No idea, and they are not that bright, not meant to light up the night, just marker lights.

Some change them out for brighter, but then you face legality issues.

 

Yeah I guess they are'nt very aim-able the way they mounted them.

 

Yep, the whole purpose of them is for marker lamps, much like the lamps in your bumper.

I have seen some install switches to turn them on/off, but that is after installing high power LEDs in them that will blind you being up that high.

 

If there was a cop cruiser version they could be used as take down lights or fitted with red/blue flashers...

hmmm... a cop cruiser? idea!... there is certainly enough room inside for all the gear a special purpose cruiser would need... just no room for perp transport...

 

My Yellowtop Optima (installation detailed earlier in this thread) crapped out on me more than a year back, and with winter fast approaching and a darn messy winter at that thanks to La Niña, I thought it was time to get a new battery for my dual setup in case the stock Toyota one dies on me.

I had gone to Sears last weekend to have a Platinum Diehard installed where the Optima was, but no battery Sears had would fit my Blue Torch Fab battery tray.
I emailed BTF and heard back from them, and the tray was only designed to hold an Optima battery.

Reading all the negativity on how the Optima batteries have gone downhill over the years and my own experience with a fairly new Yellowtop tanking on me, I was hesitant to go with another one.

I called up Les Schwab Tire who I have dealt with for a very long time to see if they still carry the Optimas and they still do.
I explained to the guy how with my Painless Wiring dual battery hit it is recommended to not hook any accessory such as a fridge, lights, and communications equipment to the second battery, but it should only be used to start the rig in case the main battery is worn down to far.

He then said that I had the wrong Optima installed right now, as the Yellowtop is a deep cycle battery meant to be discharged and brought back up.
The ideal battery in my case would be the Redtop which is a starting battery only.
http://shop.optimabatteries.com/prod...r=34/78/1737.0

When the time comes to replace the stock battery, I will go with the DieHard Platinum P-5 - Group Size 35 which is a drop in replacement for the stock FJ Cruiser battery.
Speaking with Les Schwab today though he said a deep cycle is not the best to use for a starting battery, as the power it released at a slower rate than a starting battery such as the Redtop I got today.
A starting batteries power is released like a "bam" of energy burst.
I should be fine with the Platinum Diehard as I do not think it is considered a true deep cycle battery.

I am hoping to get a lot longer life out of the new Redtop than I did the Yellowtop.
The factory battery is getting a little sluggish, probably from doing duty running the ARB fridge on camping trips before I got setup with Solar for recharging it starting in the 2009 camping season.

The new Redtop has a seven year warranty through Les Schwab Tires with the first two years having free replacement provided should it die.
That should give me plenty of time to see how this new one works out for me.

He was very impressed with the dual battery setup and the Painless Wiring kit being able to switch over to the Redtop to start the rig in case I run down the stock one.
I do not see that happening really though using the solar setup to keep the stock battery topped off, but it is always better to safe than sorry, hence why I run a dual setup in my rig.

Here is a picture of the Yellowtop verses the new Redtop installed today.
Yes, it is much filthier under the hood today, rainy season and pine needles are the norm right now.

 

Been a long time since I have done a mod to the rig.
Actually this is an old mod from fall of 2008 that was just completed yesterday.

My ham radio setup:
Yaesu 857D
ATAS-120 antenna
Diamond Duplexer MX62M for the antenna
Diamond GLP58 mount for the antenna
I had the faceplate for the 857D mounted long ago, and the antenna mount, but not the rest.

On vacation this week and took the time to have Cartoys put the main unit and duplexer underneath the passenger seat, wire up the power, run the coax for the antenna, and solder the ends of the coax to their connections.
I do not solder well, and after watching some YouTube vids on how to solder up the coax ends, I gave up, so I had the pros do this.

Now its time to get back to studying again for my Technician Class ham license, and then onto my General Class license as well.

This Yaesu radio has more features than I would ever use for quite awhile, but the same guy who talked me into spending the extra bucks on my roof top tent also talked me into getting the radio.
His motto?
Do it right, buy it once.
This radio will grow with me as I get higher up in license classification.

A few pictures.

Faceplate mounted on dash, looks better than the old photos posted earlier in this thread since there is now power



Did not have to drill for the mic mount, as I just used the left side of my Cobra 29 CB to mount the mic, and I added the mic mount that came with the Yaesu to the right side of the CB to hang the CBs mic from.



Shot of the ATAS-120 antenna.
This antenna is made specifically for the Yaesu 857D, and it raises/lowers the whip automatically when you change frequencies on the radio, pretty trick.
You need to run the duplexer though and takes its two ends and put them in the radio for the VHF and UHF sides, and then the ATAS-120 plugs into the end of the duplexer.
This way one antenna does the job of two antennas.



