Fitting the Oricom UHF300 Micro

^ great write up, HC.

Good pics too.

From my Batphone
 
Yet to fully test the range. It is a 5watt unit. The antenna I fitted has a 6.5 & 2.1 dbi whips for general use and hill country.
The radio blends in as if it were a factory option.
 
Gidday HC

havachat said:
Thanks mate I am really glad you came up with the idea to mount it in the switch panel, brilliant !
Click to expand...

Just one of those bright ideas that occasionally springs into one's mind, mate. Glad it was of use to us both :ebiggrin:.

havachat said:
Yet to fully test the range. It is a 5watt unit. The antenna I fitted has a 6.5 & 2.1 dbi whips for general use and hill country.
The radio blends in as if it were a factory option.
Click to expand...

It looks really good in that spot. Mine is still sticking out about 2-3 mms too far, so that I have to watch out that I don't catch my knee on it getting out of the car. Mine is still just wedged into position. When I do the final fit, the brackets I will make (like yours) will hold it firmly just that little bit further into the dash panel.

And it does look like a factory fit ... :poke: :ebiggrin: :biggrin: ... Good stuff!

As for the range, the 2W Oricom hand held units I bought have about 400 m range - from inside my wife's car to inside our house through a whole lot of normal suburban houses in between. That has to be at least the equivalent of pretty dense bush; so I am pleased with that.

The 2W units are also full 80 channel and full sideband/private sub-channel compatible (? terminology?).

Personally, I would avoid the 0.5W and 1W hand held units like the plague. I just can't see that they have the power to penetrate anything ...
 
The 1w uniden hand held I have is great! Gets about a 1–2km Los to a 5w, I mainly use it for recovery. Make it safer when your not screaming at each other, and can clearly hear and understand the person in the vehicle and outside.
 
^ Good to be contradicted about that, Id ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin:.

I should have been more clear, I guess.

What I was really recommending against is just a pair of 0.5W or 1W hand held units. Having a 5W unit as a 'base station' will improve both reception and transmission capabilities of a lower powered hand held unit under all conditions.

The example I gave was for a 2W to 2W hand held from inside SWMBO's car to me inside our house, about 400 m away with a whole lot of houses in between. Probably a worst case scenario.

Considering that I picked up the pair of Oricom 2W hand held units for much the same price as a single 2W unit or less than the RRP of a pair of 1W units, I'm pretty happy ($65 for the pair, about half RRP). The 2W x 2 pack comes up on special at Repco, SCA etc fairly regularly.
 
Gidday Folks

I have finally (I hope ... ) solved the problem of where and how to mount the aerial for the unit.

After considering mudguard mounts (too flaming hard to get it rigid, and right), nudge bars, light bars, bull bars and the like (none of which I have), I wandered out to Roo2 this arvo and had a look at what holds the grill and front bumper assembly onto the car.

Lo and behold, there are a heap of convenient steel brackets under all those plastic body clips ... :bananatoast: :woohoo:.

I pulled these out using my (relatively) newly acquired Kingchrome body clip removal tools. Then removed the grill section.

After using my precision bending equipment on the useless stainless steel bracket (sledge hammer and 6x4" channel section steel beam), I discovered that it is still useless - but at least it has given me the rough dimensions to work with. It's about 1" too short, so the bonnet won't close:

Melbourne-20140713-00158.jpg


But, if I make a triangular bracket out of 3 mm aluminium so that the base of the triangle can be bolted through the two bumper retaining holes at the left and centre in the photo below:

Melbourne-20140713-00152.jpg


I can remove the grill part as can be seen here:

Melbourne-20140713-00154.jpg


Which gives me easy access to the bottom retaining nut for the bolts I will use to hold the aluminium plate on firmly.

I will have to drill a hole through the plate so that I can re-insert the grill clip that will be underneath it.

It will also need a piece of plastic under it (ice cream container lid ... :raz: :lol:) to stop it from chafing the plastic and on top to protect the bonnet. MultiGrip is a terrific glue ... :biggrin:.

The aerial and its mounting bracket will still be well behind the front of the bumper, and the bonnet lip will clear it easily. The rough position can be seen here:

Melbourne-20140713-00161.jpg


I will make the leading edge a very shallow rounded shape, and carefully smooth the edges so that I don't disembowel any unfortunate passers-by or pedestrians on it (or myself, for that matter - far more likely!). If necessary, I can stick some plastic edging on it.

It will be away from the metal of the passenger compartment. When using the long whip, it will be around 9-12" above the roof line. It should also be far enough to the left (from the driver's seat) so that it doesn't irritate me too much!

It should be very easy to route the aerial wire behind the grill and along the D/S of the engine bay, straight into the back of the unit.

While it's all apart, I will put make up an insect screen for the radiator out of some heavy aluminium mesh I have lying about in the garage ...

At last, something is working for me. The last 6-8 weeks have been very defeating, what with us both having the flu, etc.
 
OK. I have made up a cardboard replica today to get the spacing right.

It is actually going to work ... :rotfl: :cool:!

