Any mobile radio operators?

[RDC98tdi]

Besides TDi's, my other geeky passions are audiophillia, computers, and ham radio. As many who buy TDi's, I'm a road warrior and nothing kills time like chatting with other people on a two way radio. In my last Passat, the car was already used and a bit rough so I screwed a mounting bracket into the console around the shifter and it worked great.

My car is only 6 days old so I don't really want to make holes in it yet. The mobile radio has a detachable face plate, so I could stealthily hide the radio somewhere (suggestions?) and mount the face plate with double sided foam maybe?

Hopefully there are other VW hams that have done this and can point me in the right direction.

 

[RDC98tdi]

PS: Here's the radio:

And here is the face plate:

 

[redbarron55]

KE4MD here.
No radio in the cars and I have been inactive for a while and I don't understand the VHF bands very much.
I do have some redios a 144 and 440 mhz fm and a yeseau Hf rig. These were left to me by my father in law a few years ago, but I haven't really looked at them for a while.

73's

KE4MD

 

[pinkertonfloyd]

Personally... I'd try to see if it'll fit in the upper shelf of the glovebox.. you could drill a small hole in the back to run the wires... it would be a fairly clean install (Audi put's their CD changers in there...). Glovebox is fairly easy to pop out.

- KE6MXV

 

[RDC98tdi]

Thanks for the tip, Pinkerton. I am about to take a road trip to St. Louis (going to cross the 1000 mile mark!) to see my parents and will scope it out when I get home. The face could probably go in front of the shifter, maybe.

KK4CUL

 

[TDI in MT]

Use 3M "dual-lock" fasteners, similar to Velcro but industrial strength. I got a card of the stuff at Walgreen's for about $3.

 

[T100TDI]

Haven't used my HT in awhile. I would be interested to see how you get it wired up if you add it to the car. I mainly have used a HT and an antenna in my old cars.

 

[wwwabbit]

I will try and snap a picture tomorrow in the daylight. I have the body under the drivers seat and the head on a suction cup mount with an arm on it between the dash and drivers door jam. Works well for me, I can see it all and easy reach for adjustments. Plus it has a clear view of the sky for the APRS GPS. Mine is the DSG so I used the nice grommet/rubber plug for the clutch to do with wires for power and antenna. Custom made a nice little stainless bracket for the antenna to mount to a factory bolt too.
~VE7WBT

 

[JaredC01]

The factory location in the firewall for the harness actually has built-in locations for extra wiring... Just clip the tip, and run the line. I used one when I installed the amp for my door speakers.

 

[RDC98tdi]

Thanks for all the tips guys! Sounds like a few great ideas. I like the idea of a suction cup mount for the head, that is if I don't mount a phone up there for the Torque App w/ BlueTooth ODB scanner tool.

wwwabbit, do you have any pictures? That would be a big help.

Thanks!

 

[wwwabbit]

I got one when I was leaving work.

It is a larger RAM mount suction cup, much larger than most of the GPS mount ones, and an arm bit for it. It looks crooked from the side, but sitting in the drivers seat it follows the lines of the dash. It is all connected with just one cable, you can see it going down the side, I just used some long zap straps and slid it in the crack of the plastic down the side of the door and dash. My mic connects to the body under the seat.

 

[RDC98tdi]

Thanks! Looks sharp! My buddy has the same radio (APRS built in is bada$$). Just gotta figure out where to mount the radio itself. Where is the body? And where did you run the coax / power? What type of antenna are you running? I don't want to punch a hole in the roof for an NMO mount so was thinking of getting a trunk lip mount where the screws in the base contact the trunk lid, although I hear this screws up your ground, therefor radiation pattern.

 

[wwwabbit]

I made a NMO bracket that bolts to the front drivers side fender bolt. Works quite well. I have a Comet SAR 2x4 dual band that I really like. The body of the radio is under the drivers seat, just a simple strap to keep it from moving around to much.

 

[RDC98tdi]

Could you snap a pic of the antenna mount Sorry, but I'm trying to visualize this before I start possibly scratching things haha.

 

[wwwabbit]

Yep, it fit well, we started with a cardboard template. Then bent and tweaked till it was good.

 

[RDC98tdi]

That looks great. Thanks man. How does it perform? I have heard this don't work as well as a hole punch, or god forbid a mag mount. I had great luck with a magmount on my Passat, but I don't want to scratch the paint on this just yet

 

[wwwabbit]

Well, the match is good, I don't have any issues unless I am in an area where I know it won't work, or will be hard to hit a repeater (we have lots of hills/valleys/metal in the ground around here.) I have had side mount NMO mounts of one sort or another on most of my vehicles. While I am sure that a center mount hole punch would be better for the RF, it is NOT going to happen on my car in our rainy area I am in. Could I get a little more out of it with center mouth, I am sure I could, I just don't see the need for it for what I use it for. Just putting a narrow banded 2m whip on it would help a large amount too, vs the dual band wide bandwidth antenna. It is the plus and minus to everything.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I'm a filthy CBer. It's invaluable on road trips.

