Like I really needed more lights on the dash...

[Mule]

Mototrbo XPR5550e.


Handheld control head went in about a month ago. Integrates speaker, mic, and keypad/display into one module. One cable to run between it and the RF deck - don't need cables everywhere. Greatly simplifies installation, and takes up less dash/visual space. Other upside, I can shove the HCH under the seat when I park the truck and there's no big fancy radio control on the dash.


Mic/head sticks to the dash with a Magnetic Mic mount. Not cheap (about $50), but it's more than enough magnet to hold the HCH and you don't have to fumblefcuk around trying to get a mic hung up - just get it close and the magnet grabs/holds it. Good customer service/support too; quality product made-in- .




Fish-taped the cable straight back from the transfer case shifter.


Deck arrived at my office tuesday afternoon.


Option boards in, everything looks good.


Platform/seat out, trunnion mount in. Heavy-gauge powder-coated bracket, way nicer than the stamped sheet-metal stuff from other manufacturers.
Plenty of clearance under the cab, not worried about self-tapping into the transmission in here.


Shoved back under the seat, build wiring harness. Interface connector has options for a PA speaker and some other I/O.... might be fun.
Only one i'm using at the moment is ignition-sense - a feature my old radio annoyingly lacked.


Just enough clearance for the shelf, seat, cables, etc. Should be protected enough from my gearbag or tools on the platform.


Firmware updates, HCH update/sync, couple more entitlement activations, pair bluetooth... brought my Appliances WLAN out to the garage AP (was previously only on the house AP for the thermostat; radio doesn't support 802.1x to get it on my main WLAN and i'm not going to punch holes in the guest WLAN firewall to let it in there) and hooked it up to the wireless network.
May add a GPS antenna to it later.


Tonight's exciting evening involves building a codeplug for that monster, then leveling mic audio and adjusting output audio/profiles for the truck.

[OffroadTreks]

Looks like the 90's in there.

[Colibri]

Damn mule, you should do a radio 101 thread for beginners. Looks great, nice clean work as usual sir!

[Mule]

Did a workshop on radio use at the snowmobile expo a few months ago. Fire alarm went off in the middle of it.

[w2dodge]

very nice.. what is that entertainment radio you got...?...modified bezel also?

[Mule]

very nice.. what is that entertainment radio you got...?...modified bezel also?

Replacement dash bezel to fit a DDIN headunit. Picked it up off ebay.


http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... H-X5700BHS
Dual camera inputs, in addition to the usual handsfree/bluetooth/usb/dvd support standard with aftermarket headunits. Did have to remove some plastic support material behind the dash to clear the bigger headunit. Worth it though.

[olyelr]

No panty on the panty hook?

[Mule]

Sweet mother of $DEITY that HCH speaker is LOOOOUUUUUUUUUUD.

There's a "Volume Offset" option in the codeplug, defaulted that to +6 like my portable. I think -20 might be a more appropriate value.
Even at the setting just above muted, it's still just a touch on the loud side. Halfway up is painful.

Scratch the "External in-cab speaker" off the list; won't be needing that.

[thedriver21]

My oh my what kind of motorola is that????

[Mule]

Mototrbo XPR5550e.
Mobile flavor of the 7550 I've carried for a while.
(Turns out you get real strong RSSI when you're 20 feet from the tower )


to a bunch of these all over the state.


"747 or power wagon?"

[thedriver21]

Oh I see, you just got the handheld control head, that's super nice!

[thedriver21]

I was eyeing this for my truck haha

http://troyproducts.com/product/dodge-r ... -ram20-fs/

Thinking about the yaesu ft-8900, uniden bcd996p2, uniden 980ssb CB, and midland 50w GMRS to put in it

[w2dodge]

thanks.. i need to upgrade

[Mule]

Damn mule, you should do a radio 101 thread for beginners. Looks great, nice clean work as usual sir!

