K7PEH Truck Mobile Setup

Setting Up First Mobile Rig In My Truck

I completed setting up a mobile rig, Icom 706 Mark IIG, in my 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. This is a truck with a crew cab and I chose to place the base unit for the 706 under the rear seat on the driver's side of the crew cab. The remote front panel for the 706 sits up on the center console unit where I have easy access.

I worked with the guys at the local Car Toys outlet to do the install of the positive and negative power feed cable. Also, my first antenna was a 102 inch whip coupled by an SGC-237 antenna tuner. I also built a weather proof and protective box for the SGC-237 and the description of the protection box can be found here -- however, I have since replaced the antenna and tuner with a Hi-Q Antenna.

Positive and Negative Power Cable Feed Setup

Both positive (blue) and negative (gray) cables run from the battery, under the truck along the main frame rail, up through the floor under the rear seat in the crew cab, terminated on two distribution boxes.

This first picture shows the battery connection -- not much detail is shown but not much is really needed.

Inline Fuse Mount

Each cable is protected using inline fuses that are mounted on a special bracket that is positioned on the brace under the hood. This makes the fuses easy to access although getting them in and out of the inline fuse holders is a little bit of a hassle. I have not had to do this for real yet, just for practice so I know how to do it.

Looking Up Under The Truck

This picture needs a bit of explaining. This is taken looking up under the truck just under the rear seat where my base unit is mounted. What you see in the picture is the floor of the cab (top part) and the main rail of the truck (bottom part). The shiny cable wraps were the ones I added, the dirty ones are part of the truck.

Here you see the two holes through the floor: the left hole is the power cable and ground strap wiring. The right hole is the antenna connection using a UHF pass-thru connector. On the bottom rail you see where the ground strap is attached. I have more of these around the truck making sure everything is grounded together.

Under The Rear Seat

This picture shows under the rear seat of the back seat of the crew cab (this is a full seat so lots of room). The seat itself is lifted up and out of the way.

At the bottom of the picture near the seat frame rail is the power distribution boxes. These distribution boxes can handle 120 amps and have space for 4 connections. The power cables come up through the floor right next to the distribution boxes. Also, with good eyes you can make out the antenna connection just to the right of the distribution boxes where it comes through the floor.

And, the black box is the base unit of my IC-706. Although you cannot really make it out, there is also a cable for the speaker that runs from the back of the base unit under the floor carpet up through the console unit and behind my in dash stereo to the auxillary input. This feeds the sound through my Bose sound truck speakers, all six of them.

The black wire you do see snaking from the base unit forward and then under the floor mat is the remote head unit connection cable for the IC-706.

IC-706 Remote Console Head

This picture shows the operating position of my IC-706 remote console head. It is merely sitting there on my center console of the truck just to the right of me in my driving position. Most of the time, I actually have the remote console head sitting on the center console storage bin lid which is just behind (toward's the rear of the truck) of the current position (you can see this in the lower right corner of the photo).

There is enough cable slack to give me room to move it about or even store it in my storage bin (it fits nicely) to keep it out of the way when not in use (and hidden from prying eyes when I am not around). I have no intention of permanently mounting this remote head, it will remain footloose and free as it is now.