Hello,

 

I am looking to install an amateur radio into my 2010 FL vRS estate and I am trying to work out the best way of doing this in terms of cable runs and where to mount everything.

 

So far I have an antenna mounted on the rear boot lip, and rather amazingly this part was very simple and sadly I suspect that the rest is going to be a PITA, but hopefully I am wrong!  What I have is a Kenwood TM-D700 radio which consists of a number of parts, including

 

1.The radio body - this can be sighted anywhere really, providing that there is sufficient airflow to prevent overheating and that the cables for power, antenna and all of the below can reach this point.  I was thinking of mounting in the boot out of the way in one of the cubby boxes but I'd need a way of securely fixing the body someway.  I see that some of the older Octavia's had a cd auto changed installed in one of these cubby holes, does anyone know if the mounting points for the brackets still exists behind the interior?  If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

2.Remote head unit - this is whats used to control the radio and needs to be mounted somewhere on the dashboard or nearby.

3.Speaker - like the head unit, this needs to be somewhere in the front the the car

4. GPS unit - this will most probably take the same route as the antenna coax and live on the roof of the car

5. Microphone - needs to be in the front of the car.

 

The power supply needs to be a direct connection to the battery, I understand that there is a grommet behind the glovebox that comes out behind the battery that can be used to route cables into the cabin which would be fine, if I'm going to be mounting the radio in the boot what would be the best way to route a cable through the car, behind the trim out of the way?

 

Thanks

 

Tom

When you said boot lip do you mean the boot lid - the bit you lift up? Other hams have found it necessary to make a good earth connection between the antenna base and the boot lid and, more importantly, take a substantial flat copper braid around the boot lid hinge on the antenna side of the boot, using the hinge mounting bolts. Probably more important though on HF than 2 and 70 cms, but with modern canbus cars every little helps.

Can't add much on your other points except to say people often run cables from the rear to the front for cameras and other things so search on here for their posts.

When you connect to the battery make sure you put a fuse at the battery end of the cable. This is to avoid the fire risk should the cable short to ground from sharp edges, rubbing etc. The fuse is to protect the cable, not the connected rig.

73s.

When you said boot lip do you mean the boot lid - the bit you lift up? Other hams have found it necessary to make a good earth connection between the antenna base and the boot lid and, more importantly, take a substantial flat copper braid around the boot lid hinge on the antenna side of the boot, using the hinge mounting bolts. Probably more important though on HF than 2 and 70 cms, but with modern canbus cars every little helps.

Can't add much on your other points except to say people often run cables from the rear to the front for cameras and other things so search on here for their posts.

When you connect to the battery make sure you put a fuse at the battery end of the cable. This is to avoid the fire risk should the cable short to ground from sharp edges, rubbing etc. The fuse is to protect the cable, not the connected rig.

73s.

 

Hi Pikpilot

 

I have mounted the antenna near the hinge on the boot lid on the edge that faces outwards, although this is curved it seems to be a fairly secure fit.  Agree with you point about adding a ground in for good measure, this isn't something that I have done yet but the SWR is good on 2m & 70cm, but i'll probably add it in for good measure, it can't hurt!  As the end of the coax had a pigtail I have routed this under the boot rubber at an angle then into the plastic trim inside the cabin.  I'll just have to keep an eye on the cable under the rubber to make sure this doesn't chafe.

 

Accept what you say about the fuse, I was going to add a fuse inline on +ve battery end and then most probably feed the other end into a distribution board with a fuse for each item connected.

 

I'm interested to hear is anyone has taken the rear boot side trim out and if so, whats behind the trim (between the rear of the car and the wheel arch) are there mounts present for the cd auto changer that used to be in the cubby box on the left?  How easy is the trim to remove also?

 

Thanks & 73

 

Tom

Picking up from Octavia Estate tomorrow so will be having to contemplate this for my 2m/70cms. Have you done nay more yet? I know on Audi adding the radio direct to the battery causes problems and one of clubs (TDARC) RF gurus had to delve deep into the Audi system to work out the best way for power.  He said the same problem would apply to all cars with stop start. Asking him for the details at the moment as I can't remember them.

