Over the long Thanksgiving weekend I started working on installing the mount for my HF antenna(s).  The mount I ordered was from breedlove, who makes some pretty hefty mounts - solid brass, aluminum and delrin for the insulating parts.  I chose the mount I did, because it will work with the hamsticks that I already have, that I used on my last vehicle, and it is also hefty enough for the smaller screwdriver antenna's, which I plan to switch to at some point, when the budget allows.  
     To start, I removed the carpeted liner from the trunk lid.  To do that was fairly easy, I just had to pop out the little plastic snaps, pop off the latch cover (already off in this picture), and take off the plastic handle (to the left, not yet removed):

     With the carpeted liner removed, it is easy to see the cross member that runs down the center of the trunk lid (from front to back.)   I knew this was there from peeking in here a while ago, and I had ordered my mount accordingly - normally I would have liked the mount with the 4" base, but that wouldn't fit in the space, so I ordered one of the mounts with a 3" base.  Basically, the support member and the sheet metal of the trunk lid make a sort of tunnel, so I knew the back of my mount was going to have to fit inside this "tunnel."
     To drill the holes for the mount, I started by using a factory hole in this "tunnel" that was centered on the vehicle from side to side.  I  chose a drill bit that fit this hole perfectly, that would reach the whole way through to the top of the trunk lid.  I then used this to drill my pilot hole.  Below you can see me lining up my drill from the inside, and the resulting pilot hole as seen on the top of the trunk lid.  The picture of the top of the trunk lid is a little confusing to look at, because you can see the unfinished drywall of my garage ceiling reflected on the closed trunk...sorry for that!

     With the pilot hole drilled, I stepped up to a 5/8" drill bit for the hold in the top, which is what was needed for the center bolt of the mount I used.  I then used a 2 1/2" hole saw on the inside, to create a larger "access" hole to work from underneath the mount.

     At this point, I was able to install the HF mount using just the center bolt, so that I could turn things side to side, and adjust the ball front to back, until everything was plumb.  To get everything plumb, I stuck the fiberlass bottom section of a 6 meter hamstick into the mount, and used my level against that.  After I had it plumb, I used the mount as a guide to drill the other holes, to lock everything in place.  After tightening all the nuts and bolts down, here's how it looked:

     The morning after doing this, I connected the coax to the mount, and ran it to the antenna.  I covered the coax in split loom and routed it along the trunk hinge on the right, so that it would match the factory wiring that runs along the trunk hinge on the left.  I also then filled the "tunnel" with expanding foam so that it would stiffen everything up, and provide extra stability to help keep the sheet metal on the top from wanting to flex as the wind catches the antenna while driving down the highway.  Before spraying in the foam, I packed rolled up bubble wrap around the edges of the access hole, so that the foam wouldn't cover the antenna connections, or bulge out through the access hole for working on the antenna connections.  As for the type of foam, I used the stuff from the big box store that is designed for large gaps, and holy smokes did it ever do the trick!  I can now grab this mount and shake the whole car, with barely any deflection the sheet metal it is mounted on.
     At this point I have 2 primary things to do, in order to have somewhat decent HF capability in the car.  The first is to install bonding straps between the various sheetmetal parts of the car.  Some of the hardware I need for that I ordered from Amazon today, so that will probably be a project next week sometime.  Once the bonding is done, I can do final tuning on the antennas.  At that point I'll have working HF......but I'll be far from done with this project.  Check back soon to see what's coming!

     Today after work I stopped at a small communications company to buy some RF connectors so that I could connect the antenna I mounted on the roof of car.  Because I was driving around for work, and wasn't going have time near my soldering iron anytime soon, I asked what they would charge to install it for me.  They ended up only charging me about $10 for the connector, installing it, and for one additional adaptor that I needed.  Awesome! The guys that did this for me were the folks at Lentini Communications.  I was told about their shop by a fellow ham, while talking on the New Haven, CT machine.  With the antenna now connected to the radio, I decided to grab the audio adapters I needed to finish connecting the radio's audio to the car's audio.  
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     With that thought in mind, I made a quick trip to Radio Shack.  The audio extension cable that comes with the Yeasu head seperation kit plugs into the radio, and leaves you with a 1/8" female mono jack at the other end.  I needed to get from this, to the 1/8" stero female jack that every ford I have driven in the last 6 years had.  I ended up picking up a connector pack that had a 1/8" mono plug on one side, and a 1/8" stero jack on the other side.  I then grabbed a short 1/8" male stero to male stero cable.  Perfect!.....Until I went to the car.  I flipped up the center console lid (because that's where Ford puts the Aux Jack) and - what the heck!  No Aux jack!  I looked all over and couldn't find it.  I grabbed the manual for the car.  The section about the radio tells you how to select the aux input using the radio, but doesn't tell you where the aux input jack is.  What the heck.

