Amateur (Ham) Radio in a Leaf

Has anyone installed a Ham radio (maybe even APRS) in a Leaf yet?

Are there any guidelines available from Nissan on "2 way radios"?

Thanks in advance!

Clay Jackson
Amatuer Radio N7QNM
www.n7qnm.net
APRS - N7QNM, N7QNM-9, N7QNM-10
Leaf now expected in July

I have a Byonics MT-RTG FA APRS in my car with a 10 watt transmitter and have had no problems. I also plan to install my Kenwood VHF/UHF base station but haven't had a chance to do so yet...

Tom K6TGT

clayj said:

Has anyone installed a Ham radio (maybe even APRS) in a Leaf yet?

Are there any guidelines available from Nissan on "2 way radios"?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Can you post details on things like power cables/routing and antenna mounts?

I installed it in the driver's side rear compartment where the tool kit is, tapped in to switched 12 volts there, and ran the antenna cables up inside the trim to the roof-line where they mag mount on the roof just forward.

clayj said:

Can you post details on things like power cables/routing and antenna mounts?

Click to expand...

The only mobile radio I have is my 2M radio that I have mounted in my shack in the garage. Since my Leaf is a Lease, I'm a little limited in what I can do to it....probably will have to go with a magnetic mount antenna. :evil:

Putting a mobile unit in the Leaf is on the list of things to do.....

Jim
K6JJH

Mine is also a lease, thus I went with mag and lip mounts and no holes. I can remove everything and Nissan will never know it was there.

Jimmydreams said:

The only mobile radio I have is my 2M radio that I have mounted in my shack in the garage. Since my Leaf is a Lease, I'm a little limited in what I can do to it....probably will have to go with a magnetic mount antenna. :evil:

Putting a mobile unit in the Leaf is on the list of things to do.....

Jim
K6JJH

Click to expand...

I was planning on installing a mag mount as well to start.

I was interested in whether there would be any RFI issues with the electronics in the dash and control systems.

In my previous cars, the XM blanks out when I key up on 2m or 70cm. I had a 2000 Lincoln LS have the speedometer spin when transmitting on 20m with an Icom 706 with SGC 230 autotuner & SGC antenna. (That would be a bit much on the Leaf, but field day IS coming up...)

I've been having so much fun just driving, I haven't had a chance to install much.

Tom, are what are you running in the vehicle for an identifier, -1 , -3, or something else? I can see your home weather station but not your car.

73,
William KC5JIF
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=kc5jif

I haven't tried anything beyond the 10 watt APRS yet and that did not seem to cause any problem. I'm hoping a solid steel roof with no sunroof will give a little better shielding and there won't be any problems...

I usually use -9 for my mobile but this weekend I am supporting the U.S. Coast Guard entry for the Baker to Vegas relay foot race so I'm moving the system to the race runner chase vehicle and you should see it on b2v.findu.com as slot 188.

AmarilloLeaf said:

I was planning on installing a mag mount as well to start.

I was interested in whether there would be any RFI issues with the electronics in the dash and control systems.

In my previous cars, the XM blanks out when I key up on 2m or 70cm. I had a 2000 Lincoln LS have the speedometer spin when transmitting on 20m with an Icom 706 with SGC 230 autotuner & SGC antenna. (That would be a bit much on the Leaf, but field day IS coming up...)

I've been having so much fun just driving, I haven't had a chance to install much.

Tom, are what are you running in the vehicle for an identifier, -1 , -3, or something else? I can see your home weather station but not your car.

73,
William KC5JIF
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=kc5jif

Click to expand...

I just have a Yaesu handheld and a magnetic-mount antenna, so no tie-in with the car's electrical.

I have not tried it in/on the LEAF yet, driving or not. With a Voice Operated Transmission (VOX) headset, I could even use it hands-free while driving, even though hands-free is not required.

In 2004, we traded in the Ford Exploader in for the Gen II Prius. 7yrs later, the Prius got replaced by the Leaf. I have TONS of radio junk ... some runs as low as 50 milliwatts and some of it goes as high as 1,500 watts ... frequencies from 160m all the way up to 2.4ghz. Any and all of it can be installed as mobile junk. But if the Leaf isn't a geek mobile already, can you imagine the hoots if I installed my screwdriver on it?

