CB/HAM/GMRS Install

Hello all. I am in the process of equipping a recently received 2007 Yukon XL 1500 with my public safety radios. I thought things through on mounting control heads a my radios are what is called "trunk" or "remote mount" ones. My first concern was how to mount the control heads in a way that is functional but doesn't look like an erector set and that allows access to all dash controls. I have just started and will be mounting two public safety radios, a scanner, and a switch panel for light bar and siren controls. The attached picture is a dry fit of the mounting brackets. I am using a 9" tall Workman bracket on a swivel base. The switch panel will be mounted at the top of the bracket above the radios. This is just a starting point and I will update with pictures as I go. Hope this might help anyone interested in mounting any kind of communications radios from CB to Ham to GMRS or others.The Johnson Ascend ES is an 800 mhz digital trunking radio that is on a state wide system as well as a local county system. The Johnson RS5300 is a 450 mhz non-digital radio that is used for GMRS as well as for a local private school. I am their medic and respond to incidents at the school. I am a dog handler of a search and rescue K9 (he is my avatar). That is the reason for the public safety radio and other items that I will post picture of as I go.

mac boney said:

Hello all. I am in the process of equipping a recently received 2007 Yukon XL 1500 with my public safety radios. I thought things through on mounting control heads a my radios are what is called "trunk" or "remote mount" ones. My first concern was how to mount the control heads in a way that is functional but doesn't look like an erector set and that allows access to all dash controls. I have just started and will be mounting two public safety radios, a scanner, and a switch panel for light bar and siren controls. The attached picture is a dry fit of the mounting brackets. I am using a 9" tall Workman bracket on a swivel base. The switch panel will be mounted at the top of the bracket above the radios. This is just a starting point and I will update with pictures as I go. Hope this might help anyone interested in mounting any kind of communications radios from CB to Ham to GMRS or others.The Johnson Ascend ES is an 800 mhz digital trunking radio that is on a state wide system as well as a local county system. The Johnson RS5300 is a 450 mhz non-digital radio that is used for GMRS as well as for a local private school. I am their medic and respond to incidents at the school. I am a dog handler of a search and rescue K9 (he is my avatar). That is the reason for the public safety radio and other items that I will post picture of as I go.

Click to expand...

This is a newer picture that shows the swivel base and empty area at top for ligh bar switches, air horn button and siren controls. I am making this panel from angle aluminum and will post pictures of it when finished.

This is the earlier picture of dry fit

All of the radios will fit a single DIN space but there are none of those in the Yukon that I would want to use. This bracket will be much more functional as everything will be in one place easily reached in the vehicle.

Pretty neat, are you planning to use the single battery or add a 2nd battery in the engine compartment? I'm planning on doing something similar with my 07 Suburban by mounting my Yaesu T 857d, CD radio and also a VHF/UHF radio. I know one key thing you must do is use braded bands to bond the doors and rear hatch to the car body. also the location where you'll mount the antennas. This helps with electrical interference from the engine and causes static when using your radios. I think all the PPV models have this done by the factory or the upfitter. Also cross check this info to make sure I have this straight

I do the things you mention about static etc. I take it a little further though. First, I am probably not going to add a second battery for now. If it seems that I need to I will add one later. I have an air tank/compressor mounted in the second battery bay for my air horn. I use a 30" stutter tone airhorn that is the same that we have on the fire units. It actually moves people better that a siren in many cases. As for grounding, yes I bond all the doors to the chassis as well as the hood. I use the shielding from RG8 (the cheaper coax) with crimp on end fittings to bond all surfaces together. that makes everything one big grounded piece. When I run my power cable (#8 wire) I encase the power cables in the shielding from the RG8 as well. I ground the end under the hood to the battery and the try to find a ground near my console. That helps keep static to a minimum. When I run the speaker wires for the electronic siren I put them inside of the shielding just like the power wires are done. Most people don't think about it but good grounding is VERY important to overall electronic performance. One of my comm radios that is not in my stack is an ICOM A110 Aircraft mobile radio. It is made for vehicles but type certified for use on aircraft frequencies. I have it to be able to talk with any aviation units from out of our jurisdiction or military helos. We are maybe 30 miles from Marine Corps Air Station New River so we get "Pedro" flights for rescue as much as civilian ones. I can talk with them easily. We also have a large wilderness area that is a wildlife preserve that invariably several people will get lost in every year. The German Shepherd in my profile is Dirk. He is a PTSD service dog for me but he is also a rescue tracker. We get to play hide and seek several times a year whether it is lost in the game preserve or great grandma walked off from the nursing home with dementia etc. All of my radios right now are EF Johnson or ICOM depending on the vehicle. I just got the Yukon recently from my daughter. So I am taking my time and getting everything set up in it before I actually put it into service. Mounting everything is a large job really. Plus I add to the basics. I am changing out the outside mirrors with towing versions made for the Silverado pickups. These have 36W red/white strobe lights mounted in them on the forward side. I hate wiring this but it works great. I will post some more pictures soon of the ongoing project.