MOBILE INSTALL: 579 Peterbilt

[Slowmover]

I think even I have reached my limit (ha!).

From the Galaxy 99v2 now taken the place of the 86v so as to fit the wider and deeper bracket:

To:
2). P-E CMNF 500 filter
3). Morgan Systems 411cb Bandpass
4). RM Italy KL203P
5). MFJ 945e Tuner
6). P-E CMNF 1500 filter

Thence

A). Wilson CoPhase RG8X Coax (FME ends to Mini-UHF adapters) with (4) total FT240-31 toroids wrapped at 3.0” diameter sequentially (two each leg);

B). HUSTLER SS QDs
C). Wilson 2000 pair on 5” shafts with 49” whips.

D). As before, power is ANCOR 10/2 Duplex fused at battery with Neg to chassis.

E) Power is distributed from a 4-way box (next to 1500 filter); Anderson PowerPoles
1). Radio
2). Speaker
3). Tuner
4). Amp

F). Chassis RF bonding is (at present ). (4) door hinges and a couple below. (Need more on cab)

G). Took the truck locator and bundled the wiring into split loom.

The move of “the radio stack” gets it away from the heat up there plus other wiring.

The coax is due to come back out to try a set of FT240-61 toroids acquired in concert with an existing pair of FT240-31 installed awhile back (2 of those 4 removed).

All is now FAR more accessible. Two holes drilled in cab curtain track are invisible once stack removed.

The cabling mess is three systems:
- DC Power
- Coax
- RF Ground of three units to single point (up inside console, about 1.5’ total distance).

Took two days at home to remove as was (earlier post pics) and “custom-fit” what you see.

Eldo828, I GOT THE FACE PLATE RE-INSTALLED!

I’ve learned a lot since I started this, and am pleased given current performance.

Voices just show up, startles me

(It’s as though the noise background is now shallow water versus deep).

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[Handy Andy]

Man! You need to install that stuff in a Rack mounting system of some kind...

Make a wrong turn too quickly - the weight of that stuff flying towards your seat- can take you out - as in out the window with the rest of it dragging along with the coax still attached.

 

[Slowmover]

My Astatic 636L matched to this radio has loose wiring at the connector: and the cord looks like hell.

An SL41 Palomar mike just squeals.

An RK56 (ancient spare) keeping duty till the above get sorted.


The tuner just keeps me at 1.4-SWR with 75W Forward and 3.5W Reflected (Radio showing I’m 7W dead-key).

Knock on wood, this KL203P has run 5-6 Radios (untouched or variable power) without issue. I’ve not set it past 95W though it will show that.

Any time I add power from lowest setting (2.5W this radio), the SWR starts to climb.

1.2-SWR at 4W.
Hits 2.0-SWR at 10W

After that — the 945e kicked in — is the only way to show an acceptable match.

I’ll get a different highest-quality cophase harness soon, and in meantime will remove current coax and try again.

The Wilson antennas are distinctly better than others tried (they survive the things I can’t avoid grazing), but total height isn’t clear to me per SWR readings (not much change at all 1-40).

I figure on the coax being the weakest link at present PLUS more RF Bonds needed. (The antenna mount has a good wide strap to cab steel internally).

— FME ends? (Wilson harness built this way).
— Mini-UHF to S0-239 adapters? (Mount requires them).

— Other?

Typically, with RF Gain/Squelch wide open I see 3-S (to 5) during daylight hours “near” metro areas.

Past midnight I can kick in the 203 Pre-Amp for CLEAR increase in signal gain in rural areas. Go from hearing voices and doing partial sentence constructions, to allowing heavy dialect to be heard distinctly.

Daytime, I usually back off RF Gain just enough to see meter move, and then dial Squelch in to almost silent. Quarter-turn on former, and half-turn on latter. This suffices to go down the road until I hear something I want to turn up. (The change isn’t dramatic; every now and then it helps pick out some conversations to lessen the RF Gain).

I’m using DX-E jumpers and a mix of Amphrnol and other coax adapters to keep the mess contained as you see it. All is encased in split loom. Extra snap-on Mix 31 & 61 beads as seemed appropriate (both ends of a given cable).

Your ideas or opinions welcomed.

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[Slowmover]

Man! You need to install that stuff in a Rack mounting system of some kind...

Make a wrong turn too quickly - the weight of that stuff flying towards your seat- can take you out - as in out the window with the rest of it dragging along with the coax still attached.

Thank you for the clarification needed, HA.

Picture may not show it well, but that’s a HD 5” deep rack.

Far from the flimsy pieces packaged with radios.

Double thru-bolted in thick sheet steel above, and (4) set screws with radio. Industrial Velcro & luggage strap hold the tuner. Velcro for the rest.

