#HAM – New Adventures

New Head Unit

June 26, 2020 The Dude Comments 0 Comment

I added a backup camera to the rear bumper… with no way to view the camera. It was time to upgrade the stereo. The factory stereo was double-din, which would be perfect space for a 7″ touchscreen head unit.

Not completely finished but this is where I am. the unit is in, and working without audio output or camera input.

You can see the GPS test running on the new head unit. For better bluetooth and wifi I opted to move the antennas.

You can see the two antennas on the console where I added two speakers for the amteur radio. Not as good as a roof mounted wifi antenna, but better than being hidden behind the dash.

Base Radio Install

May 20, 2020 The Dude Comments 0 Comment

It was well overdue to get my base radio installed. I wanted something that would look clean, be functional, and work well. I used the kenwood TM-V71A mobile dual band radio. First reason I selected this radio was, I had one one hand. The radio is really full featured 50W 2m/70cm true dual band radio. Supports Data modes, Echolink, X-band repeater, and also happen to have two that are were installed into the truck. I am pretty familiar with this model.

First step was to get the antenna up so I can be heard!

Second was to mount the radio with the power supply.

The head unit, speaker, and microphone are all easy to wire with Cat6E cable inside.  I have two spare wires that I might be able to use for something else.

All in all I am very pleased with the installation. I checked the 2m swr and it was about 1.3. I did forget to test the 70cm swr. Signal reports have all been good. Got me excited for the next project!