. . . . . and this pic doesn't even show the accompanying whip, nor the 2' wide cloverleaf shaped capacitance hat. No . . . . these kinds of things will stop normal people dead in their tracks, from EVER riding with you.

hill said:

In 2004, we traded in the Ford Exploader in for the Gen II Prius. 7yrs later, the Prius got replaced by the Leaf. I have TONS of radio junk ... some runs as low as 50 milliwatts and some of it goes as high as 1,500 watts ... frequencies from 160m all the way up to 2.4ghz. Any and all of it can be installed as mobile junk. But if the Leaf isn't a geek mobile already, can you imagine the hoots if I installed my screwdriver on it?

. . . . . and this pic doesn't even show the accompanying whip, nor the 2' wide cloverleaf shaped capacitance hat. No . . . . these kinds of things will stop normal people dead in their tracks, from EVER riding with you.

Click to expand...

Maybe. But tell people you can make contacts in Europe or South America while you're driving around town.....well, that oughta peak a LITTLE geek interest in people!! (and if it doesn't, do you really want them in your car in the first place???)
:lol:

I duno ... back in the day of mobile hf (as well as vhf, uhf) popularity, there was no such thing as IRLP. My mobile stuff has been collecting dust now for a half dozen years or more. Now? With broad band connect and a smart phone (or satalite phone) you can do amateur radio around the world on as little as 20 miliwatts. It's still fun for many ... yet times are a changin'
:|

hill said:

I duno ... back in the day of mobile hf (as well as vhf, uhf) popularity, there was no such thing as IRLP. Now? With broad band connect and a smart phone (or satalite phone) you can do amateur radio around the world on as little as 20 miliwatts.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but we all know that's cheating. If you don't have to worry about your antenna, propogation, local interference, TVI, etc., then why not just sit in front of a computer with Google Chat and not worry about the expensive electronics and knowledge???

Oh wait....did I just show my age?

:lol:

I hear that. My old ham gear is all in an attic box. It's only as interesting as the folks on either end, and I've got less and less to say.

My Yaesu FT-60 is all I use, and it fits in a cupholder.

Is there anywhere to mount a DIN scanner, maybe a BCD996XT?

Perhaps, but all my neighbors know to go to the "guy with all the antennas on his house" in an emergency...

hill said:

. . . . . and this pic doesn't even show the accompanying whip, nor the 2' wide cloverleaf shaped capacitance hat. No . . . . these kinds of things will stop normal people dead in their tracks, from EVER riding with you.

Click to expand...

Due to the roof mounted air bags, I was hesitant to take apart the headliner to drill a hole in the roof as I have done in previous cars. Instead, I decided to try a lip mount on the back hatch. I got a Comet CP-5NMO that fits on the hatch below the rear window, and has 3 axes of rotation so that the antenna can be adjusted to be approximately vertical. The large wing bolt that comes with the mount might hit the tail light assembly, so I replaced it with a 6mm flange head bolt (16 mm long) and a washer.



This unit comes with a short piece of small diameter coax that passes between the hatch and the rubber gasket.



I used some stick-on cable clips to guide the coax up to the top of the hatch, then down behind the back of the right rear sit on the right side, and under the hard plastic cover at the bottom of the right rear door, to the radio that is under the front seat.



I may eventually make notches in the plastic cover around the window, etc. to run the cable under the plastic, once I am sure that this antenna, and the place where I have the radio mounted, are working well. I'll post more about the radio later.

N6HDN

Great post, thanks for the pics!!

I still haven't messed with mounting my 2m Yaesu in my Leaf.....one of these days I'll get the time.

I still need to buy my first radio.. lol.

Where did you find 12VDC in the back?

I'd also recommend going with the hatch mount option. I like the look of that CP-5NMO better than the Diamond K412S that I have as the Comet looks a little sturdier. Then again, I've had the K412S mounted on the Prius for over two years with no issues whatsoever. I haven't moved the mount over to the LEAF yet, but on the Prius I ran it under the plastic cover by the doorsill of the car then underneath the passenger seat and up into the center storage box. I'll probably try to do something similar on the LEAF. Some pictures of it on the Prius are below...

-Devin/N1VED


IMG_0194.JPG by iDevin, on Flickr


IMG_0200.JPG by iDevin, on Flickr


IMG_0201.JPG by iDevin, on Flickr


IMG_0204.JPG by iDevin, on Flickr