I’ve been thru Southern Louisiana. Down towards Morgan City. Short of going off-pavement in the oilfield, that’s test enough.

Nothing has budged. Just had to re-tighten some coax connectors.

WORKMANN DXX




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[144inBama]

Picture may not show it well, but that’s a HD 5” deep rack. Double-Bolted above, and (4) set screws with radio. Industrial Velcro & luggage strap hold the tuner. Velcro for the rest.

I’ve been thru Southern Louisiana. Down towards Morgan City. Short of going off-pavement in the oilfield, that’s test enough.

Nothing has budged. Just had to re-tighten some coax connectors.

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Maaaan, I've spent time in Morgan city, Fourchon, Grand Isle and Golden Meadows....Those roads will kill a normal suspension .

 

[Slowmover]

Maaaan, I've spent time in Morgan city, Fourchon, Grand Isle and Golden Meadows....Those roads will kill a normal suspension .

Yeah, and we need to re-name the coastal live oak variant to CAST IRON BRANCH Oak Tree.

Old Ironsides was built from South Carolina-sourced live oak. That the cannonballs bounced off of her surprises me not at all.

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[Slowmover]

Decided I’d switch some things around.

Now is:

G99v2 Radio
500 Filter
KL203P
411 Bandpass Filter
945e Tuner

The 1500 filter (removed) I’ll re-install into the stack somewhere better.

— Ferrite added back to coax jumpers & mic cord; 31 & 61.

— 12V had “noise” with coax disconnected when engine off and volume all the way up; almost inconsequential. Big 31 snap reinstalled anyway.

Tuner now uses different settings than before. 8W drive shows 75W Forward with 1.5W Reflected at about 1.3 to1.4-SWR.

10W = 95W (same otherwise).

— Can’t find anything says FME Coax ends (Belden RG8X) a bad idea (or, less than ideal), but IIRC someone (somewhere) was against their use.

Getting “sounds good” reports on highway not much help. Lost a base station at the 10-mile mark (driving away from). He was on an Antron with a 50’ feed point. Two miles south of Interstate. Big Fire.

If I can engage a base station for a 20-mile stretch — crossing the T — I’d consider it a good thing given antenna-mount problems.



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[Eldorado828]

Looks like you're going the right direction so far. Trial and error my friend. I've yet to get a satisfactory coax/antenna system in the t880... I've been paying attention to your bonding tips so I can do the same for some benefit but my biggest issue is the subpar factory cophase coax.

On your side you can modify the truck somewhat as to me being in a company leased truck I have to make my moves discreetly to keep them unnoticed. Like they say though, where there's a will there's a way right

 

[Slowmover]

Looks like you're going the right direction so far. Trial and error my friend. I've yet to get a satisfactory coax/antenna system in the t880... I've been paying attention to your bonding tips so I can do the same for some benefit but my biggest issue is the subpar factory cophase coax.

On your side you can modify the truck somewhat as to me being in a company leased truck I have to make my moves discreetly to keep them unnoticed. Like they say though, where there's a will there's a way right

My “interpretation“ of same restriction gets broader, ha!

My defense is that the worlds getting nuttier, and DAMNED if I’m going down the road without the best possible (reasonable) radio rig. (They wouldn’t care if it got torched as insurance covers that). So, “perspective”.

No cab curtains on this unit, so that track not present. Just the holes for it.

Same with crossing firewall for 12V DC thru unused air line penetrations.

The door hinge bolts were easy (just slow). Touch up with Dremel at holes edge ONLY. (Hidden; used an anti-corrosive).

Getting to mirror-mount bolts I haven’t yet tried. Door panel not THAT easy to remove. Very big for you.

Tallest possible antennas & the WM DSP Speaker I cant recommend strongly enough. Same for at least one filter (at Coax end at radio).

Best performance yet (for me) was FL Cascadia & 7’ Skipshooter pair. Angled forward to stay under 14’ (pulling liquid tanker).

Today I’d try 102”s on risers with that tractor. It was also easy to hang CMC/RF chokes at feedpoint.

Whoulda thunk a Freightshaker the better choice? Ha! Accessing power at panel (glovebox) dead-simple. Coax E-Z thru doors.

Just had to settle for dash-mount radio. (I had it riding on pass seat)

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[Slowmover]

1). Haven’t yet pulled Coax. Of (4) FT240-31 toroids will remove outer (end) pair and use -61 Mix.

2). Haven’t yet pulled door panels to investigate bonding mirror arms.

3). Haven’t satisfactorily ID’d cab to frame bond locations, either.

— Tried 1500 cube in different location , but went back to having it meet Coax inside overhead.

It’s a little uncanny how voices come out of nowhere.