Here is the complete cardboard mockup, with the SS bracket wedged under it to provide some support (the piece of folded cardboard wedged under it all should not be necessary once the proper aluminium plate is secured with bolts through the body clip holes):

Melbourne-20140716-00168.jpg


And another looking straight down showing how it is recessed behind the leading edge of the bumper (and hopefully therefore legal ... ):

Melbourne-20140716-00167.jpg


Bonnet closed, showing that the thickness will fit:

IMG-20140716-00162.jpg


Melbourne-20140716-00164.jpg


With the bonnet partly open showing the clearance:

Melbourne-20140716-00166.jpg


Now to mark out the aluminium plate, and start cutting out the real bracket ... :).
 
Made the actual bracket today, cut it out of a sheet of 3 mm aluminium checkerplate.

At least I got the measurements right ... :iconwink: :).

As the aluminium plate is soft grade, I will need to reinforce it with the now useful stainless steel mudguard bracket that I flattened out a few days ago. My plan is to flatten this properly, then rivet it the the underside of the aluminium. This should stiffen it up nicely so that it doesn't shake, and also so that it doesn't get pushed out of alignment and scratch the edge of the bonnet on the spring base part.

I haven't bolted it in yet, just a trial fitting to make sure that it fits properly. Need to pick up some 9 mm bolts to attach it tomorrow, maybe.

Some photos of the rough cut out:

Melbourne-20140717-00184.jpg


Melbourne-20140717-00185.jpg


Melbourne-20140717-00186.jpg


And some shots of it held in place using the body clips:

Melbourne-20140717-00189.jpg


Melbourne-20140717-00188.jpg


Melbourne-20140717-00187.jpg


I still have the joy of running the cable, but I think I've worked out where this will go so that I can still remove the grill and bumper assemblies without having either of them tethered to the car by the aerial or the aerial cable.
 
G'day RB,
Looking really good mate!
The rubber gromit that you run the cable through is the one with the main cables passing through it in the fire wall roughly in front of the glove box. When you run the cable you may want tape a wire to it I case you want to run a power cable from under the bonnet.
You will need to strip the tape of the bottom of the gromit first. When you push the cable into it if it is a tight fit put some talcum powder on it.
You need to pull the gromit out first. It is a tight fit with a very large collar on the inside. Likewise when you push the gromit back into place put some talcum powder on it as the rubber will slip back into the fire wall more easily.
Cheers
 
Gidday HC

Thanks, mate.

I was contemplating using this grommet on the D/S. It is all but immediately in front of the unit, and would plug straight into the back of it:

Melbourne-20140716-00173.jpg


This would involve running the aerial cable up past the RHS of the grill/bumper, between these and the P/S headlight. Then run along the back of the grill/bumper at the top, between them and the top radiator tank. Veer around the air intake, back around the D/S strut, and through the grommet in the photo above.

Basically, this route:

Melbourne-20140716-00176.jpg


Melbourne-20140716-00175.jpg


Melbourne-20140716-00174.jpg


Then through this grommet:

Melbourne-20140716-00173.jpg


Any thoughts on going around this way?

It does avoid grovelling under the dash ... :poke: :iconwink: :lol:.
 
^ I just had a horrible thought ...

The above grommet only supplies the wiper motor, and doesn't go all the way through the firewall, perhaps?? :( :(

Anyone know if my suspicion is correct?
 
^ Had a look in the light this morning, and that's exactly what that grommet leads to - the wiper motor ... :(.

There is another one that appears to go through the firewall just above and to the left of the clutch master cylinder (looking from the engine bay side), between the clutch master cylinder and the brake master cylinder/booster. It is currently just a blanking grommet, so may serve some purpose in LHD cars.

I took some photos of this area, will process and upload later today.
 
I put mine through the the grommet for the heater tap cable i think, can't remember exactly, took it off and put a bigger hole through with my hot knife. But then again my sf had an empty grommet going to the d/s foot well, don't know what it was for, think i ran power through it.
 
^ Thanks, Id.

Was the other grommet the one between the - Ah, forget it :lol:!
I keep forgetting that the SF has a lot more room to move around there! So did my Impreza.

There is a grommet between the clutch master cylinder and the brake booster in the SG, and I'm wondering whether it goes all the way through the firewall or not. Since I don't bend in the middle very well ATM, it's hard to check it out.

It is about 45 mm in diameter and is not used at all, i.e. it's solid.

When my back is more amenable to doing stuff again, I will pull it out and see if it comes into the cabin at a convenient point where the aerial doesn't interfere with the brake and clutch pedals, or vice versa.

Do you know if there is any reason that I cannot cut the aerial cable and re-join it using 10 Base-T network cabling connectors? Doing this would make the whole process heaps easier, but I don't want to sacrifice a perfectly good aerial to find that it doesn't work at these frequencies. The connectors I have are soldered both sides, not crimped.
 
^ Many thanks, TB.

I take it that it has a clear route around the various pedals and steering column, etc, then.

Where I have mounted the unit, it seems obvious to me to bring the aerial into the cabin on this side of the car, rather than running it around under the dash from an entry point on the P/S.

On another note, the mounting bolts for the sump guard arrived this morning, so I will be able to mount the sump guard when my back is more happy. Currently, it's even a bit of a strain sitting in my ergonomic chair and typing!
 
Yea that one near the master cylinder is where i ran my power.

EDIT: don't used anything up bnc conectors for coax.
 
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