Thought I'd share: Icom 706 mounted under the seat with control head velcro'd to the center console. VHF/UHF Diamond high gain mounted on the tailgate with a lip mount. Heavy duty HF mount using the spare tire carrier type for swapping out Hamsticks. So far it works fine although I'm having trouble getting 10m and 15m to tune down to reasonable SWR.


Dual band on left, Firestick on right.


Lip mount.


HD stainless base for Hamsticks.


Coax run through vent then along gate harness.


HF coax is grounded to mount which is grounded to gate which is grounded to the body.


Icom 706 under the seat.


Hamstick swapped in place of shorter Firestick. The whip section sticks up another 4' but is barely noticeable. The only time the JK ever goes into the garage is to hoist the top off so I don't worry about antennas above the roof line. Better RX anyway!


Control head velcro mounted to center console.

 

Beautiful set-up! Did you run the coax under the carpet? What HF wavelengths have you bee able to use? What antenna mounting brackets did you use?

KF7CED

 

Looks nice CJK......How is your noise on HF? Did you try taking off the VHF/UHF antenna and then see what your swrs are on 10 and 15? There could be some interaction going on there on those 2 bands. If you take off the antenna and see good swrs then you'll have your answer......it's probably too close.
Good Luck.....

 

I'm curious......when you ask "What wavelengths have you been able to use?", are you asking what "bands" have you been using...as in, 40, 20, 15 meters, etc? I'm sure he can use all the bands with that 706, especially if he's talking local, or ground wave. But when it comes to propagation, ie, DX....well that's another story. It all depends on what the DX Gods want us to have on any given day....lol.

 

Running the coax under the carpet isn't a big deal. Just start at the rear corner, pull it out from under the body lip as you go, zip tie to the existing wire harness, and then pull the carpet out from under the back seat enough to feed it across and grab it from the driver's side. Tuck it back under the edges and push/punch it until it smooths back into place. I fed both coax cables through one of the flaps in the rear vent behind the tire carrier:
-Remove your spare tire to gain access.
-Pop the flap vent out (behind the tire carrier) and the long plastic cover off the inside of the gate.
-Feed your coax through one of the flaps in the cover you removed.
-With one hand feed the coax up through the gate until you can see/feel/pull it through the harness hole on the inside of the gate with your other hand (or get your buddy to put down his beer long enough to earn it).
-Run it alongside the stock harness, zip tie, replace the plastic covers.

The tire carrier mount is the Teraflex mount with a heavy duty stainless base mount that accepts any antenna with the common 3/8 x 24 threads.

The lip mount is the Comet 730 with the stock large plastic wingbolt replaced with a stainless bolt and washer (the wingbolt would not allow the gate to close - the knob was hitting the glass). BE VERY CAREFUL WITH ANY LIP MOUNT WHEN TESTING TO SEE IF THE GATE WILL CLOSE PROPERLY - YOU COULD DAMAGE YOUR GATE OR BREAK THE GLASS IF YOU SLAM-TEST IT THE FIRST TIME. Luckily I didn't try to slam it shut and noticed the clearance issue before doing anything stupid. The 730 will accept any antenna with a UHF-style mount. It seems plenty rigid for a whip-style antenna and Comet claims you can mount up to a 60" antenna.

I've worked 75m, 40m, and 20m with great success. Those antennas all tuned to <1.5 SWR. I've also worked 10m and 15m but with limited success. IIRC I did remove the dual band antenna while attempting to get 10 and 15 to tune better but my memory isn't what it used to be so I'll try again

The dual band whip is a Diamond NR770HB and is a vast improvement over the little stubby mag mount I had on the hood.

 

Wow. Thanks for the answers. I would like to set up my JK in a similar way. How did you get the power to the transceiver?

 

Straight to the battery. If you have an auto trans you can run through the firewall where the clutch linkage goes on a manual. The hole is about an inch in diameter and covered with a rubber membrane that you can poke small holes in to pass wires through. I ran under the carpet along the edge, through the clutch hole in the firewall, and then along the main harness that crosses the firewall to the battery.

Did some more tuning work and removing the dual band antenna has no effect on SWR on the Hamsticks. Got 10m down to 1.9 and 15m is still about 2.3 but with the automatic power reduction built in to the 706MKIIG I should be fine. If SWR gets too high the radio will cut the output power to protect itself.

 

Very cool setup! How's the noise level on 40m for you with the noise blanker turned off? I see your ground strap going through the bottom tailgate hinge area but the coax going through the top. I have a very similar setup, with an Icom 7000 and High Sierra antenna mounted on the tailgate, but I'm feeding the ground strap along the same path as the coax through the top hinge. I have pretty bad RFI and ignition noise on 40m, and I'm wondering if keeping that ground strap clear of the coax like you have could make a difference. Have you had to use any ferrite beads?

pete AA8L

 

No real problem with ignition noise or RFI. The NB function does seem to make weak stations a little clearer. I haven't experimented with any chokes, filters, or beads yet.