I thought I’d see how far I could get between getting home from work and sunset as I knew getting a power cable through the car’s firewall was going to be a major challenge especially in my hybrid when everything is packed in so tight in the engine compartment.
I used up half my time mounting the antenna which was an easy job (although I must still tidy the final bits) and I started to poke around blindly behind the engine until I thought I better find my battery first and see which side of the engine it is on…then I remembered it was not in the front but actually under the rear seat. This could not have been better as I spent most of the time trying to find a spanner to fit the battery terminal nut. The actual hookup was very quick and all the cables fit without any extensions at all.
The radio sits under the seat in a box, and its faceplate mounts on a RAM mount which sits securely in the cup holder. Zero holes drilled anywhere.
So the radio is in and working. I just need to measure the antenna SWR and probably improve its ground. But my new antenna analyser also arrived today so that is what I’ll be tuning and checking on the weekend. Great too that the new antenna is a bit shorter and more flexible than the previous one so I’m not expecting to catch it on overhead obstacles any more. It looks a bit more "stealth" now.
#hamradio #amateurradio #installation
