K6ACJ HF MOBILE INSTALLATION NOTES

This view is from outside the drivers door and behind the driver's seat looking at the front side of the VW's cabinets.

The Maha 144/440 40 & 20 watt amplifier and IC-706 electronics are mounted on a plastic cutting board obtained from a kitchen, mine. This makes for easy removal for maintenance.   Also mounted to the board is a low current terminal strip to route fused 12VDC to the LDG and Maha. The #10 DC power leads from the IC-706 go to an 8 pin Jones connector with double fuses joined to the remaining DC cable which is routed under the carpet to the battery.

A caution here, do not allow voltage to drop across DC connections because there will be heat buildup which could result in a fire.  Secondly, a voltage drop will result in lower power output.

The blue tape covers open access holes in the '706 to keep spaghetti sauce and coffee out of the circuits.

Visit your local boating or marine supply stores for excellent hardware and cable supplies.  

The LDG AT11 automatic antenna tuner does a great job matching a wide range of antenna lengths to the operating frequency. 

It is important to keep the losses down so  keep the antenna side coax to the tuner as short as possible as noted in the SGC references.  In this case, I'll have to take the circuit board out of the LDG cabinet and relocate it under the sink and close to the outer wall within a few inches of the Hustler ball mount base.

The vertical stainless steel mast is visible through the window.

This photo shows the cell phone mount holding the IC706 control head.  What is not seen is the home made 2" OD dowel which is drilled and tapped at the bottom for a screw to come up through the coffee cup tray.  The opposite end of the dowel is drilled and tapped to match the cell phone mount.  At the top end, the cell phone mount screws into a single bolt that is epoxyed to the back side of the $5.00 '706 mounting plate.  All done, then the control panel slides onto the plate. 

The plastic dowel was made by mixing plastic  resin and pouring the mixture into a 2" diameter mailing tube.  After a few days, the tube card board was peeled away giving a rough dowel ready for a lathe or hand sanding.  I found empty tape cassettes make good molds for flat stock for other projects.

A Comet CSP-80 speaker improves on the tiny '706 speaker adding tone and volume.  It has a mag mount, built-in scratch filter and mute switch.  Highly recommended.