[stevewa]

Hoping to find someone who has already done this...I'm going to put an Icom IC-208H VHF/UHF tranceiver in my 2002. I'm interested to hear others' ideas on where to place the unit, how you mounted it, and where you got the power from (it needs 12A when transmitting)...

Pictures of your installation would be a big bonus!

Thanks, and "73"
Steve
KE7AGI

 

[stevewa]

FYI I completed my installation today. Some highlights...

1. I decided to place the head unit under the driver's seat. This was done in part because the Icom IC-208H microphone cable attaches to the head unit, not the detachable faceplate. The mic cable comes out from under the seat and has enough length to be usable.

2. Power and antenna cables are routed in the wiring trough under the door thresholds, back into the trunk. All the wiring is behind the left-hand side trim panel inside the trunk, the antenna wire follows the bundle that goes along the left hand trunk hinge. The (fused) power leads are connected directly to the 12v battery.

3. The remote-head control wire goes up the side to the trim piece below the fuse box on the side of the dash, then snakes alongside the steering column to the faceplate which I mounted above the steering wheel on the dash.

4. The antenna is a Radiall-Larsen trunk-lip mount "TLP" series attached on the left-hand side of the trunk just ahead of the spoiler. I trimmed the body putty Toyota uses on the trunk lip to get metal to metal contact for the antenna. I have not yet bonded the trunk lid to the body, but I will be doing that to improve the ground plane.

So far, no problems, the airbags didn't go off when I hit transmit, so I think it's going to work OK.

Steve

 

[patrickg]

So far, no problems, the airbags didn't go off when I hit transmit, so I think it's going to work OK.

Steve

Hey Steve... I plan to live forever and so far so good! I hope you never find a combination of transmit freqs and power levels with reflective objects positioned just right (metal trailer on 18 wheeler next to you on road) that does ANYTHING interesting to any of your vehicle systems, airbags or ...

Given the numbers of Japanese hams, you't think contact with that community might be worthwhile in finding out if there have been problems.

73, N6AYR

 

[stevewa]

So far, no problems, the airbags didn't go off when I hit transmit, so I think it's going to work OK.

Steve

Hey Steve... I plan to live forever and so far so good! I hope you never find a combination of transmit freqs and power levels with reflective objects positioned just right (metal trailer on 18 wheeler next to you on road) that does ANYTHING interesting to any of your vehicle systems, airbags or ...

Given the numbers of Japanese hams, you't think contact with that community might be worthwhile in finding out if there have been problems.

73, N6AYR

Actually I did find one reference on eHam which said no problems, and there are a couple of websites showing installations. The consensus is that the 01-03 Prius is very quiet in VHF/UHF and very noisy in HF.

Steve
KE7AGI