For any of you that may be interested here is a blog post I made on the installation (thus far) of my FT-857D in my new 2010 F-250. Lots of pictures! Its running HF/VHF/UHF.

click here for more details.

There is still more work to do, but this should give you all some ideas.

The 2010 6.4L seems to be pretty quiet on HF. Ford had issues with fuel pumps causing a lot of noise. That seems to not be a problem from what I have experienced. I am not experiencing as high of noise as what I had in my 2003 Chevy Silverado with the 5.3L engine (before I did all the grounding/bonding work).

I will work on some grounding just to get it out of the way at some point in time. It won't be in the next couple weeks most likely though.

 

I've hesitated or put off installation of my rig in the 6.4. I had a ton of noise issues on my last '99 Ford 7.3 that I finally got out with grounds and ferrites. I hate to start drilling holes and location is an issue.
Where did you mount the radio and faceplate?

 

Click on the link in my first post. It takes you right to the blog. It is a long post, about 30 pictures too.

 

Steve,
Good job on the installation. I didn't realize the rear vent location was available to route wiring from the truck bed. While I'm not running HF yet, I do have a dual band radio (old Alinco DR-610TQ with removeable head unit) that I'm using and need to find a place to mount the head. I'm considering a flexible - gooseneck type mounting which would allow me to angle the head unit where I need to, depending on sunlight position and my coffee cup!

I've got the power coming through an Upfitter Switch and will probably run a direct circuit to the battery like you did.

On your hood mount for the antenna, does the unit cause any excessive wear or rubbing against the painted surface? What manufacturer and model did you use? Right now I've got a mag-mount on the roof and every time I back in to the garage (9 ft. high) the antenna gets jarred ab bit and sounds like it's about to come loose.

Good ideas and thanks for the photos.

Ed/KC8RXQ

 

The mount is the heavy duty Commet version. I don't know what the model number is off the top of my head. I got the one with the SO-239 and coax (with the 2' or so of small coax between the regular RG-58 and the mount).

The mount is very sturdy once tight. It will collect dirt underneath it where there is a gap so I would imagine it will scuff a bit at some point. I am not worried about it. My old truck roof was scratched up and scraped from mag mounts over the years so this will avoid that issue.

My dual band antenna is an SBB-5, I believe? I can't remember if it is a Diamond or a Commet. It is the black one, not the sliver (less visible).

Don't use the Upfitter switches for power. I don't believe they are rated for enough current. My truck doesn't have them, but I may add them if I can get a good deal on one of the panels.

Or, I may go to a junk yard and get another plate like whats on my dash now and modify it. I need a few other things besides a few switches there. The switches would be nice but I want a high power jack (power poles) and a CW key jack (1/8" stereo) in there. A switch (SPDT momentary) for my screwdriver control would be cool also.

As to the gooseneck mount - make sure you get a sturdy one. The RAM ball mounts are good (hold GPS, fish finders, phones, you name it).

 

do you have any problem with transmit power and the vehicle computer??
i had to take the linear out of the mack in work, because anything over 100 watts would mess up the computer, and over 200 watts would shut the truck down.

because of that, i did not put a radio in the 02, cause the galaxy i have is 250 watt output..

 

I have the same mount on the hood. I went over to the dealer and talked the detail guy out of a small chunk of the 3m clear bra plastic and put it under the mount to protect the paint from rubbed off.

 

The radio I have is no CB. I have had a ham radio license since March of 2001 and am an Extra class licensee. My use of the radio is daily comms with my friends and global communications on the HF bands. It is a hobby to me and I thoroughly enjoy it. It is not a "CB". The galaxies and such are glorified CB's.

I have absolutely no problems at all with my radio in the truck right now. I haven't done any grounding yet and it is still farily quiet. The antenna is "grounded" but that isn't defining my use of the term "grounding". If you read the blog post linked in my first post here you will read about what some of the grounding/bonding methods are that I will use.

I can run 1.5kw with my license. If I could build an amp that would run that much power in the mobile I bet I could still run 1.5kw in the truck. It would take some work to do it, but with the proper techniques it should be possible. I don't need to run that much power though. I can talk all over the world on 100 watts, why do I need more?

I just talked to a guy today in Arizona on 14mHz (20 meters) during my lunch break. I sat in the truck and ate my Wendy's burger. Not bad for a first contact from the Super Duty - Ohio to Arizona. It was USB though, not CW. Once I get rolling on CW (and when I can get down to 40m again, my whip won't load 40 and hold SWR - voltage is too high) I'll be catching some more rare DX again.

RF is not electricity and it must be treated as RF. If you know what you are doing it is not too difficult to work with. If you DONT know what you are doing you can cause all sorts of problems. I don't know everything and I won't pretend to know everything. I've been playing with radios since before I got my first license. If theres anything I have learned it is everything may not necessarily be what it seems. If you understand how RF behaves things get easier to figure out.

