Mounting ham gear on car dash etc.

Yes, these are sometimes hard to see. Some people don't realize that the seat covers they just put on will make the side airbags non-existent. They seem to be split between seat and ceiling designs. But they certainly do make side impacts safer. All this comes into play with not just mounting radios or head units, but running coax and mounting antennas.

 

The best place to mount the rigs is under the ashtray, as shown here. It also makes for invisible mounting when taking it out someday as the car is traded in. There are only 2 holes on the underside of the ashtray. The mounts are held on through a series of L-Brackets and the mounts supplied with the remote units. Note the Wattmeter to the far left. That is also held on with an L-bracket fashiioned out of bent aluminum. APRS Tracker and Battery voltmeter are on the lower right.

Works great, very rugged and easily removed with no vehicle damage when the car is traded in.

 

And when you're looking at the dial, you can't see the road. Nice.

 

I'm usually too busy texting to look at the road.

 

Don't need to look at the dial. I am not giving S-meter readings, and I am usually in the middle of the band so no band-edge problems. If the station I am working is in the band, then so am I. Rarely need to look at the readout, except an initial glance to see what band I am on. I tune the dial while watching the road.

 

An ALS-600? What are you using to power it?

 

I use a Lido suction mount for my Icom 706 MarkII G control head. It works great. I place it low in the windshield so there is no problem with my vision. In fact I would say mounting on the windshield is the safest place in the vehicle to place the head. I use a Heil headset with a freq control device on the headset cabel. I am able to view the control head without shifting my head downward. Once mounted I can move the head in any direction up down left or right. I can easily remove and replace as I need to. I highly recommend the Lido mounts.

 

What a mess! I'm not talking about the radios.

 

Someday I gotta get rid of all those McDonalds sacks. Some have been in there since the trip to Dayton last May!!!!!

 

I made the big mistake of putting my Kenwood 2100 on the dash!

I lost the display from the heat through the windshield.

The connector between the display board and the one behind it warped and could not be repaired.

I found a dead 2100 and changed the boards.

Now I do not put anything electronic on the dash.

I use one of those hump mounts with the external speaker pointed up.

The one I have has the extra cup holders. A real must have!