My wife and I are hams and I want to install radios in our HHR's, I was planning on putting the radio under the passenger seat but am looking for ideas on the remote head. Anyone have any ideas?

 

My brother-in-law does HAM radio. I've watched him operate his equipment. Judging by how much equipment and involvement it takes just to find the right signal, am I right in assuming that one of you will drive while the other fiddles with the controls, or are you just looking to take your setup mobile so you can park and broadcast? With that in mind, I'm also curious as to how you'll be able to generate enough power from the HHR's electrical system to power your HAM kit and still be able to start and run the car.

Just curious.

 

I have been trying to find a place to mount my dual band mobile and trying to decide on a glass mount antena or bite the bullet and drill the roof.....

 

Install the remote head in the upper dash compartment. That's where I stashed my XM radio. I use a Yaesu VX-2R handheld in my car with a Comet SBB-5 dual band antenna on a Comet trunk mount on the back hatch. Works well for what I'm doing but I'd rather have one on the roof. There's a lot of ground plane up there and a 1/4 wave would work nicely.

There's also probably plenty of room in the spare tire well for the radio itself. The closer you install it to the dash the more noise you'll get from the onboard electronics.

BTW, ham radio electronics usually don't draw much power at all and will operate fine at full power as long as the car is running. Running HF at 100W will run down a battery, but VHF/UHF or QRP HF doesn't draw much.

 

FT 8800R main component under the passenger seat, zip ties to hold it to the seat frame works well! Power direct to battery - heck that was the EASY part. Remote head...well the IDEAL place is next to the shifter BUT hard to see and you have to take your eyes off the road. SO...ended up using automotive heavy duty double sided sticky tape - this stuff is GREAT it comes off after years of use and can just be rubbed off to remove - no marring, scratches etc - anyway the head went between the upper glove box and the center AC vents. Now a cool part. The upper glove box can be removed by unscrewing the 2 screws that are to the front - the whole thing then lifts out and you can drop the remote head cable down behind the dash then just reinstall the glove box!! Easy access after that to get it to the main component! And the cables hide well to!! Antenna I use a Diamond dual band on a 5" magnet mount that has served me well on 2 different vehicles.
So far so good! Just finished doing this this afternoon about 2 hours ago!
73's
Sarge

 

Sarge I'll probably follow your lead but I'll go ahead and screw the radio to the floor and the head to the dash. Good news on the upper glove box, I saw those screws and was hoping I'd be able to pull it out to run the cables down. Did you find a grommet with enough room for the power and where's it at? I'll go ahead and pop a 3/4" hole for an NMO on the roof.

I've got a Kenwood TM-V708 I'll be putting in my '07 panel and a TM-G707 for my wifes '08 wagon. I'll probably go with the Diamond NR72BNMO antenna to keep it low profile.

Thanks for the help folks!

 

Power is direct from the battery! No need to go looking for a grommet, just come out of the spare tire/battery compartment via the front right hand corner - as you are looking in from the tailgate, you'll see what appears to be a "channel" for lack of a better way of putting it, that goes on forward until you come out by the rear seat, then just tuck the cables under the door trim until you get it where you want it!
73's
Sarge

 

isn t i nice when someone actually has GOOD advice... i might use some of these ideas when installing my after market TPMS...

Corpman?

 

Yep was a Medic for 20 years. After I "retired" went to work for a ambulance service full-time as a EMT-I. To many long hours to little pay so used my VA - ONE thing the government did me right by - went back to school and got my degree and now work as a Emergency Room RN. 6p-6a some don't like the night shift but I wouldn't work anything else!
73's

Sarge

 

good on you... much respect