I work with RF commercially in my job also, not my job function as per definition but I'm the only one in my company that knows it. If you think solving your own radio problems are hard try interference issues on commercial bands while also dealing with coordinating services that have their heads up their a$$es.

 

Thats a great idea! I know where I can get some too.

 

Steve,

Position #1 and Position #2 on the Upfitter Switch are both rated for 30Amps. The factory supplied in-line fuse for the Alinco was only rated 15Amps. I'll probably be making a direct connection to the battery since the Upfitter Switches are all relay operated and will not supply power to any loads unless the ignition is turned on. I don't think I'm that forgetful (yet)! I will try to remember to PM you the SuperDuty Upfitter switch file. BTW, I like the idea for the Anderson PowerPoles.

de KC8RXQ

 

I've been using power poles for years and I love them. Everything that is 12 volts that I have has been converted over to power poles. I always buy the 45 amp versions. For as many bags of them as I have gone through maybe I should start buying 30 amps too and save a few $$. Anywho, its easy to get the 45's and have everything covered.

OH! - another topic with the FT-857D... Power Poles. I chopped off the 6-pin plug as soon as I pulled the rig out of the box. I don't think I ever powered it up with the stock connector. There is about 5" of wire out the back of the rig with an in-line socket out of the box. I cut that off and put a set of power poles on there. That makes it so much easier and less bulky. It is great when I take the radio backpacking as I use power poles on 18g twin lead directly to my battery. Very portable friendly.

Everything I have, including my compressor and inverter, are Power Poles.

As to the high-power upfitters - good deal. I was not aware of that. I figured they were the same as a 12v outlet - 10 to 15 amps.

 

I have added a couple more posts to my blog on the mobile install (www.kc8qvo.com).

The latest updates, in a nutshell - my noise floor, when in a quiet RF environment (out in the boonies) is non-existent. I did about 2 hours of driving out in the country today for work and in some places my noise floor was so low I thought my antenna was disconnected or my attenuator was on. Pretty cool!

I also bent my display mount so it is easier to see. There is still some work I can do to it to lock it in place, but it does work for now.

This 6.4L is surprisingly quiet.

 

Hi I recently upgraded from my old f150 to a 2010 f250 lariat with the 6.4, I have a Kenwood ft1900 2 meter rig that I want to install in the 250. In my f150 I had a through glass mount antenna that worked well for me, I plan to do the same with the Lariat. Any suggestions on where to run wires to the battery, location of the actual radio etc? I had looked under the cup holders as one possible area but thought I would see if you guys had any ideas! I couldn't find the pics for KC8QVO
Thank you!

 

What kind of front seats does your 2010 F250 have? What kind of console (if any)?

I built a wooden transmission hump mount for the VHF/UHF ham radio transceivers in my '92 and '96 F250s.

When it came time to mount a radio in my 2013 F250 Lariat SuperCab there was less room and my home made mount wouldn't fit.

I wanted to install a scanner radio instead of a ham radio this time and solved the radio mount problem in my 2013 truck in a simple way. The scheme would work for a ham radio, too. (Sorry, I don't have any photos of my installation yet.)

My new truck has a center jump seat and the fold-down seat back acts as an arm rest and a center console. I bought a pair of 12 inch heavy duty steel shelf brackets from a home center store. Each bracket is shaped like the letter "L" and comes with 3 holes in each leg. I loosened the bolts holding my center jump seat and slid the two shelf brackets underneath the seat -- between the seat and the floor. I tightened the seat bolts and the shelf brackets are solidly held between the seat and floor.

I bought a straight piece of steel with holes in it at the same time I bought the shelf brackets and bolted it horizontally between the 2 shelf brackets to serve as a brace.

The radio mounting bracket bolts to the horizontal steel brace.

In summary, my radio mount consists of only 3 pieces of steel bolted together. The mount is not bolted to my truck. Instead, it is held (squeezed) tightly between the center jump seat and the floor.

I used a Breedlove stake pocket NMO antenna mount. The coax runs through the oval rubber grommet at the front of the bed, then through a vent hole in the back wall of the cab.

I left a drip loop in the coax between the bed and cab so rain water would fall down between them instead of travelling along the coax into the cab.

The coax is routed underneath the driver's side door sill, along with lots of factory wires, then behind the kick panel and across the bottom of the dashboard to the center area.

A scanner radio doesn't draw much current, so I power it through a "power point" Ford provided underneath my center jump seat. If I ever decide to swap out the scanner for transceiver, I will run a power cable through the firewall directly to the battery (through an inline fuse).

Clear as mud?

73, AJ9S

 

Hi Parnass,
Thanks for the reply, the truck has captain leather seats and a quite large storage/console area in between the driver and passenger seat. I believe someone said they had used that area but I couldn't find pics. Can you see your display the way you mounted it? Also, just curious, is your truck diesel?