It’s as if noise attached to spoken words is stripped away.

So far, so good (progress overall).

Eldorado828, there are times my cellphone isn’t any more quiet (is a decent comparison) while running rural areas. Those High Plains you run a great example of “ideal” rural conditions for reception distance.

Okay, . . . there’s more background hiss than on cell, but if I’m on phone with another driver and both of us wearing Bluetooth NC-headsets running down the highway, the radio isn’t inferior.

That’s different (the level of quiet) now that stack is outside console.

I’m out in NYCs Warehouse today (some call it Pennsylvania) and there are MANY good radios out here. Lots of guys talking with others on a daily or 2X daily basis.

Decent clarity is a norm. Distance, a separate question.

The 65-MPH speed limit drives the excuse for talking. Traffic density and pulling hills makes running higher than that — at times — a logical response to congestion. Breaking free of packs in the hills on E-W Interstates towards NYC & New England.

Radio can get busy with road failures (accidents, etc).

Were I to use the in-truck BT system, it wouldn’t compete well with the current Radio system. (Wrong freq-response and locations on truck stereo speakers).

One speaker to another it now compares favorably. (All y’all readin’ this right?)

A). Good local radios (and many) in heavy-traffic rural area. Mobile or base (can be hard to tell apart).
B) This truck radio system optimized.
C). Thus, cell phone across a HQ BT headset NOT substantially better.

IOW, this is one of those stopping places on a system install. Seems good enough.

Shadetree Mechanic, I did finally hook up the U980 in the sleeper with a coax stub and some cheap mono headphones to get a better grip on use of Echo, Echo Delay and Mic Gain (with the Astatic 636 originally paired to this radio back in 2014; connections tightened).

With the KL203, I was (am?) hitting too hard with previous settings when close by.

I’ll try to get some feedback now I “know” some range on radio controls. “A” versus “B”.

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[Slowmover]

And, hell, I have to stop awhile as I’ve run out of both zip ties and industrial Velcro (ha!).

 

[Eldorado828]

Slow, check this stuff out. I discovered this stuff a few years back, the same stuff auto manufacturers use for headliners or other trim in newer cars. Although it doesn't do everything velcro does, it's a much more solid type of mounting. I use it quite a bit in the cab, pretty good stuff.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/dual-lock-reclosable-fasteners-us/

 

[Slowmover]

Thanks!!

I started a thread on QRZ just to address that.
Had to find some to replace (5) dash tags with (2).
Search “3M Toll Tag”

My problem is moving stuff around. Single-use adhesive.
The Ind-V comes in a fairly long roll at $30. Thus, cheap per inch.
On my seat cushion (fabric/fabric) it doesn’t come loose in 100k miles.

The stuff you’ve linked looks a LOT nicer for gear against plastic or metal, and I’m VERY happy to think of using it with headliner.

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[Eldorado828]

Thanks!!

I started a thread on QRZ just to address that.
Had to find some to replace (5) dash tags with (2).
Search “3M Toll Tag”

My problem is moving stuff around. Single-use adhesive.
The Ind-V comes in a fairly long roll at $30. Thus, cheap per inch.
On my seat cushion (fabric/fabric) it doesn’t come loose in 100k miles.

The stuff you’ve linked looks a LOT nicer for gear against plastic or metal, and I’m VERY happy to think of using it with headliner.

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Yes sir, it's good stuff when mount to a hard surface. I pulled a headliner shell on a newer model nissan and found that stuff holding the shell in place. Did it well too, with a good tight snap when seated. I just had to look it up and that's when the 3m stuff came to lightas what they use. Very quickly I found several other uses for it in the truck cab. Flashlight mounted to the inner door where it doesn't rattle and easy to pull off and back on, external speaker mounted to the overhead console and do it all without ever drilling a hole.
I see guys velcro the amp to their radio but not much of a solid hold (I wouldn't trust it), this stuff and you'd think it's bolted to it.
Just thought I'd make mention since you brought up velcro.

 

[Slowmover]

Yes sir, it's good stuff when mount to a hard surface. I pulled a headliner shell on a newer model nissan and found that stuff holding the shell in place. Did it well too, with a good tight snap when seated. I just had to look it up and that's when the 3m stuff came to lightas what they use. Very quickly I found several other uses for it in the truck cab. Flashlight mounted to the inner door where it doesn't rattle and easy to pull off and back on, external speaker mounted to the overhead console and do it all without ever drilling a hole.
I see guys velcro the amp to their radio but not much of a solid hold (I wouldn't trust it), this stuff and you'd think it's bolted to it.
Just thought I'd make mention since you brought up velcro.

The gear is one thing.

How goes the Installation?

Is what matters.

Tools & Supply!!