Ham Radio Installation

Hey OMs,

Tonight I FINALLY got around to mounting my trusty Yaesu FT-100 in the new 2004 Prius with the BC package.

After giving up on finding a grommet to run the DC cables into the engine compartment, I decided to use the battery in the rear hatch. Boy! That was a very good decision.

The battery is a LOT bigger that I was led to believe. It's smaller than a typical car battery, but I was positive (no pun intended) that it could handle the 20 amps that the FT-100 is capable of drawing.

I connected the fused DC cables to the battery (+) terminal and the ground lug next to the battery. I replaced the black "secret compartment" case over the spare tire and then routed the DC cables into it. The FT-100 for now is just sitting on the floor of the compartment, but I will probably velcro it down so that is won't move or bounce. The FT-100 does get hot but I think that there will be enough circulation in that compartment if I leave it generally empty.

Since I own a remote mounting kit, I just brought out the control head, microphone, and speaker extension cables under the rear seat. I tucked the cables under the door trim, under the driver seat and brought them up along the drive seat and the console.

I do NOT have the control head mounted quite yet. I would LOVE to figure a way to get the control head into the cubby under the radio/CD/cassette deck. That's the goal, but I bet I have to destroy the inside of the cubby to do that. I'd do it too, if I can easily replace it. Having that FT-100 control head lit up behind the dark tinted door would be VERY cool. You knew that door was see-through, didn't you?

Rig works great on VHF and UHF with a dual band Diamond vertical.

I then replaced the Diamond with my ATAS 100 for an HF RFI "acid test."

Much to my surprize, the radio IS usable on HF. I'd heard otherwise. Now, perhaps I'm jaded by the terrible RF noise generated by my old Pontiac Grand Prix's ABS system, but the Prius was not all that bad. There is plenty of RFI, make no mistake, lots of buzzes and other noises while the engines are running. It's worse on 40M but gets quieter as you go up in frequency.

I still have to do a good ground on the radio case and the antenna ground. Things could get better with just those simple changes. The ATAS tuned fine on all bands.

73! =paul= W8KC
Collector of Ten*Tecs and other fine plastics.
Visit the Virtual Ten*Tec Museum at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/w8kc
Listen to 7.040 MHz from anywhere with Media Player v9
http://www.w8kc.com/stream.asx

 

I mounted a Diamond K-400 (I think that was the model number) the 3-axis trunk-lip mount up toward the top of the rear hatch on the driver's side.

The coax simply is routed behind the rear passenger seat for now. Remember that the radio is in the hidden compartment in the hatch, not up front.

If you don't have a rig with a remote mount option, you'll have to route the coax and the power cbles through the cabin and under the seats.

I'll post some pics later...

73 =paul= W8KC