As strange as it may seem, not everyone is as anxious as I am to blast holes in thier cars for the purposes of installing mobile transceivers. Even I had to concede a bit with our most recently acquired car, a newer Mercury Grand Marquis. Before you think I wimped out, I drilled plenty of holes, just none that you can *see*.

The 2M rig I bought for this car is an Icom IC-2100. This is a nice 2M only transceiver with all the features you might need. What I liked most about it was it's small size, nice display and ability to control the radio almost entirely from the microphone.

Now you see it...	Now you don't.
The car's cup holder was chosen as the destination for this radio's installation.	With the cup holder pushed in and the mic tucked between the seats, the radio disappears completely.

Though probably not as good as a quarter wave when it comes to gain, this cellular look-alike antenna works well enough for local repeaters.

The real work was modifying the drink tray to hold the 2M rig. After removing the drink tray I used a die grinder and a rasp bit to grind away at the plastic form until there was an opening big enough to allow the radio to slip through. A couple of small right angle brackets and machine screws perform the hold down duties. Some black sheet plastic takes care of covering the remains of the cup holder openings on top. I ran 10 gauge wire through the firewall to the battery, and to allow switched ignition operation I used a 30 amp automotive relay to turn the 12V on and off to the radio using a key switched 12V circuit to the relay coil. The antenna is an NMO mount cellular lookalike fastened to the trunk, with the coax routed under the carpet to the radio's location. The microphone was extended using an 8-wire telephone modular cable and termination box, and ends up underneath the passenger seat. The microphone plugs in there, and is always handy coming up from between the seats.

Back to the Mobile Main Page

Back to the K5LXP Home Page

© 2001 Pane Relief Computer Services

---