Alright guys, I have a 2013 Cooper S I picked up on Friday. THis is not my first R56, so have some experience where things are but Have a few questions.

Im looking at installing an ID-880H iCom with detachable display mount. I am thinking of putting the radio in the rear passenger side of the car (inside the carpeted hatch) and running its data cables up through the passenger floor trim to the front of the car.

Anyone had any issues with this kind of setup? Also getting power back there will be interesting. One thought was to pull power off of the rear accessory plug but not sure if its up to par with how much current I need (15 Amps).

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Nice Radio you have there.

I would avoid the rear power outlet for the current you need. It should be able to handle it but I personally would run a heavier power cable to the radio. But that is just my opinion. One thing with the rear power outlet is that it is only on when the car is actually running well that is on the 2007-2011 models at least not 100% sure about the 2013's yet.

Only other thing I would do is keep the radio unit as close to the antenna as possible. I.E. shortest antenna cable distance

 

Thanks,
Yea i got the radio in yesterday and started looking around (getting a game plan).
The rear accessory is capable, but would be nicer to have a direct run. (It does stay off when the car is off btw).

The antenna I got is a through glass antenna im putting on the rear passenger window, which is pretty darn close to the radio. I will essentially have to run a CAT-6 and phone cable up to the front for the faceplate and the PTT mic.

As far as the external speaker, I was thinking of tying into the car radios AUX input port.

 

Do not get your power from any other source other than directly from the battery. There are a couple of grommets in the firewall that you can run power and ground wires through. 10 awg wire ought to do for both. Get your ground off an engine block ground.

Post pix of your install when you get it done.

I got a Yaesu FT-7900R for the truck, and might get another for the MINI. However, the FT-350AR looks pretty appealing.

 

I'd love to put a ham radio in my coupe. I have a handheld for the times when I am off-roading. Not sure where I would put it. Not a lot of extra space in there!

 

The detachable face of the icom ID-800H fits recessed in the cavity below the window toggles... Which is one of the main reasons I picked it given the limited space. I agree power is going to have to come direct from battery. I found a guide for integral audio subwoofer that has a similar run ad placement with pictures of how to get everything run o the R56.

 

I put the detachable face of a Yaesu FT 7900 on the CD player with a 3m gooey adhesive. I don't ever use Cd player as I'm addicted to iPod. Body of radio in back of Clubman with power running from battery through the handy hole provided by Mini. it's on the passenger side just behind battery. Speaker is mounted in rear seat cup holder, which ic useless with armrest.

 

Hey Guys,
Interested in installing my FT-857D Hf rig in my new-to-me 09 Justa. . .the biggest problem I'll probably have is finding a place to install the huge mobile antenna I have (HS-1800/pro) (It's a BEAST!)
Is there anyone that's done a biggy HF screwdriver installation that did not involve installing a hitch kit (like from Curtis or minifini) first ?

 

i had a Comet trunk lip mount on hatch of my old Justa and ran a Icomm 7000 with an Atas 120 and a Little Tarheel. Yhats about as big an antenna as I would put on that mount. There is nowhere to put lip mount on back of Clubman, so I,ve been relegated to 2 meters. photos at k9oz.com

 

Hi Bruce and thanks. Yeah, the HS-1800/PRO is actually a pretty big antenna by mobile standards. It's probably not "THE" biggest antenna, but I am sure it would be in the very top 3 or 4 biggie HF mobiles. So far, I can't find a place to mount it. Here it is on my old 02 Golf diesel:
http://www.maritimecontestclub.com/i...00_ve9aa_m.jpg

 

I installed an Icom ID-880H in my Coupe. The radio is mounted in the rear storage area. Power comes directly off of the battery. Power lines are routed on the passenger side in the space under the door. There is a wire harness running along this same path. To prevent the battery going dead because I left the radio on I use a power controller that senses when the engine is running. When the engine is not running the radio remains powered for ten minutes then shuts off.

The antenna is a short 13" dual band made by Diamond. It is mounted using a hatch/trunk mount on the left side of the car. It is about the same size as the factory antenna on the opposite side of the car.

The speaker is a little MFJ unit mounted down by my leg on the center hump.

The control head on the 880H is very small and fits nicely above by the upper switch panel.

