Ham Radio Install

[Radio]

I have searched and searched but I am no good. Wether it is a ham radio or cb radio, the idea is the same.

1. Where are the grommets?
2. How hard is it to run wires to the control unit if it mounted under the seat? Any other mounting suggestions (I don't want it on the glove box... it won't work well with the people I have to drive around re.: bulls in china shop)
3. I would like to mount my control head just over and infront of the rear view mirror... it has a bracket, however, can I drill it? Tape it? Stick gum to the back of it?
4. If I do manage to mount the control head over/infront of the rear view mirror, can I run the wire along the top windshield and down the front pillars (what about the air bags... what do I have to do not to piss them off?)
5. Any suggestions, help would be greatly appreciated. I want this to look good.

BTW, the radio is a Kenwood D-700 dual bander, for those who know.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

[BigStew]

This may not help much, but if I were going to mount a radio I would be looking at the driver side dash storage box. Maybe the head unit mounted on top and the control unit inside. It would be easy to find power as I believe the grommet is on the driver side fire wall. The nice thing about the ham radio is you can direct wire to the battery and utilize the radio's automatic power off. Just a thought...

[kb3gun]

Mounting on the roof might be ok, but could be distracting reaching and looking up like that.

I mounted the bases to my rigs in the rear storage unit (r/r cargo area) and ran the remote faces to the front. I didn't want the bases to get in the way. I ran 10ga wire from the battery back to a rigrunner power dist block.


IC-2720 and 706MKIIg

I fabbed a mount out of aluminum and secured it to the underside of the center console plate. Rock solid and still easy to get to the controls. Just an idea.

Icom install pics

[roger]

Radio,

1. Why don't you just pop the hood and look! I answered you question about about passing power through the firewall in this D700 tread: Kenwood TM-D700 Communications install

Repeat:
There is a rubber grommet in the firewall directly aft of the battery. This enters right above the clutch/footrest where there is plenty of room to screw the mounting bracket for the radio. A very short power run... maybe 3'. External speaker would be nice since the radio is pretty far up under the dash... understandable at freeway speeds, but not as crisp as you might like.

Easy to hide wires in the FJ since most trim pieces just pull off and snap back on. I still have some perminate coax routing to do in the back, but the front took less than an hour for a pro-quality install.

2. easy to run wires almost anywhere in the FJ. Almost everything pulls off without tools.

3. not sure about mounting over the rearview mirror. I would probably just use the d700 sticky mount but cut it down to mount to the plastic above the mirror. You sure you want to mount it up there? I spend alot of time pushing buttons on my D700 and perfer it closer on the dash like this:
Kenwood TM-D700 Communications install

4. yes, piece of cake. Just push the cable up into the headliner where it meets the windshield. You can just pull off / push on the piller platic to run the cable.

5. mount it like I did ;-) on the dash, radio under the dash. Takes about 1 hour to install.

[Radio]

Thank you for all the advice!! Roger, I have read your other thread on the Kenwood, and found that extremly helpfull also. Sorry if it seems that I am asking the same questions twice (well, I did... but this thread was old when I found your other thread...).

As to opening the hood...lol... yeah, but was cold and snowy here, then the 60mph wind starts to howl... and with out a garage... I can make excuses all day. Bottom line, thank you ever so much for your paitence and assistance. I will be mounting my radio similar style to yours very soon and I will post pics when I am done. I am just waiting on the diamond trunk mount for my antenna.

But if there are anymore ideas, keep em' coming!

Thanks again!

[opg4759]

I also installed a ham rig in my FJ. The bandi mount is key for your antenna. I have a bucnh of photo's here with descriptions on what I did.

Let me know if you have any questions.

KD6WJX

[belmoresr]

I have an earlier reply on how to do similar ham mounts. It includes pictures of a Bandi Ham specific mount, remote head mounting, transceiver mounting; also mounting an inverter under the passenger seat.

Hope this helps