Rear view of the radio and duplexer.
Both are mounted with heavy duty Velcro to the floor.



Side view of the radio.



Not seen in the pictures is a Big Mouth external speaker that is used with the radio.
It is mounted to the right of the CB underneath the dash.

I also like how the radio displays your battery voltage so you can keep an eye on it if using the radio with the engine off.
Fire up the engine, and the voltage immediately goes up.

Now back to my studying...

 

Looks like a clean install Corey...

few quick questions... do you have an easy way to remove the antenna when you are not trailrunning to prevent theft/vandalism? does the location of the faceplate get in the way of the pax airbag deploying? why would the antenna have to change profile when you change freqs.?
Still don't understand why you can't get a CB radio with a remote mount faceplate it would sure open up a lot more install possibilities and would be no major technical hassle.

 

Thanks Paul.

The antenna just unscrews from the mount on the ARB bumper.
Takes ten seconds or less to remove it, lots of threads

I do not think the faceplate is in the way of the airbag.

This radio is a super radio, it does all the ham freq., so the antenna must tune itself by going up/down to get an SWR match on all the freq. it can handle, or I would have to run two separate antennas.
That is why there are two antenna jacks on the rear of the radio.
The duplexer solves that though by letting just one antenna do the job of two.
This antenna was made specifically for the purpose of this radio so only one antenna can be used.

Yes, to bad CBs are not made this way too were you can mount the guts elsewhere, and have the controls at your fingertips.
Well there is that one Midland CB that you mount the guts anywhere you want, and the mic has all of the controls in it.

 

Yeah actually that midland radio has all the guts in the mic and the "box" basically just has a connection for the power and antenna... I've looked at it but it's clumsy and ugly.

how does the antenna go up and down a motor od magnets?

 

I got the antenna to tune itself today Paul.
I was having issues yesterday with the unit not recognizing I had the ATAS-120 attached to the system. so I had to disconnect the coaxes and rehook them up again, and the menu worked for tuning the antenna.

The antenna actually goes up and down, it unscrews itself and rotates up/down depending on what freq. you are on.
The stainless whip stays the same, but the plastic parts separate.
It does all this too with just the signal from the coax, no electricity.
I will try to shoot a video of it in action dong it, unless I find one on YouTube.

Here ya go, watch how it moves and uncovers clean plastic that has not been exposed to dirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzwpWL2Cx7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E870V...eature=related

Not the antenna, but same radio as mine on USB.
He is using a windshield mount for his.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCYfrucoUJs

 

pretty cool Corey. I would like to get a ham radio someday.
How flexible are those antenna mounts? I would be worried about snapping one off..

 

There is no flex to it like my CB antenna mount which is on a HD spring.
Since the ARB bumper moves a lot on the FJs, the antenna wiggles a lot just going down the road.

I know others off road with these antennas, but I may look into asking if it can cause damage or not when going on rough FS roads.

I would really like to test this out too with a member when I go camping to see if they can hear me from where I will be.

Was listening today to two guy's talking, and I got one of the call signs and looked him up, he lives about 45 miles from me, and the signal was crystal clear.

 

that kind of distance would be awesome. I have a few other projects to get done on my truck (like passing emissions) before I tackle a radio but it is one of the things on my wish list

 

Corey I read through this thread and your truck is pretty much a house on wheels haha.

 

Robb, that was on two meters too which is low power I believe, and they often use a repeater system.
I have been out in the rig since my last post here, and I listened in on him again.
I think he runs that channel, as he had about five others on the channel with him, and they were setting up a breakfast for this Saturday.

Going to go to his website and see if I can get in touch with him for some info on that channel/repeater system they use.
Thanks man!
Rig has come a long ways.

 

My buddy wanted to do a ham radio type setup on his tacoma but he ended up doing a marine vhf cb which is illegal to have in a vehicle but you can pick up alot of cop frequencies which is fun to listen in to.

 

I do believe I saw your rig a few weekends ago at Safeway on a Saturday.
I was down there getting an iced tea from the Starbucks inside, and a few items to throw on the grill.

 

Yea I saw your rig and looked around and waited a minute to see if ya were comin out so i went back to the shop to eat ha

 

You should maybe check out some of the aussie sites Corey. All those guys seem to run those radios with the ant. mounted to the ARBs there must be some kind of flex mount system... or look at what the Army guys use on their hummers/ApcS ETC...

 

It is pretty solid Paul right now.
I was reading the antenna manual, and they said to mount it solid the way it is now.