I had to extend or make all the cables for control had, mic, and speaker. Ethernet cable can be used for the control head an mic. Just make sure you know what the wire and pair arrangement is. You need to keep analog signal, analog ground in the same pair. Digital signal and digital ground must be in the same pair. Don't split the pairs with different signal types. If I remember the control head cable pair/pin combination worked out fine with a standard ethernet arrangement but I had to replace the 8-pin ethernet cable connector with a six pin RJ connector. The mic is where I had to use what would be considered a non-standard Ethernet pin/pair arrangement on the RJ-45 connectors. You can see the blue cable in the mic/speaker picture. That blue is the Ethernet cable for the mic line.

That 13" dual band antenna is OK, but being short for VHF performance is not like my larger antenna. VSWR is also a little high on VHF but fine on UHF.

Control head:


Control head mounting bracket I made. The bracket tilts the control head down a little for easier viewing:


Radio unit mounted in back:


Power controller:


Antenna:


Speaker and mic:


Grommet where I ran the power cable. This is just above the passenger compartment fuse panel. Easy to route the wires. There are a couple of nipples you can cut open to route the cable. Seal them so water can not get into the passenger compartment. I used the larger nipple. This picture is before I installed my wires taken from the battery side.



After I installed my #10 wires. I ran and fused both the positive an negative.

 

Alright, just got my ID-880H installed in my '13 Mini Cooper S.

Ended up running power direct to battery, ground wire does not need to go there as there are ground lugs in the lower paneling below the doors that are designed for these types of connections (found instructions for this on an installation manual for a sub amp for R56 specifically).

Radio is stored in rear compartment, mounting bracket secured with 3M Automotive trim mounting tape (super strong) That radio is definitely secure.


Antenna is a Larsing through glass dual band antenna mounted on the rear passenger window (works surprisingly well).


I did the same thing as the previous guy mentioned, routing most of the wire down the passenger side. I opted to put my mounting face in the lower area in front of the cup holders.



As far as external speaker, I ended up routing auxillary cable up to the front aux jack. It works fine if radio volume is kept low (not ideal). I'll be putting in a little attenuator circuit in here in a few days to eliminate that issue.

Signal is clear, no whistling from the antenna (as some people reported with this particular antenna), and there was no tuning necessary.

 

Nice install !

 

I will attempt this soon (I keep saying that, I know) but just got back from the States where I picked up a dual band 2m/70cm glass mount antenna. Also a cup holder bracket for the radio head. I'll worry about the ginormous HF antenna later. Also going to put my 857D body/base in the same rear compartment.
Can either of you show where you ran the #10AWG power wires under the door ?
Does the doorstep trim come right off or ?
I should know how to do this. ~ 13 yrs ago I used to install cell phones and 2-way commercial FM radios, but cars were built differently.

 

Did you guys route wires under the carpet or via the doorsteps?

 

I pulled the trim panel off along the doorstep. There are other cables running along that path on the passenger side.

 

Hey, thanks a lot eh ! Really APPRECIATE that !

 

I had a real good look under the dash and under the hood @ suppertime tonight.
I am not sure where this grommet is, that I can snake a power wire to the battery.
Is it on the firewall? In the battery compartment? Above the fuse box in the passengers footwell? I must be blind ! (hi hi...= LOL )
Thanks for the help.

Tonight I fashioned a bracket/clamp affair that clamps onto my E-brake handle, that also holds my K8FF paddles and my up/dn switch for the monster HF antenna (not yet mounted)

 

Look behind the battery. Removing the plastic cowl cover will make access easier. There is also a firewall grommet under the plastic cowl cover, on the driver's side, if you wanted to run wires on that side of the car.

 

Look above in my earlier post. That is a picture of it behind the battery in my coupe. You have to cut off one of the nipples as shown in the photo.

 

Behind the battery , eh? Wow, I wish I was a SMURF....I'd be the right size to get in there and find the thing, ha ha (or as CW hams say "hi hi")
So, this cowl cover....comes off easily?

 

Sort of.

Remove wiper arms (PITA).
Remove the cowl weatherstripping (easy).
Remove two bolts on each end.
Pop off cowling pieces (kinda hard to do without breaking the plastic tabs if your car is more than a year or two old).

You might be able to remove the passenger side half of the cowling without pulling the wiper arms off. I haven't tried it though. Maybe someone else can weigh in on that.

 

Anyone running HF in a mini?


AC6TA