My current vehicle is a 1998 Land Rover Defender 90 V8 Auto. I’m a bit limited on what I can install and where and it needs to be temporary in nature. The first and foremost reason is that this vehicle is on loan to me from a friend, and the second reason is that I live in a reasonably poor area where it is unwise to leave items on display if you want them there when you return!
The Defender is a bit of a basic vehicle. There aren’t many places to easily hide things, and with station wagons everything is on view and display. What I came up with was something that looked in keeping with the vehicle but also didn’t give away too much about what should be mounted there.
Quite a few friends have helped me at a variety of stages to get me to where I am. I don’t have my own garage facilities but have managed to keep things on an even keel. I also can’t afford to take it to commercial premises for those things I can’t do myself.
This particular Defender has a few extras that I am unused to but have utilised as much as possible. The roll-cage, for example. Great place to mount the antenna. Everyone else will recognise the points for mounting spot lamps! The roll cage runs around the drivers area of the cab on the outside then goes inside and down to the chassis. It came from the manufacturers like this.
Anyway. The radio & GPS setup. The GPS came first. It’s a Garmin Streetpilot III. I originally planned for it to be used with an APRS setup but that’s been put on hold. But I had the GPS and with a bit of care worked out how much space I needed. It was a piece of luck that I found that Land Rover had carefully put a small ashtray right in the middle of the dashboard. Removing this and putting a bracket there to hold it in place was nice and easy.
I’m a UK radio amateur with an Intermediate licence (the middle of 3 levels) and a member of Raynet. Within a few weeks of this going in I worked out how to fit the separation kit for the Yaesu FT8800 on that plate. I bought some brackets from B&Q (local DIY supermarket) and with care and measurements marked off to fit them underneath the plate. Once in place the GPS is on top and the 8800’s head is underneath. The data cable for the separation kit runs along the dashboard, up the door rubbers inside and into the headlining, then down the roll cage on the inside to the radio mounted behind the seats in the rear.
A lot of care was taken at that point as to how and where to mount the base. I decided to have the fan facing backwards and the head forwards. This means when I need to plug the data cable in to program the radio, or anything else in the back, I can with ease rather than scrabbling around in little space at he back of the seat and the internal part of the roll cage.
I don’t have a split charge system fitted yet for a few complicated reasons (You’ll hear later!) so I’m using power packs. These are used then taken indoors and recharged the regular way with a battery charger. A lot of faff but it does the job.
I have used ammo tins for over a decade and whilst I’ve usually gone for the larger ones I’m finding the .50 cal and .30 cal boxes are quite handy. I’ve a 12v Gel Cell battery in a .30 cal tin as well as a larger Gel Cell in a .50 cal tin. The .30 cal fits nicely behind the passenger seat in the Defender and has one accessories socket in the top. Just a regular cigarette socket. The radio is plugged in most of the time and I have a 1-to-2 adaptor so I can run the GPS through it as well.
However, whilst the radio power cable is properly plumbed in, the one for the GPS isn’t and, um, just hangs there. I also don’t have a CB installed yet, but that will come later.
The antenna is mounted on the front upper section of the roll-cage where spot lamps would normally mount. When the antenna is not in use it sits inside next to the alpine window at the back and slotted through the side of the roll cage.
And finally, the speaker for the Yaesu is strapped to the middle of the internal section of the roll-cage pointing downwards above the gearbox. Good enough for either the passenger or the driver.
Outside of LR.
A carefully measured L-angled bit of metal mounted to the spot-light mounts with the antenna mount on that.
FT8800 Base & Power Pack
Speaker attached to Roll-Cage
Antenna stowed next to alpine window & Roll-Cage
Right. The dash-plate. This is a side on view, you can see the tilt next to the windscreen to help keep it aligned. It was painted hammerite red-oxide with a black coating on top. However, in sunlight I found the glare quite considerable so covered the leading edge with some tape which did the job. The bolt you can see is allen-key which goes down through to a piece of metal to brace it in place. The other two behind the Garmin mount hold the head-bracket in. I felt it was stronger than glue or velcro. I may yet remove it and redo the paint, but haven't got around to it yet. I suppose dusting it may help more first
Front On
Cab Area & Plate (Unoccupied)
GPS & Radio In Position
Switched On (Difficult to see as used flash - Sorry)
The D90 has since returned to it's owner and I've got another car now, a more suitable one for the miles I have to commute for. However, the owner has fitted his CB to it and also his FT8900 reusing most of my setup, but it's nice to see my hardware and ideas have lived on for his usefulness
The Defender is a bit of a basic vehicle. There aren’t many places to easily hide things, and with station wagons everything is on view and display. What I came up with was something that looked in keeping with the vehicle but also didn’t give away too much about what should be mounted there.
