Ham Radio Install Done

[Liquidtravel]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

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[n5mj]

Nice work! Thank you for the links.
Assuming you have the rear window defroster, how does the antenna SWR measure up?
de N5MJ

 

[STEED77]

Nice Clean install... well thought out. How is the VSWR?

 

[Rocky905]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket - I will have to drill out the hole 0.04 mm to 0.06mm to accommodate my antenna plug.
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

Really nice summary, and appreciate the “materials and source” list. WC0R

 

[Liquidtravel]

Nice work! Thank you for the links.
Assuming you have the rear window defroster, how does the antenna SWR measure up?
de N5MJ

Yes, I have the defroster. I don't have a SWR meter so I can't check. I plan on getting one in the future.

 

[Mrplowjr73]

Nicely done! I know it won't matter quite as much for VHF/UHF, however those mounts do not ground well at all. I ended up needing to run a separate ground and grind down some of the paint/powdercoat of the mount in-order to get an SWR under 3.2 on HF. As soon as I cleaned under the mounting bolts and where the antenna goes through the bracket I was down under 1.4 (close enough for government work)

 

[MtnTopComms]

Very nicely done.

Brandon
AE7BF

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