My Motorola Maratrac install (Ham Radio)

[Otis413]

My Bro-n-law and I just finished rebuilding my (new to me) '04 Ford Ranger Edge 4x4, now I need to put a Ham radio in it. I decided to go with another Motorola Maratrac, a remote head 110w VHF transceiver. There's a lot of these floating around since the FCC narrow band mandate rendered them obsolete, and only require a little tinkering to get them to operate down to 144mhz. From the factory their operating range is 146-174mhz, so it's no big stretch.
I already have one in my '02 Ranger XLT, set to 85w output, love it, but even with the 99 channel head not having a VFO on a ham radio is a drawback..
I'll post more pics as the install progresses.


A scrap piece of aluminum and a couple pieces of steal for the mounting plate to mount the radio "suitcase" behind the truck seat.

I'm mounting the radio in place of one of the jump seats, I never use those anyway, the bolt holes for the seat are a good solid place to mount the rig.

The radio box mounted, good and solid in case of an accident. It locks onto the mount and can easily be swapped out for a different band or carried inside to be re-programed.

Next is to mount the control head, this one is a 99 ch model, they also came with 8 and 16 ch control heads, all interchangeable. The antenna and cables need installed also, all I lack is the mounting bracket for the control head, but I can make one of those. I have just a little over $100 in the whole thing off eBay.

73! KD8VBV and KD8ZGX

 

[Otis413]

I'm using a fender mount antenna, this is an NMO mount system (Motorola NOS) that came with a UHF Maratrac (Warning: if the eBay listing says "untested, as-is", assume it means that it doesn't work, even if it's "new-in-box"..) I did get a new control head bracket, power cable and fuse holders and a control head cable (as well as this antenna hardware) in the deal, so I'm happy.


Motorola NMO mounting bracket, these are a standard mount made by many companies, most any band antenna is available to fit this style mount from 10m and CB up to UHF.

Three holes drilled, three screws and it's ready. Don't let the drill bit pop through and ding your fender from the inside.

Again, this is a standard NMO mount, the Motorola item is all brass, some cheaper ones are just brass plated steel and will eventually rust/corrode and could ruin your radio. Spend the money for a good one.
Be sure to route the coax somewhere where it won't get pinched or cut.

The finished product, this is a 1/4 wave VHF antenna, I'll upgrade to a 5/8 wave base loaded antenna soon.

 

[Otis413]

I found an unused hole in the floor in back of the cab, I ran the 8g power wire and the antenna cable (with a grommet to protect the wires) underneath the cab to the engine compartment.

The Maratrac radios can draw over 20 Amps on transmit, so the power wire (1) with a 30 amp fuse (2) needs to be ran to the battery, or in this case, to the battery connection on the distribution panel.

The control head, speaker and mic hanger. The mic hanger needs to be grounded for the scan function to work properly. (switches scan on and off when the mic is "off hook") I ran as much of the wiring underneath as I could.