Baofeng mobiles?

[DouglasVB]

I just pulled the trigger on the Yaesu FT-2900. It's on sale at AES (with a rebate coupon) for the same price as the FT-1900. $129.95 shipped. This means I now have to figure out where I'll be putting this radio in the truck. Oh what a problem to have

 

[DaveInDenver]

It'll be interesting to see what you come up with. The FT-2900 is a huge radio. I ended up with an FT-1900 and even that is awkwardly placed behind the Tuffy console.

FWIW, the FT-1900 is /exactly/ the same width as a 6.5" Tuffy console. It uses the same mounting bracket (MMB-36) as the FT-7800/7900/8800/8900 and FTM-350/400. The FT-2900 uses a unique bracket (MMB-83) and is about an inch wider, 2 inches longer and a 0.5" taller than the FT-1900 and all the others (without faces).

I had a FTM-350 in my pickup but it got removed to be put into the Tacoma. Now that has not actually happened either... One day I'll have the time to knock out some of these tasks.

 

[nakman]

You will be really happy with that 2900- rock solid rig, easy to use, and you'll be at the upper end of the spectrum on the run performance-wise... full quiet all day.

Do you have a Tuffy-like center console? I've seen some good installs where the radio in front of that, between the console and the shifters.

I'll also counter some of the reservations about sticking it in the dash- remember you'll be listening most of the time, and on trail runs transmitting briefly at 1 watt. Neither of those generates any heat. If you're hosting nets for hours on end at 65w then ok maybe you'd have something to worry about, but there's plenty of air inside a dash, particularly in an old Runner, I really doubt you'll have heat issues- most of the remote faceplate units get shoved inside quarter panels, or under seats, with less air to breathe than behind a dash panel.

 

[nakman]

couple 4Runner pics, this where my CB is in the 100:

This setup is pretty clean though, IMO.. I like how he filled the gap with a USB port (probably for the stereo)

 

[Squishy!]

You will be really happy with that 2900- rock solid rig, easy to use, and you'll be at the upper end of the spectrum on the run performance-wise... full quiet all day. Do you have a Tuffy-like center console? I've seen some good installs where the radio in front of that, between the console and the shifters. I'll also counter some of the reservations about sticking it in the dash- remember you'll be listening most of the time, and on trail runs transmitting briefly at 1 watt. Neither of those generates any heat. If you're hosting nets for hours on end at 65w then ok maybe you'd have something to worry about, but there's plenty of air inside a dash, particularly in an old Runner, I really doubt you'll have heat issues- most of the remote faceplate units get shoved inside quarter panels, or under seats, with less air to breathe than behind a dash panel.

100% correct. My ham generates minimal heat and is under my driver's seat with a remote face. I ran a teeny Rockford amp behind my dash for my sound system in my old pick up. Never once overheated and I guarantee it generated waaaay more heat.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Keep in mind Justin that your radio is a FT-7800 and has a fan to force air over it. Neither the FT-1900 or FT-2900 have fans, they rely on natural convection over their heat sinks. My FTM-350 initially was under the passenger seat and it also lacks a cooling fan. It would get warm on rag chews during commutes, which was about a 20% duty cycle at 5W with APRS running on the secondary side, also at 5W. If I used high power, say simplex out with someone or needing to get into a repeater in the mountains it would get uncomfortably hot and did shut down once on me. I ended up moving the body to back side of the Tuffy (where I mounted the FT-1900 in fact) and it never shut down after that because it was out in the open. It's just my $0.02 that mounting these radios into DIN slots is just temping fate. Eventually you will find yourself with a broken pinion at midnight in Moab and that's exactly when you'll need the stupid thing to work and <poof> thermal shutdown. It's Murphy. FWIW, at full 50W transmit the radio will dissipate about 50 to 75 watts or so in heat.

 

[DouglasVB]

The DIN slots on my 4runner are filled with a CB radio and the AM/FM/CD/AUX/MP3/blahblahblah radio so I don't think it'll find a home there. I'll have to look at the dash more closely. Perhaps there is somewhere else that I can open up for a radio a bit higher in the dash. I could remove the ashtray and cut that area out. Then I could install a good fan that can handle dust/debris/harsh environments/bouncing to blow air over the cooling fins and make some crude ducting to channel the heat away, etc. Put the fan on a thermal circuit to turn on when it goes over some predetermined temperature (90F?) plus a switch to turn it on manually.

When I'm in the dash again, I'm going to replace the radio head unit because of the MP3 playing problem. The thing sometimes gets stuck on the same song for hours and often times will only let me play the same 40 songs over and over. On long cross-country drives, that makes a person go insane after a while.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Perhaps you could utilize the ashtray for a CB. The Uniden Pro 510XL, 520XL and their older cousin the PC55 that I have fit very nicely there. You just remove the ashtray and the bracket, which is held in place with just a couple of screws and figure out a creative way to hold it. I was able to return the ash tray into service after removing the CB in preparation for selling my truck.

 

[DouglasVB]

Here is what I've got now. I quite like the CB radio I have but I guess I could be convinced to switch to one of those tiny CB radios that would fit in the ash tray hole...

Let me tell you though... it was a real pain to squeeze this CB in where it is. I would hate to remove it now just because of all the work I'd be losing.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I think the question is how much you want to cut up your dash. The ash tray slot will accommodate a radio about 4.5" wide x 1.5" tall x 6" deep. Units such as the Uniden fit pretty well there and the only real compromise was I needed to run a right angle PL259/SO239 adapter. To fit a ham radio there would mean hacking up things, even the very small FT-1900 is 6" wide and the FT-2900 is another 1/2" wider, 1/2" taller and 1.25" deeper. A DIN slot is 7.125" wide by 2.125" tall, which is why ham radios fit so well. Your Uniden is a nice CB, but OTOH why not take advantage of the collective trials and errors of what other people have done?

 

[DouglasVB]

The radio is on my dining room table!!! It's not as big as I was fearing. I'll look at where I can mount it this weekend. I am planning to use the BROWNING BR-180 antenna I purchased back in the spring and the Browning WSPBR1015 Enclosed NMO 3/4 Hole Mount cable, unless there is a good reason not to.

I'll need to weld the L-bracket for the NMO mount onto some sort of spring that I can attach to the roof rack (yeah, yeah, it's going up there. The hood/front bumper are no-go zones for reasons discussed previously in another thread. It *could* go on the rear bumper as well although I'd need to 1) wait until I build a rear bumper and 2) get a longer cable to reach back there which I already need to do for the CB.) in such a way that it won't be ripped of when encountering low tree branches.