 

Mark

Picking up from Octavia Estate tomorrow so will be having to contemplate this for my 2m/70cms. Have you done nay more yet? I know on Audi adding the radio direct to the battery causes problems and one of clubs (TDARC) RF gurus had to delve deep into the Audi system to work out the best way for power.  He said the same problem would apply to all cars with stop start. Asking him for the details at the moment as I can't remember them.

 

Mark

 

 

As I understand it, cars with stop/start have advanced battery monitoring, this is so if the battery is getting low for any reason then the stop/start is disabled (as it puts far more strain on a battery than a non stop/start car)

 

With this in mind it's not advised to run anything directly from the battery, most common one is subwoofers and amplifiers, of course this applies to your radio too.

 

You could probably disable the stop/start system altogether with VCDS, in fact I'm 99% certain you can as I've seen the options there, this may solve it.    

 

The other option would be looking to take your power for your radio by tapping into the switched positive in the the cars wiring loom behind the dash, not difficult, just need to know which wire to tap into.

Edited 11 November, 20169 yr by Muzza80

Yes i think he tapped into a feed after the stop/start circuit. I am sure he also said something about not having a fuse on the negative as that too caused problems, Yaesu radios like to have both on their standard power cabling.

 

Thanks,
Mark

M0IMS

Nice picture on Q*Z

M0IMS

Nice picture on Q*Z

 

Training day. :peek:

73 OM

Hi All, There is a guide I did for getting wires into the fusebox here - http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/162617-octavia-fl-scout-access-to-relays-fusebox/ it  was for power for my caravan socket in the rear so it might give you some ideas. 73s G7MFK Stuart

Picking up from Octavia Estate tomorrow so will be having to contemplate this for my 2m/70cms. Have you done nay more yet? I know on Audi adding the radio direct to the battery causes problems and one of clubs (TDARC) RF gurus had to delve deep into the Audi system to work out the best way for power.  He said the same problem would apply to all cars with stop start. Asking him for the details at the moment as I can't remember them.

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark,

 

I haven't really progressed with this yet, the FT-817 on the passenger seat has been working as a temporary measure.  My plan was to locate the grommet behind the glove box and run the +VE cable to the battery and the -VE to the body earth mounting point next to the battery, but with the dark evenings and weekend commitments nothing has happened.  Incidentally, my Octavia doesn't have start stop, so I don't have to worry about this!

 

I wonder if you have installed anything yet?

 

Tom de M0TFX

Spoke with my expert, G5BBL, and on his A3 he took the +ve to the battery and the -ve to the earth connector, after discussing with Audi. He also powers his amp for UKAC the same way (that's the HAM competition for the non amateur radio practitioners out there), although he have the engine running when using that. We both have FT-857s.

 

Mark (TDARC)

Hello!

 

I just have a regular Octavia (not estate) and spent a while getting everything installed. I put the radio (Kenwood TM-D700E) in the driver-side exposed cubby in the boot, and use the plastic clip strap to hold it in place. It's not perfect but it's fairly secure. Some sticky velcro hooks might help though. I couldn't find enough space or secure enough mounting on the passenger side cubby where the CD changer is.

 

Display is mounted in the space for the ash tray, between gear stick and heater controls, and the speaker just sits in the space behind it.

 

Cables:

 

Power: +ve from the battery and -ve chassis earth mounting point. Cable goes through the grommet between engine bay and passenger footwell. Then into and then under all the trim on the passenger side. Up the side of the rear seats, then into the carpet trim in the boot area. It then crosses over in the boot, secured to the carpet, and then connects to the radio.

 

Antenna: Cable runs down the plastic boot trim towards the hinge, and then runs inside the car down the plastic trim behind the rear passenger seat, then down into the boot area.

 

Display, microphone and speaker: I ran 1x 3.5mm and 2x Cat5e cables from boot area behind carpet trim in boot into the rear passenger seat area, and down into the footwell. The cables then cross under the seat and under the centre tunnel. They then go along and up to an area just under the steering wheel. The speaker and display cables go up behind the centre console area and over towards the area under the steering wheel where the extensions come out at. Quite tricky to do depending on hand size, and I removed the top air vent storage box to get access. The microphone has a clip mounted behind/left of the steering wheel, and cable goes up and behind to the same area.

 

I'll try and take some photos when it's light!

M0PHP

Edited 11 December, 20169 yr by Craig A Rodway