I spent a good 5 weeks researching which radio to purchase for the new truck. There are several great choices out there that will work great for most people. For me a few of the key features I was looking for were...the radio needs to fit somewhere in the truck so the install can be very clean, the unit must have a green face to match my other dash lights and it must have enough power to push as far as I need to go in the desert. Other than that like most people I wanted a solid unit that looked work and worked better. My previous race radio in my old prerunner was a Kenwood 161-A that worked great. The only grief I would have against that radio is that occasionally it would drop range. One day it would get me 20 miles clear as day and the next day in the same place it might get me 10. All in all it was and is a great radio that worked well for me for nearly 5 years. Having a little more experience with Ham Radios I wanted something with Dual-Band Capabilites and more power control, so I turned to the ICOM-208H. I purchased this radio at Ham Radio Outlet in Anaheim, CA. The retail cost of the unit is $289.00 not including the cost of the Antenna and Cable required. I purchased both the Antenna and Cable from PCI Race Radios. After gathering all the required parts we needed my friend Ryan Rose and I started on the install. I want to thank Ryan for all the help wiring up this radio, without your help I would have wires going everywhere my friend!

The final selling point to me purchasing this radio was the removeable faceplate. There really isnt a good place to mount an entire unit in the dash area of my new Tundra unless I wanted to go on top of the dash (ghetto) or in the knee area under the ignition (dangerous). The radio comes with a 10ft. cord for the faceplate so you can mount the unit anywhere you want and the faceplate somewhere else for super stealth installs!

Ryan had a great idea to mount the radio under the drivers seat. Not to the floor as I originally planned but to the metal brackets under the seat. This turned out to be a great idea as we flipped over the seat and noticed a nice metal strip going side-to-side under the seat with clearly enough room to mount the unit. There is enough room for the entire supplied bracket ICOM gives you to be mounted for those curious. We opted to not drill into the floor because I did not like drilling through carpet on my previous truck and drilling holes in your floor board always brings more noise into the cab of your car/truck. After the unit was mounted to the seat we had to plan where to relocate the faceplate, how to run the wires for the power and antenna and where to place the mic and external speaker. With the speaker for the unit being on the unit itself we had to run a small external speaker in order to clearly hear the radio. It would sound pretty muffled through the seat and my ass!

Pulling apart the running boards and parts of the headliner were not as hard as I thought they were going to be. Fortunately, because of Ryan's amazing Antenna Installation Tool we did not have to drop the headliner at all to install the antenna without drilling through the headliner. I will reveal that tool later in the article. Most of the plastic panels in the Tundra are held on by push clips. Most people including myself fear these because they are so easy to break off and then you never get that clean factory precision lined up look again. We took our time and got them all off and back on perfectly. NOTE: Dont rush things like this take your time and do it right the first time! So, with the panels removed (sorry no pics) we decided to run the power wires first. I must say Ryan's attention to detail is amazing. Every wire was run in the best possible location and no wires crossing each other. Here are a few pics of the wires coming through the stock grommit and attached to the battery.

As you can see all of the wiring is clean and simple to get to. Toyota doesn't leave any open holes in the firewall so we had to remove the factory grommit and push the new wires through that. One good thing about the Toyota interior is that everything including the carpet is held down by tabs. So you dont have any loose carpet to deal with the ends have plastic tabs glued to them in order to keep everything in place.

After the power was connected it was time to install the antenna. The first step was trying to find the exact center of the hood. The best location for your antenna is always the most center point of the hood. We opted for just behind the dome light in the cab for easy access and best reception. Some helpful tool for installing an antenna are...

1. A big roll of masking tape - you will need this to mark off the measurements on your hood and draw a good cross where you need to drill. Also with the tape on the hood drilling through that you take less chance at scratching your roof if the drill misses.
2. A good sharpie pen - ok I think you can figure this one out!
3. Measuring Tape
4. Ryan's Secret Tool - The SPATULA! Thats right a spatula. Allow me to explain. In order to drill through the roof to mount the antenna normally you want to drop the headliner so you dont drill through it. Well, we did not want to have to remove 34 plastic panels so Ryan got out his BBQ tools and said "Hey after we remove your dome light stick THE TOOL through the hole and against the roof and it will protect the drill bit from hitting the headliner. It worked! If you need more guidance using a spatula please let me know.

