet but probably around 12 foot run (If I decide to go under the seat than closer to 6 foot run).

I am thinking that 10 AWG gives me plenty of margin, thoughts?

Also I have seen multiple schools of thought on this ... curious what some of the thoughts here are.....
Of course I have seen good points made on both sides of this discussion....

Negative to battery or negative to frame/body?
Fuse on both (at battery side) or only on positive?

[16bravolima]

Bryan,

Correct!  12 amp draw and 15 ft run would require 10AWG.

[idial1911]

That is an interesting approach, I will have to swing by HRO at some point and take a look at one of those in person, I would be worried about it being stiff enough and/or bouncing around.  Especially going down washboard dirt roads....

I have one thats what I run and it works awesome.. I can take a pic if you all want.

[bryanthegoon]

Finally have everything installed... Still some wire management and what not to do but all the hard stuff is done and everything works awesome.  I will post some pictures that I have of the install process, there were alot of things I didn't get pictures of, mostly because I was doing alot of the work at night to beat the Phoenix heat.

First antenna install, I decided to go ahead with the NMO mount on the roof, thou I did run extra coax through the cab to under the hood if I decide to move it to a different mount.


first I made the hole, I drilled a small hole and then used a 3/4 inch greenlee chassis punch to make the final hole, made it nice and clean.  Also used a magnet to clean up all the metal shavings you see.


Here it is from inside the cab, I used my dremel with a sander on it to remove some of the paint/coating around the hole on the inside to make sure I had a good counterpoise.  Some people say to remove some paint around the top of the hole... but that side has a rubber o-ring, the bottom is where you will get the connection.


finished product on the roof.  Just realized I didn't get a picture with the antenna on yet, will have to do that.


I came up with a crazy idea for mounting my microphone, this is a keystone wall plate with a keystone phone plug in it, I chopped the wall plate down with the dremel


Another view


I then put a hole in one of the trim pieces in a place that is not visible and superglued the jack to the trim piece.  As you will see in future pictures this is completely not visible from the cab once installed.



I then ran cat5 cable from the jack back to the radio and put a 6 conductor phone plug on the other end.  This lets me plug the mic in a convenient place with no visible jack, or splicer.  Without the mic plugged in the only way to know it is there is to reach under and feel the hole.


I ended up mounting the radio directly to the back wall, was going to do something fancier but this just worked out better.  If I have the radio off later I will take pictures of how I mounted it, if I remove the radio and bracket there are just 4 nice looking trimmed holes.


as you can see there is plenty of room behind the seat and it should get decent air movement.  The ac in the back also blows from under the center seat and at least some of the air goes under the back seat and up the back.


Still have some wire management to do just back at the radio but this is how I have it coming out of the trim, from here it either goes up(in the case of the nmo or one of the head cables) or goes down under the door opening trim and up to the front ( everything else).  Power is 10AWG zip line, run straight to the battery fused on both sides.  All power connections are anderson powerpoles.  All head connections ( I ran 2) are just cat 6 cables picked up from the electronics store ( I could have made these but really not worth the effort and I didn't have any black cable laying around.


Here is where I mounted the head unit and I like it, I think it will stay here.  I had to make a bracket which I thought I got a picture of but apparently didn't, I may take it down next week to make it a little stronger and paint the bracket if I do I will get pictures then.  The tricky things here were that the mounting screw was on the bottom of the head, the gps on the top and speakers on the side... and to play with the design to not block the gps or the speakers, but it worked pretty well.  The bracket is made from sheet aluminum.


I ran a secondary head cable to the console below the radio, this was originally where I intended on mounting the head but was convinced to try up above.  I figured for the extra $4 for a cable I would run both just in case, didn't want to have to mess with all the trim again if I don't have to.  So for now this one will be hidden back in that cubby... if I take the cable out you wouldn't know it had been there unless you put your hand in that cubby felt the hole at the back on the top that the cable came through.