Quite a few friends have helped me at a variety of stages to get me to where I am. I don’t have my own garage facilities but have managed to keep things on an even keel. I also can’t afford to take it to commercial premises for those things I can’t do myself.
This particular Defender has a few extras that I am unused to but have utilised as much as possible. The roll-cage, for example. Great place to mount the antenna. Everyone else will recognise the points for mounting spot lamps! The roll cage runs around the drivers area of the cab on the outside then goes inside and down to the chassis. It came from the manufacturers like this.
Anyway. The radio & GPS setup. The GPS came first. It’s a Garmin Streetpilot III. I originally planned for it to be used with an APRS setup but that’s been put on hold. But I had the GPS and with a bit of care worked out how much space I needed. It was a piece of luck that I found that Land Rover had carefully put a small ashtray right in the middle of the dashboard. Removing this and putting a bracket there to hold it in place was nice and easy.
I’m a UK radio amateur with an Intermediate licence (the middle of 3 levels) and a member of Raynet. Within a few weeks of this going in I worked out how to fit the separation kit for the Yaesu FT8800 on that plate. I bought some brackets from B&Q (local DIY supermarket) and with care and measurements marked off to fit them underneath the plate. Once in place the GPS is on top and the 8800’s head is underneath. The data cable for the separation kit runs along the dashboard, up the door rubbers inside and into the headlining, then down the roll cage on the inside to the radio mounted behind the seats in the rear.
A lot of care was taken at that point as to how and where to mount the base. I decided to have the fan facing backwards and the head forwards. This means when I need to plug the data cable in to program the radio, or anything else in the back, I can with ease rather than scrabbling around in little space at he back of the seat and the internal part of the roll cage.
I don’t have a split charge system fitted yet for a few complicated reasons (You’ll hear later!) so I’m using power packs. These are used then taken indoors and recharged the regular way with a battery charger. A lot of faff but it does the job.
I have used ammo tins for over a decade and whilst I’ve usually gone for the larger ones I’m finding the .50 cal and .30 cal boxes are quite handy. I’ve a 12v Gel Cell battery in a .30 cal tin as well as a larger Gel Cell in a .50 cal tin. The .30 cal fits nicely behind the passenger seat in the Defender and has one accessories socket in the top. Just a regular cigarette socket. The radio is plugged in most of the time and I have a 1-to-2 adaptor so I can run the GPS through it as well.
However, whilst the radio power cable is properly plumbed in, the one for the GPS isn’t and, um, just hangs there. I also don’t have a CB installed yet, but that will come later.
The antenna is mounted on the front upper section of the roll-cage where spot lamps would normally mount. When the antenna is not in use it sits inside next to the alpine window at the back and slotted through the side of the roll cage.
And finally, the speaker for the Yaesu is strapped to the middle of the internal section of the roll-cage pointing downwards above the gearbox. Good enough for either the passenger or the driver.
Outside of LR.
A carefully measured L-angled bit of metal mounted to the spot-light mounts with the antenna mount on that.
FT8800 Base & Power Pack
Speaker attached to Roll-Cage
Antenna stowed next to alpine window & Roll-Cage
Right. The dash-plate. This is a side on view, you can see the tilt next to the windscreen to help keep it aligned. It was painted hammerite red-oxide with a black coating on top. However, in sunlight I found the glare quite considerable so covered the leading edge with some tape which did the job. The bolt you can see is allen-key which goes down through to a piece of metal to brace it in place. The other two behind the Garmin mount hold the head-bracket in. I felt it was stronger than glue or velcro. I may yet remove it and redo the paint, but haven't got around to it yet. I suppose dusting it may help more first
Front On
Cab Area & Plate (Unoccupied)
GPS & Radio In Position
Switched On (Difficult to see as used flash - Sorry
)
The D90 has since returned to it's owner and I've got another car now, a more suitable one for the miles I have to commute for. However, the owner has fitted his CB to it and also his FT8900 reusing most of my setup, but it's nice to see my hardware and ideas have lived on for his usefulness