Yaesu FTM-400D installed in 2014 JK
07-18-2015, 09:18 AM
#11
JK Newbie
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Northern VA
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First, thanks for a fantastic thread. As soon as I saw your setup, I pretty much thought "Yep, that's exactly how I want mine to look." I had thought about an L-bracket with a small hole cut to allow pass-through in my dash tray, but your pics (and the thought of the control head baking in the sun) put that to rest.
I ended up mounting the main unit to the mounting bracket, which was then in turn zip tied into place under the passenger seat. No extra holes to drill; and if things ever get dicey water-wise, I can cut it loose pretty quickly before it gets ugly. It's off the floor, so I think it'll be fine; and it's secure enough that it definitely won't move around.
For the power, I ran it under the bottom of the passenger door trim and carpet, up the side of the footwell, behind the side of the dash panel, and out through the same hole everyone else has used. Under the hood is a powerpole connection next to the battery with inline fuses. Advantage of the power pole there is that if I ever get a wild hair and decide to set up and use HF out somewhere, I can make an extension from a roll of red/black zip cord and some extra connectors I bought to run straight from the battery to my other rig in place of the 400DR.
Antenna wise, I went a tailgate mounted Diamond K400C bracket below the first hinge and routed it up below the rear passenger seat to a jumper I made to join the back of the main unit. Antenna is a 27" Comet SS460SB. It blends well enough that a friend asked when I was going to mount my antenna. Told him, "It's already on." He had walked right past it. It's got a little protection back there, and is pretty secure mount-wise. Everything is playing nicely together.
Thanks again for all of the photos and taking the time to document the process. It made the job significantly easier, and everything turned out picture perfect!
73 - Goob
P.S. I had an ...interesting... time bending the bracket back around "the long way" as you put it. A 3-lb hand sledge to flatten the factory bends convinced it that I intended to win.
I ended up mounting the main unit to the mounting bracket, which was then in turn zip tied into place under the passenger seat. No extra holes to drill; and if things ever get dicey water-wise, I can cut it loose pretty quickly before it gets ugly. It's off the floor, so I think it'll be fine; and it's secure enough that it definitely won't move around.
For the power, I ran it under the bottom of the passenger door trim and carpet, up the side of the footwell, behind the side of the dash panel, and out through the same hole everyone else has used. Under the hood is a powerpole connection next to the battery with inline fuses. Advantage of the power pole there is that if I ever get a wild hair and decide to set up and use HF out somewhere, I can make an extension from a roll of red/black zip cord and some extra connectors I bought to run straight from the battery to my other rig in place of the 400DR.
Antenna wise, I went a tailgate mounted Diamond K400C bracket below the first hinge and routed it up below the rear passenger seat to a jumper I made to join the back of the main unit. Antenna is a 27" Comet SS460SB. It blends well enough that a friend asked when I was going to mount my antenna. Told him, "It's already on." He had walked right past it. It's got a little protection back there, and is pretty secure mount-wise. Everything is playing nicely together.
Thanks again for all of the photos and taking the time to document the process. It made the job significantly easier, and everything turned out picture perfect!
73 - Goob
P.S. I had an ...interesting... time bending the bracket back around "the long way" as you put it. A 3-lb hand sledge to flatten the factory bends convinced it that I intended to win.
Last edited by Goober; 07-18-2015 at 10:54 AM.