Anything in particular? Might start a new thread if there's interest/worthwhile.
Basically:
Baofengs suck,
FRS/GMRS is great for local/group comms; if you need more range than what they provide then you should probably reevaluate your group management techniques,
Amateur radio is a great option, but you need an easy license for it. Lots of flexibility. Baofeng is a cheap cost-of-entry into the hobby, but when you use some real equipment you'll quickly find out just how bad they are,
Commercial lease lets you do anything you want, but that comes with high cost. Not well suited for small-group comms.

I was eyeing this for my truck haha

http://troyproducts.com/product/dodge-r ... -ram20-fs/

Thinking about the yaesu ft-8900, uniden bcd996p2, uniden 980ssb CB, and midland 50w GMRS to put in it

Those products were kind of my inspiration for my console. What I really don't want is for my truck to look like a porcupine... as much as I'd love to have an installed cell booster, VHF/UHF/800 rig or two, CB on occasion (hate 'em, but they do have some use on the highway)... that turns into a lot of antennas on a vehicle. Scanner isn't really a thing for me, since I have radios that'll not only receive that stuff, but tx on it too


8900's not a bad radio. I had the 8800 in my pickup, it did okay for a decade or so. Recently it'd been having some minor annoying issues, when it quit passing audio it was time to get it out of there. I don't operate HF enough (or have any desire to) to warrant buying an HF radio. Anymore it's rare I even use VHF.

Eventually I'd like to pick up a pair of small/cheap analog mobiles, small duplexer, and a few batteries/power adapters... build a little deployable amateur/GMRS repeater. Somethign to dink around with on amateur freqs, get it all dialed in... but if there's a situation in the mountains, I can switch it over to GMRS since a lot of users have those radios (although only a handful of them do repeater mode).
Protip: Remember "20/22" as an emergency channel - similar to "Channel 9" on CB. You've got a better chance of landing on a repeater with that freq/tone than any others. "9/11" is a bad emg. channel, because it's in the FRS (low-power, non-repeater) band. "1/0" is another good one to monitor or try (Calling channel, shared FRS/GMRS).

Shameless plug for the Magnetic Mic - real nice product, been quite happy with it so far.
Steel button slips over the mic mount, secured with a set-screw. Base is a direct replacement for Motorola and some Kenwood mic hangup clips with the two vertical screws.


Get the mic close, magnet grabs and holds the mic tight. While I haven't done any "extreme" offroading with it, it's a pretty strong magnet that takes some force to remove the mic from. Don't doubt it'll hold just fine, especially with a smaller/lighter mic than the HCH.

[LagunaH1]

Super cool! I run an XPR5550 in my truck also, but I have the "regular" control head mounted.

I'm curious: Are you using the radio for DMR, or for FM or both?

Heck, we could probably even talk to each other on the radio given the right talk groups....

[Mule]

Both analog and digital.

Need to figure out appropriate roaming thresholds for it ... probably my biggest complaint right now. Left those either default or copy/pasta'd from my 7550. With the threshold as low as it is, it tends to pick inappropriate sites.

Some audio tuning I need to do yet too, hard to figure out what works best when the truck's at highway speeds

[LagunaH1]

In my neck of the woods, -106 dBm works well for roaming threshold.

I have the big white mic with number keys on it. If I press 3x right and 3x left on the up/down/left/right button on the mic, I get the RSSI displayed on the radio. -Have you tried that to see what signal strength you get in the locations where your roaming threshold isn't working the way you want it to?

[Mule]

The left-left-left-right-right-right thing is how I know everything's 10-15dB higher than my 7550.

Not even sure what i'm at now. Taking my truck to the mountains this weekend, so i'll ahve it there to play with if I get some downtime. Back-to-back-to-back intros, then a level-1 (3-day class) for search & rescue early next week.

[Rodeoflyer]

Looks like the 90's in there.

Good god, the 90's were f-in great. I'd take everything about the 90's back