The antenna is lined up and mounted. If you are going to run an antenna and plan on doing high speed stuff in the desert this is the one to get. Works great, removeable at the base for parking in garages and most important it flexes really well if you hit something. We ran the wires under the headliner to the C-Pillar of the truck, down the side and under the side rails to the unit under the seat. Looks great!

The next step was to figure out where to mount the faceplate, the mic and the external speaker. We decided that the best location for the faceplate was in front of the ashtray. First, I dont smoke so I wont be needing to access the ashtray at all. Second, its low and out of the sunlight most of the time. Lastly, it leaves the faceplate within a hands reach for access. As you can see from the following pics the faceplate cord attaches directly to the front of the radio unit and the other end flat behind the faceplate. You can also see where the mic plugs in.

There is plenty of room under the center console to run the wires for the faceplate so thats what we did. You can see in the below pics where the faceplate is going to be mounted. We are still working on the mount so I am simply holding it up in place so you get the idea. The mount with be on the front of the ashtray with the faceplate facing up and slighty towards the driver much how I am holding it. See the pics below...(excuse me for not holding it straight)

The only other things left were to run the mic and the external speaker. For the time being I have both of them located in the rear cupholders. The external speaker ended up fitting perfectly in the cupholder! I am planning on running the wire for the speaker through the console and under the seat soon so excuse the look of it now. The mic doesn't have a permanent home yet, any ideas? I do have one great idea which might end up happening. Since the mic plug is a simple CAT5 connection (same as you use for a cable model) I am thinking about installing a CAT5 wall-type plugin on the dash somewhere. I can then run a wire from the plugin to the unit under the seat and then when I wish to run the mic simply plug it in on the dash and viola! We shall see...

I got my chance to test out the unit last weekend in Lucerne Valley, CA. At the recent MDR Race I ended up being a good portion of the communications for Team 1450. The racetruck was having problems communication with Main Pit and fortunately I was able to hear both loud and clear so I was setup as relay. The radio worked flawlessly. Over bumps the radio display never flashed or skipped and the channels never changed on accident (some common problems I have heard with other radios). So far I love my choice! When I get the mic wires up I will be sure to continue this review.

2-8-05
Jordan

Also, checkout Ryan's website: www.roseracing.net

Direct Link to ICOM = www.icomamerica.com
Direct Link to ICOM-208H = www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/208h/

Powerful 55W/50W output power
Individual MOS-FET power amplifier modules supply the power for Icom’s most powerful dual band mobile with 55W/50W (VHF/UHF). Stable power for long distance communications plus reduced power settings (15/5W) for local communications.

Wideband receiver
See why Icom has a world renowned reputation for superb wideband receivers with the IC-208H. The IC-208H wideband receiver covers 118–173, 230–549 and 810–999MHz* as standard. Listen to your Amateur VHF/UHF bands, as well as aviation, marine, weather and other utility communications in a compact mobile package. Extends your mobile radio enjoyment!
* Excluding Cellular range.

Detachable front panel
Limited installation space is no problem with the IC-208H. The separation cable, OPC-600/R, is supplied with the radio allowing the compact remote control head* to be installed almost anywhere.
* 111 (W) × 40(H) × 26.3 (D) mm; 43.8 × 19.16 × 11.32 in.

500 alphanumeric memory channels
With this much memory, you can fill your IC-208H with your favorite frequencies and operation settings such as output power, tone, and more! Then name each memory channel with up to 6 characters for quick channel identification.

Improved Dynamic Memory Scan (DMS) system
The improved DMS system allows you to scan all the selected banks you want to scan by simply adding/deleting bank links with Icom’s exclusive Bank Link system. Yet another convenient feature to make the IC-208H more practical radio.

User friendly design
The large multi-function tuning knob provides intuitive channel tuning or band hopping. The multicolor display lighting and backlit buttons adds a new ‘fun’ dimension to operating the IC-208H.

HM-133, remote control microphone
The supplied HM-133 remote control microphone allows you to control almost every function of the IC-208H from the mic.

And more…