Ham Radio Installation Questions

Yes, I'm one of those amateur "ham" radio guys. Anyway, we just purchased a 2019 SR5 4x4 and I want to install my CB and my dual-band (2m / 70cm) radio. I've ordered a Rago CB mount and a Rago dashboard shelf. I also bought an antenna mount from Comet that clamps onto the roof rack cross bar.

The biggest challenge of this install is my wife who is adamant that no holes shall be drilled. Hmmm, adds a new level of difficulty. Anyway, does anybody have any ideas about getting the antenna coax from the roof rack cross member to the "hidy-hole" in the cargo area on the passenger side? That's where the radio will be mounted while the control panel will be mounted on the dashboard shelf.

I was thinking I could take the passenger side rear boot off the roof rack and go in that way. Yes, I'd have to drill a hole and seal it well, but since the boot would cover that, I think I can justify it to the wife. Any ideas would be appreciated.

KA5UTN

 

Run the antenna wire out of the tail light.

 

Would you consider a trunk lip NMO mount on the hood, coax through the main wire harness grommet on the firewall and then under the console back to your cubby? Mine has been running strong for years.

There are also slip on adjustable angle mounts intended for use on hatchbacks, coax through the hatch seal, though I have no experience with those.

Either would give you the NMO base with no drilling.

Or using the Comet you have I don't see why you couldn't just neatly run the coax along the roof rail to the hatch and drop it in the hatch and close the hatch on it. That'd be my druthers rather than drilling... If I'm drilling then I'm just installing a permanent mount NMO on the roof...

 

Thank you for the quick reply MeefZah and happy New Year. With the 2M and 70cm bands, I don't want to risk changing the RF integrity of the cable by putting it through the back hatch. All I need, at this point, is to get it from the rail to the inside of the vehicle. Right now I'm thinking coming in above the headliner, but I'm still open for suggestions. However I do it, I want it clean and permanent. At 61 this is probably the last 4R I'll every own. Are you a ham by chance? I'd love to have our own sub-forum for 4R owning ham operators. I just don't know how many are on this forum for it to be worth it. 73s

KA5UTN

 

Thanks also to you Well69 for the quick reply. If I had my way, I would absolutely drill and install a permanent antenna mount (NMO or PL259) right in the middle of the roof to ensure I had a good ground plane. Are you a ham by chance? I'm concerned about my current plan because the antenna will be about 8 to 10 inches above the roof which is the ground plane for the antenna. I can always add an aluminum disk to the antenna mount, but I don't know that I need to. Anyway, I know other hams run these bands on offset antennas from a hood or back hatch lip mounts and I don't believe they're getting good signal propagation because they're so skewed from their ground plane.

 

I am, KM6EIM. I'm not super active on the radio but I like to tinker. I mainly use the 2M receive capabilities as a scanner for local Fire and EMS paging.

There's been a few attempts to start threads on HAM stuff but they fizzle pretty quickly.

I have an inexpensive Icom dual band and a NMO trunk lip with 1/4 wave on the hood. I change the 1/4 wave out for a 5/8 base loaded for trips. Radio under passenger seat, head on a RAM on the pass console, mic close to where yours is shown, ext speaker on the back seat trans hump.

 

Nice KM6EIM. I decided to use my stereo aux input for the audio out from my dual band and a CB. I was going to put the Icom output on one side and the CB on the other, but the Icom has 2 each audio outputs, one for 2m and one for 70cm. So, on the shelf, I'm also going to install an audio switch. I could easily fabricate the box on my own, but for $38 from Amazon, it's not worth my time to do it myself. So with the CB audio enabled, I'll hear it out of the left speaker of the stereo when I set the source to Aux. when the other input is enabled, I'll hear 2M audio out of my left speaker and 70cm audio out of my right speaker. Here's a pic of the audio switch... I'm wiring the audio switch in backwards from the normal audio direction. The Amp input will be the 3.5mm stereo Aux input. The CB and Ham radios will use the Speaker Output connections. It shouldn't matter that I'm actually switching the audio from the radios going to the Aux input. Eventually, I'll label the switches "Ham" and "CB".

 

BTW, have you ever measured the VSWR of your rig? I had 1.2:1 using the antenna I'm going to use. I realize that SWR doesn't have anything to do with signal propagation to here's a question concerning the latter. What do you think the impact will be on my setup having the dual band Comet antenna (SS680SB) mounted on the luggage rack cross member which is 8" to 10" above the roof (ground plane)?

 

I have never measured SWR on a HAM rig.

I imagine signal propagation will be less than ideal with that setup, unfortunately.

 

@KA5UTN --I've faced a similar antenna install dilemma, which I have yet to solve.
I want to install antennas on my roof section, ahead of the luggage rack, using "thru the roof" NMO mounts. However, routing the cables around the side curtain airbags is an issue. In the interim, I'm using an NMO magnetic mount with the cable routed thru the driver side passenger door jamb. Not ideal, but it works fine.

You may want to reconsider your control head placement on top of the dash. Direct summer sunlight will bake the head, especially the display screen. I mounted the control head for my Icom 2730A over the cubby hole at the bottom of the Entune radio panel and climate controls, just forward of the front-most cup holder. Radio is mounted under a seat.

This setup gives some sun protection, yet affords an adequate view of the control head display. There's also the benefit of it not being in direct line of sight thru the windshield.

 

Following

 

Following

 

I ran both coax cables to my 991A all-band/all-mode between the dash and windshield. You can tuck pretty well all of the coax as well as power wire in that groove, or at least I was able to.

 

This what I'm using currently for my ID-5100 in my 2017 SR5: Comet CP-5NMO Lip Mount on the back hatch, with the RG-188 portion tucked under the hatch weatherstrip, running up the driver side interior to the body of the radio (which I just lazily put in the pouch on the back of the driver's seat). The radio head is on a Lido seat bolt mount with the cable running between the console and the passenger seat. This setup has worked very well for me. The biggest issue is positioning the mount at exactly the right place on the hatch so that when you open it the antenna doesn't make contact and rub/scratch the vehicle body.

On the 2023 that I'm getting the body will be mounted to a Taco Tunes amp rack under the driver's seat.

 

Have you found any video or written instructions on how to mount the taco amp rack under the passenger seat? I'm about to get my Ham license and just purchased a Yaesu FTM500dr I am putting in my 2023 Limited. I'm sure I can figure it out but I would rather learn from other peoples mistakes!

 

The closest I've found is this video: https://youtu.be/ByR64kflFLE

Apparently it involves completely removing the seat, placing the rack, and then reinstalling the seat.

This is where I note that I've changed my mind about using the Taco Tunes rack; I've got some Cali Raised MOLLE panels on the way, so I'm going to mount the radio body on one of those instead.

 

Rago has the molle panels as well.

 

I may get those (or the Cali Raised version) at some point in the future, but this is what I meant: https://caliraisedled.com/products/2010-2020-4runner-interior-rear-window-molle-panel

I went with the Cali Raised for these instead of the Rago because of the bottom flare. I'll post pics when I do the install and probably a video as well.

 

Here's the video:

https://youtu.be/Va3r2LYur5E

 

I am a Ham Radio operator. What is the mount you are using? I want to put a dual band radio in my 4 Runner.

Kevin

 

Thank You for taking the time to make this excellent video. You answered so many questions for me!