Ham Radio Install Done

[Liquidtravel]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

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[n5mj]

Nice work! Thank you for the links.
Assuming you have the rear window defroster, how does the antenna SWR measure up?
de N5MJ

 

[STEED77]

Nice Clean install... well thought out. How is the VSWR?

 

[Rocky905]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket - I will have to drill out the hole 0.04 mm to 0.06mm to accommodate my antenna plug.
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

Really nice summary, and appreciate the “materials and source” list. WC0R

 

[Liquidtravel]

Nice work! Thank you for the links.
Assuming you have the rear window defroster, how does the antenna SWR measure up?
de N5MJ

Yes, I have the defroster. I don't have a SWR meter so I can't check. I plan on getting one in the future.

 

[Mrplowjr73]

Nicely done! I know it won't matter quite as much for VHF/UHF, however those mounts do not ground well at all. I ended up needing to run a separate ground and grind down some of the paint/powdercoat of the mount in-order to get an SWR under 3.2 on HF. As soon as I cleaned under the mounting bolts and where the antenna goes through the bracket I was down under 1.4 (close enough for government work)

 

[MtnTopComms]

Very nicely done.

Brandon
AE7BF

 

[yorount]

I'm going to be doing my install in the next week or so and plan to put it in the same spot (thanks for the detailed write up!)

Any pictures of how you mounted it above the glove box? No worries if it's too much of a hassle to get pictures, I'm mostly curious if you attached it directly to the glove box (on top of the "roof" of the glove box), or if it was mounted further up into the compartment behind there.

 

[Liquidtravel]

I'm going to be doing my install in the next week or so and plan to put it in the same spot (thanks for the detailed write up!)

Any pictures of how you mounted it above the glove box? No worries if it's too much of a hassle to get pictures, I'm mostly curious if you attached it directly to the glove box (on top of the "roof" of the glove box), or if it was mounted further up into the compartment behind there.

Take the glove box out and look up. You will see 2 metal bars that you need to position the radio/ bracket above it. It is a little tricky but it will fit. It acts like a little stand. If you use the same bracket, they have a video showing how to do it

 

[yorount]

I tried with all my might. Blood and sweat involved. 5 hours later. No radio in car.

The difference ended up being 2 inches in depth and half an inch in depth greater between your Yaesu FTM-400XD and my ICOM ID-5100a. Got close a few times, but the clearance of the radio needs to be completely above those bars for the glove box to close.

Tried mounting on top of the glove box as well, but that pushed the radio against the AC blower and prevented glove box closing as well.

The easiest part was wiring up the my desired aux switch. Took all of 15 minutes.

Next option is to just store it in the glove box and drill holes...

 

[Astronaut]

Nice install! Thanks for the photos and parts list!

 

[Squirrel13]

Great install. I’m starting my FTM-500 install when the Lobo Offroad overhead storage rack comes in.
K9ADD

 

[Wd4ity]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

 

[Wd4ity]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

Great article. Thanks for the information. It really helped with my install of a Yeasu 6000R. One question though, how did you route the contol head cable up through the dash from the radio?

 

[V1Rotate]

I finally got my radio and antenna set up and running. It was a lot easier than I thought. I routed the antenna cable through the floor and side trim in about 20 minutes to get it to the front and under the dash. I put the radio above the glove box/ under the dash. I then routed the mic behind the infoscreen to the driver's side, where I hung it on a drive-side molle panel . Then, I put the radio controller up on the dash using a 1" ball mount. Lastly, I pulled out the grommet between the engine and cabin to cut it for the power cables, which was pretty easy to do. Overall, I am pretty happy.

Equipment

• Radio: 50 watt Mobile Dual Band Radio install - FTM-400XDR
• Antenna:
  • Comet, CA2X4SR
• Cables
  • Power Cable:
    • Yaesu DC Power Cables (9 ft.) - 14 gauge wire with a 15 amp fuse
  • Radio to Faceplate cable: Yaesu Separation Cables CT-162 (19 ft.)
  • Antenna Cable
    • Comet Antennas 3D4M (13 ft.)
    • PL-259 UHF CB Coax Cable (6 ft. extension)
• Mounts and Brackets:
  • Radio Mount
    • Under Dash Mount for Amp/Radio fits 2021+ Ford Bronco
  • Faceplate Mount
    • HuddExpo Yaesu FTM-400 1" Ball Mount to use with a Small RAM Double Socket Arm and a 1" Ball Adapter to fit into dash.
  • Antenna Mount
    • Flag Antenna Mount Bracket
  • Mic Mount
    • IAG I-Line Molle Panel Kit

Way late on the reply but clean install! I'm running an Icom 5100 paired with a diamond dual band antenna mounted to the front left trailsight. Rg8 coax. All home fabricated mounts and radio guts mounted under the driver's seat. Cheapo amazon speaker for the sound

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