Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Im just hooking up my uhf in the old Hilux and was wondering where the wiring should be fed through?

I can cut a slit in one of the wiring grommets that go through the firewall to the passenger side footwell, or run the cable in the inner guard and yhrough the aerial grommet?

I just dont want water to get through the grommets, although if I cut a small slit and push the cable through it should be fine.

Any ideas?

Thru the grommet, silicone if needed, whatever you do dont coil up any excess coax, it will create a field and lower your radio's performance buddy

Mate I usually get a phillips head screw driver and poke and twist it till it punches a hole in the gromet. This way the hole has been stretched and punched and you will see when you pull it out the hole actually closes. I the liberally apply the old spit to the end of the cable (you could be nice and use a bit of dishwashing detergent) and force it through. It is then an air and water tight seal.

Cheers for the ideas. Screwdriver it is. Is there anything a screwdriver cant do

As for the excess coax, instead of bunching it up and tying it, should I just leave it loose and tuck it up under the dash area to prevent it coiling up?

cut that coax as short as possable and reterminate it ....every foot of extra cable decreases your radios performance

Which end do I reterminate it and how is this done?

Probably on the Radio end, get a coax crimper.

I go to Jaycar (or other electronics) and buy the fitting and just dab the end with solder. You wont have a clue what I mean but the fitting is only a dollar or two take a bit of your scrap in with you and buy an extra fitting and ask him if he can show you how to terminate it with a soldered fitting. They will more than likely do it with pleasure. once you have seen it done its P@*s easy.

go to jacar or dick smiths and ask for a PL 259 plug

zoook wrote:cut that coax as short as possable and reterminate it ....every foot of extra cable decreases your radios performance

this is true to a point but you always have swr (standing wave ratio) to worry about

some times it is nessary to have a loop to tune the antenna to the coax length to match the impedance

if you have a radio that was installed by a professional (ie a qualified communications person who has a vswr meter) and you see a loop dont cut it out as this will reduce the out put from the antenna due to reflected wave

or to run the coax a bit longer around the corners. Loops just arent good.

UHF around 480Mhz has a 1/4 wave of around 11cm or so, coax should be multilpes of the 1/4 wave of the frequency. Very important for longer waves like the 27mhz CBs but UHF doesnt seem so sensitive to coax length multiples.
Short is better then a perfect cut to 1/4 wave i say.

1/4 wave 27Mhz is nearly 9foot long, so getting the length right is rather important.