Previous radio.

 

[RDC98tdi]

Nice ride, VeeDub! I have nothing against CB at all, as a matter of fact -- that's what got me interested in ham. In my rental, I had a 10 meter rig with a trimmed Wilson Mag mount that let me talk all over the world! I could get US and Brazil / Argentina daily almost, and I worked Australia and New Caledonia on a road trip. Going 8000+ miles with 25 watts and a mag mount made me have a **** eating grin for the next 100 miles. I called my buddy and he was as excited as I was, as he helped me trim and tune the mag mount. He couldn't believe it until he saw the confirmed log book entry haha.

I will see about getting an angled NMO mount for the trunk if possible, I think that might look a little more discrete since my wife is going to be driving it too sometimes haha. She's not as enthusiastic as I am -- I can't even get her to study for her Technician license! I'm cramming for the extra now. I would love to work HF mobile, but I don't think my Icom IC-7200 would look nice mounted anywhere in a car.

Now I just gotta find where to mount the radio in the car. Maybe the glove box or in front of the shifter?

 

[RoadTrip]

Nice set up VeeDub.
I was thinking of mounting my radio there but leg room was lost
Also the mag mount, I have found always scratches, fades & or removes the paint.
My new plan is a cobra 75WXST. not sure of an antenna yet.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Nice set up VeeDub.
I was thinking of mounting my radio there but leg room was lost
Also the mag mount, I have found always scratches, fades & or removes the paint.
My new plan is a cobra 75WXST. not sure of an antenna yet.

Believe it or not, but a sheet of regular printer paper under the magnet works great (tear off excess). Change it every couple of weeks with a new one.

 

[RoadTrip]

Believe it or not, but a sheet of regular printer paper under the magnet works great (tear off excess). Change it every couple of weeks with a new one.

I have not heard anyone say paper before.
Does it not get wet & hold water?
I have heard of people spaying plastic dip.
Thanks

 

[RDC98tdi]

Oooh, plasti-dip on a mag mount is a decent idea. I wonder if that affects the capacitive coupling?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

The paper will get wet after a bit of time, but so far the paint is holding up well. A few minor scratches, but that's to be expected, and part of the reason why it's on the trunk and not the roof (easier to repaint down the road).

Plastidip is a very interesting idea... I'll have to look into that.

Interestingly enough, the Passat's compass module is directly under the mag-mount antenna. Surprisingly, the magnet does not interfere with the compass at all.

I'll try and get some pics of the current radio installation today... Cobra 29 LX.

 

[RDC98tdi]

I'm still thinking about doing a trunk lip mount. Just for permanent installation and no paint issues. But the hard part is going to be mounting the radio. I don't want to drill any holes yet for my mounting bracket haha. Might have to fab something and rest it over that ledge in front of the shifter.

 

[RoadTrip]

I'm still thinking about doing a trunk lip mount. Just for permanent installation and no paint issues. But the hard part is going to be mounting the radio. I don't want to drill any holes yet for my mounting bracket haha. Might have to fab something and rest it over that ledge in front of the shifter.

That's what I was planning also for antenna mount.
As for the radio try the cobra 75SXWT very small.

 

[MedicPatriot]

I'm on the 2m bands here and there. I don't operate much, but I still like being able to. That reminds me, I need to downsize to a small antenna for the Jetta...my old one I had on the Jeep would look hilarious on top of the Jetta.

 

[RDC98tdi]

That's what I was planning also for antenna mount.
As for the radio try the cobra 75SXWT very small.

Well nothing against the cobra, but I already have my Icom IC-207H 2m/70cm ham radio. There are a few normal drive crews I used to chat with on the local repeaters on my way to work. 10 watts and a good antenna gives me a 50+ mile talk range and I can bump up to 50 for an extra few miles when I hit the hills. Now if only I could get a good setup for my 10 meter mobile radio so I can talk to South America and Australia again

 

[TDI in MT]

Here's something interesting that I just found out about. Not ham related, but radio related: your stock Monsoon radio has a signal strength meter built in, along with a few other goodies.

Put your radio in service mode to test some things. With the radio on, press & hold the MIX button 5 seconds or so, until SERVICE TEST MODE shows up in the display. Then press MIX again. This takes you to the antenna test. If it shows up as ANTENNA ON, that means the preamp at the base of the antenna is working.

Pressing MIX takes you to the next test. At some point there is a signal strength meter; if the line is black, signal = 100%.

Turn the radio off to exit test mode.

 

[RDC98tdi]

That's pretty cool, TDI in MT. Will have to check it out! In the mean time, I'm still trying to gather the time / money to get my radio installed without doing any cosmetic or body damage. It's too new to mar up yet