I have mounts for my trusty single-band 2M Yaesu 2800 radio in both of my Toyota 4WD rigs so I could swap a single radio back and forth, but I broke down and bought a new and nicer radio. This Kenwood is really cool; besides being dual-band with cross-repeat capability, it comes with APRS built in. All you need to do is plug a GPS into it and you have instant APRS. You can see the location and call sign of any other APRS stations right on your GPS, and they can see yours. You can also use it to send and receive brief text messages, which would be really handy when you're out of cell range. You can also plug in a digital weather station and display (and broadcast if you want) weather data. The perfect radio for SAR and storm spotting, with great application to 4WD and expeditions also.
Since my FJC is sitting in my shop with the transfer case out, I installed the new Kenwood in the 40 first, but it will go in the FJC just as easily. Since the Kenwood uses the same power connector as the Yaesu, and dimensions of the main unit are just a little smaller than the Yaesu, I was able to use the complete Yaesu mount and bracket with the addition of two small holes and some nylon spacers. Now I can have either radio in either truck, and always have one radio in both trucks.
The Kenwood has a separate head unit that can't be attached to the main unit, so I strapped it to the roll cage with 2" hose clamps. Kind of "ghetto", I may make a more elegant mount for it later but the hose clamps work great for now. I haven't hooked up a GPS or a weather station yet, but plan to do the GPS at least.
Linear Mode
