Wiring in radio transceiver

[TheBeastie]

Having just passed my Intermediate Licence this afternoon I can now start planning the installation of the transceiver I promised myself. I am going to try and get an Icom 706 Mk2 G. Until I get it and see precisely what it needs I cannot be certain but I am now looking to work out the general principles of providing power to it.

As far as I can see it is likely to draw a current of around 20 amps so I was looking at using 50 amp cable running a +ve from the battery to a 30 amp fuse as a supply and similar cable, again with a 30 amp fuse, back to earth. Having talked to a few LR people it seems the best place to mount the main part is either on the rear bulkhead or under the cubby box, with the detachable front mounted somewhere on the dash. I think I prefer rear bulkhead since it will make it more accessible when I want to use it elsewhere.

I am aiming for VHF/UHF aerial onto a gutter mount and an HF aerial mount on the front wing so will need to run decent coax to these points too.

Does anyone who either has this sort of setup or something similar have any gotchas, like interference supression etc, that it would be helpful to know in advance? It would help me prepare my shopping list!

73s

Malcy

[western]

Congratulations on the pass result

I've connected all my transceivers like this

+ve & -ve from battery with the fuse as close to the battery terminals as possible, the rig should come supplied with the correct size cable & fuse units pre installed into the wiring, all you'll need is to site the head & main units & route the wires to battery/transciever.

for a good quailty dual [2m/70cm] antenna look at Watson or Diamond [actually the same antenna for different markets] from Waters & Stanton mines a W-7900 2/70 mounted on the roof about 1/4 of roof length from the rear end.

Watson HF antenna's

have loads of fun on air & maybe well get to have a 'rag chew' at sometime

[m0bcg]

hi malcy ;

if you are putting an ic706mk2g in the landy , then whatever you do , do not leave it switched on whilst starting the engine up .

i had one in my landy and i did this , only to completely ruin the main pll board in the 706 and needing to go back to icom for a new board to be fitted .

luckily they did it under the warranty but it would have cost me a lot of money otherwise .

i have a screwdriver mobile hf aerial on the rear of the landy , its a 3-50mhz aerial made by hi-q antennas in canada , but it is a large aerial .

gutter mounts arent too bad , i put a heavy duty stud mount at the back of the roof on mine , easy to get at etc .

for coax you will be ok with RG58 or mini rg8 .

the landy heater does make some noise from the brushes and also too the wiper motor .

look on VEHICLE WIRING PRODUCTS website for some 12v power connectors , they do 50amp "forklift" style connectors for about £6.50 each .

you can then run wires direct from battery under the seat , to a female half of the socket , use a battery isolator switch as well in the positive line .

you can buy higher amperage type strip/midi fuses and holders from the website in any amperage you want more or less .

i use a yeasu FT100-d now , would like an ATAS 120 FOR simplicity although they arent that efficient but would be good enough for me .

there was someone advertising home made aerial mounts on ebay for freelanders and discoveries , that fit onto the spare wheel carrier , you could probably weld a bracket on to the defender spare wheel carrier and use that .

mine has a stainless steel angle type bracket that i made up which is bolted to the right hand side rear body capping , ie half way up the door just above the rear lights .

thats where the base of the screwdriver aerial fits .

i looked to see if i had a photo but im afraid i cant find one on the pc at moment .

cul

ian G5WQ

[TheBeastie]

Thanks guys

This is all good stuff. I need to plan the LR side and also the trip to the "sweetie shop" so two sets of shopping/to do listings are needed.

I had wondered about putting an ignition triggered relay on the radio feed but this still wouldn't cover the issue Ian raises since as soon as you turn the key then power would go to the radio and if left on would cause problems. Is there any other feed I could use to trigger the relay to avoid this?

Ian do you have an ATU if using such a wide band HF aerial? I was trying to weigh up cost/benefits of an ATU and signle aerial or the sets that you get with a different aerial for each band - clearly if using on the move then an ATU has a huge benefit but I am such a law abiding gentleman I cannot see that being an issue

So far building list for X-Eng and VWP since going to put dual battery setup in at the same time and also for Waters & Stanton for the radio kit. Good job I have been saving up some pennies!

Malcy

[western]

I know my rigs aren't HF, but I don't have a problem starting the engine with them switched on & working,all are connected to the start/vehicle batt, my 2nd batt is for the winch only.

if your going for 2 batts, connect the radio to the non-start battery, it shouldn't see any power drop during starting then,

[TheBeastie]

Thanks and yes, using the non starter battery would make sense.

Memo to self to have one channel in the new distribution board for the main battery (lights, fan etc) and one for the auxilliary battery (radio, inverter, internal lights etc)