I've got an Amateur Radio transceiver in my Golf with a hands-free kit installed by my regular mechanic, who has since gone out of business. My new Octy is being built next week, so I am considering how to get the radio out of the current car and into the new one.

Now theoretically I could do it myself, but it requires the removal of a lot of trim, since the microphone sits on the sunvisor, the PTT sits on the gearstick, there's a remote head, and the aerial will be coming in through the tail-gate. Not to mention that the power needs to come direct from the battery.

I asked Farmers if they could do it and they said they were willing, but that they would contract it out, which probably means I'd be paying two people for one to do the work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for any place in Leicester that is experienced in this field? Who do the taxi firms go to?

I've got an Amateur Radio transceiver in my Golf with a hands-free kit installed by my regular mechanic, who has since gone out of business. My new Octy is being built next week, so I am considering how to get the radio out of the current car and into the new one.

Now theoretically I could do it myself, but it requires the removal of a lot of trim, since the microphone sits on the sunvisor, the PTT sits on the gearstick, there's a remote head, and the aerial will be coming in through the tail-gate. Not to mention that the power needs to come direct from the battery.

I asked Farmers if they could do it and they said they were willing, but that they would contract it out, which probably means I'd be paying two people for one to do the work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for any place in Leicester that is experienced in this field? Who do the taxi firms go to?

Well Rurwin

I am amasesd you do't do it your self as an amateur thats should be just up your street.

I would never leave some thing like that to idiots who have not got a clue what they are doing.

I always fit my own kit, and if you were closer to me I would offer to do it for you !

Radiotwo

Yeah I know. I can do the radio, it's the trim I've never handled before. [roll-eyes] [blush]

I may end up doing it myself, depending on the price.

Might be worth giving Leicester Car Radio a shout if you don't want to do it yourself.

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Not used them myself, but I've heard their name banded about a few times.

However, to avoid potential huge labour costs, I'd read up and do it myself. Nothing is that difficult on car trim, as long as you set aside plenty of time and have a clean warm open place to work.

EDIT... I just read it was for a new Skoda. Thought it was the Golf at first.

If you get stuck and want somebody to help I don't mind you bringing it round to mine and I'll help.

I'm in Leicester and have had nearly all the panels (and centre consul etc etc) off my MkII vRS.

I'd rather not take the time and effort on the Golf, seeing as it would be gone a day or two later, but I might get my finger out and do the installation in the Octy.

As for the clean warm place, it's the side of the road or the works carpark. That might work, since I can take my time and do one thing at a time. Thanks for the offer of help; if you see someone turning up with a dashboard on his knees...

I visited Car Radio, and their best guess is £35 each job. For that price they can definitely do the removal work.

I'd rather not take the time and effort on the Golf, seeing as it would be gone a day or two later, but I might get my finger out and do the installation in the Octy.

As for the clean warm place, it's the side of the road or the works carpark. That might work, since I can take my time and do one thing at a time. Thanks for the offer of help; if you see someone turning up with a dashboard on his knees...

I visited Car Radio, and their best guess is £35 each job. For that price they can definitely do the removal work.

Hi Rurwin,

I sympathise with you, whilst radio amateurs have (or are supposed to have!) the theoretical knowledge about this type of job, it can be a fairly daunting task to do it on a brand new car of you don't have the experience and the tools!

Also, modern cars are pretty complex, so caution needs to be excercised when instalaling how power radios (note: high power is classied as 10W>)

Leicester Car Radio may be OK to remove the kit from the Golf at £35.00 but I suspect that they have grossly underestimated what is required to re-fit it for £35.00. (e.g High current power supply!)

A high power VHF/UHF radio installation is a totally different concept to a GSM car kit!

If you want to do it yourself, I suggest that you consult this document FCS1362 - code of practice for installation of comms equipment. It gives generic guidance on best practice installation and has just been updated. I am on the committee that looks after this document.

Added: This is the link:

MPT1362

If you don't want to do the install yourself, I can find you a suitable installer in your area - not sure what the cost would be though.

Feel free to give me a call if you want to discuss further.

Cheers,

John. (G8SYD)

[email protected]

07860 208007

Thanks, that's a very interesting document. Do you have any idea where, as a private citizen, I might be able to get Skoda's recommendations on fitting high power radios to their cars?

Richard, G6RRJ

[email protected]

Nice of somebody in the radio know to reply to the post.

I'm not quite sure if by the 'high power' comment, John is refering to the power absorbed by the radio hardware, or the power of the reciever within it.

If it is just the power draw he is bothered about, then there are no worries and it is an easy install to run some fused heavier than std gauge wiring down the car.

I fitted my own stereo and that pulls around 80A at full tilt so 10W or so will be easy to work with - assuming this is what was meant

My offer still stands of help putting the cables in. The working and setup of the radio I am not familier with at all, but I'm sure it won't be too difficult.

i had a check up on the rf power limits for the fabia before i fitted my kit and im sure it said no more than 50w . which is handy as thats the power i run when mobile :eek:

but i can not remember where i found out the information :confused:

remember qrp suks gm0hzi

Thanks, that's a very interesting document. Do you have any idea where, as a private citizen, I might be able to get Skoda's recommendations on fitting high power radios to their cars?

Richard, G6RRJ

[email protected]

Hi Richard,Twonks and Digitaldwarf,

Under European vehicle regs 2004/104/EC vehicle m'frs have a duty to give basic information on recommendations for mobile radio/phone installations in their vehicles. Detailed information is pretty hard to get and Nissan is one of the few who give extensive info on their website.

However, a lot of m'frs give the basic info in the cars user manual, normally in the form of max power for a given freq. band and requirement to use an external antenna.

If you check in a Skoda manual, I am sure this info is in there.

"High Power" that I referred to is RF output at the radio connector - 10 watts doesn't seem very high when most 2m tcvrs run 50 watts, but then you have to remember that a lot of UK PMR licences (inc. UK General) only allow 5 watts ERP!!

A bit different to the situation in USA where 50/75 watt PMR mobiles are pretty common, esp. in public safety applications.

The important thing really is to ensure that whatever comms devices you install in a vehicle, it doesn't affect the operation of vehicles systems, (modern vehicles are fairly well EMC hardened), by following best practice, the risk of problems can be greatly reduced.

Cheers,

John.

Cheers for the clarification John.

As the technicalities of the radio are beyond me I'll leave it alone unless rurwin needs some assistance with the donkey work

the technicalities of the radio are beyond me

If you've ever had a taxi go past and heard him on your HiFi, you'll know the sorts of things that can go wrong. Also the UHF frequencies are very close to those used by the remote central locking system but literally ten thousand times more powerful; press the microphone and the doors lock. The car's wiring can act like an aerial and this close to the transmitter the effects are significant, so that cables from sensors that are only supposed to have millivolts on them, have a bogus signal of a few volts on top of the real signal. You can imagine what that might do to the ECU.