     I ended up checking with Google, and apparently I'm not the first person who has had this problem with their 2016 Ford Fusion.  Apparently on many models and packages, there is no aux jack - just the USB jack for connecting an iPod, iPhone, or something similar.  I turned around and took the connectors back in to Radio Shack and returned them.  After some parking lot considerations, I came up with plan B.
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​     I drove across town to Best Buy and bought one of these:

     It is a basic bluetooth transmitter.  The idea is to use this to take the audio from the radio, and transmit it to the SYNC bluetooth system in the car.  After buying this, I realised however, that this has a stero plug on it, and I still needed an adapter to get to the 1/8" mono jack so........

     Back to Radio Shack again for this.  I actaully only needed the connector in the upper right, but they don't sell them individually (in the store anyway.)  I'm sure I'll find a use for the other ones...even if it is just to fill up space in the junk drawer.

     Even though it was plan B, the good news is that I now at least have the radio installed, with a working antenna, and working audio.  I made a quick contact on a local repeater, and was told I sounded good - only note was that my audio was a little loud, so I backed off the mic gain.  The next major peices of the project will be getting the antenna stuff installed for HF.  As always....stay tuned!

     Progress is a wonderful thing!  When I last left off I had managed to essentially run some wires.  Over the last couple days I managed to get a couple things done that actually look like progress too!  If you recall from my post on 11/6, I stated that I was planning on using the empty space under the climate controls for mounting the control head of my Yeasu 857d.  

     I wanted to make a template first, so I started by roughly measuring the size of the opening, and then I cut some scrap hardboard that I had into the shape.  I did a test fit, then recut, test fit then recut.  I ended up making about 4 of these before I had one that fit the opening the way I wanted it.  After this peice was cut, I used the parts that I was intending on mounting on it to mark and make my next cuts.  These parts were the jack for the  microphone, and the bracket that holds the control head.  Once that was done, my template looked like the picture below.

     I actually cut out the shape of the head bracket, because the plan was to recess it into the part a little bit, so that the control head doesn't look like it is sticking out so far.  I mounted everything into the template peice, and test fit it into the car.  Looking good!

     The Yeasu seperation kit comes with an extension cable with RJ45 connectors on each end.  At the end where the mic is supposed to attach, they provide a female-to-female connector.  Instead of using this connector, I found a female-to-female bulkhead connector on e-bay.  This makes for a clean and professional looking mic jack.  With good thoughts on the fit of the template, it was time to transfer to the material that will actaully make up the part.  I wanted something plastic looking, with some texture, to kind of blend in with the other dash  components.  Luckily, I had been thinking ahead.  Remember that trip to IKEA I took  with the YL a couple weeks back?  While there, I picked up two of these for less than $2 each, and they were the perfect material and texture.

    While running around this weekend, I also grabbed a couple new mic mounts at radio shack so I could play around with where to stick the mic.  After painting the part, and mounting the mic, it looks like this:

     The main reason I don't have pics of the trunk mounted radio body is because the location it is mounted right now it only temporary (it's screwed to sheet metal, so temporary doesn't mean lazy in this case!)  This project will have a "Phase 2" that will be revealed as I go, but while I work on that part, I want to have a functioning mobile setup!  With power connected to the radio body, things are looking good up front.  I snapped a couple pictures after dark too, for effect.

 Here is a view of both the radio and mic, all mounted up.  In case you arer curious about the text on the radio screen - thats W3RRR, the local radio club that I am a member of.

     This is a similar shot, but at night, with the flash off.  I just though the effect was cool.  The Yeasu actually blends in pretty well, after picking a display color that is a close mach for the dash lights.

     So whats next?  Well, audio for one.  The plan is to feed the radio's receive audio into the car's audio system.  I've done this in my other Fords, so it's an easy task - I just want to get a couple different connectors than I used in the past to keep the wiring cleaner. I also need to put a connector on the coax coming down from the rooftop antenna.  I started that tonight, but botched the job, so I cut the connector off. I didn't have time for attempt 2 this evening.  I also have a mount ordered from Breedlove that will be the mount for my HF antenna(s), that will get installed once I get it.  There are several other tidbits, and bits and peices that I will keep working on as well, so check back soon!

     I don't have any real project updates for you, but I figured I would at least share what I did get done today.  My work took me close to one of the Ham Radio Outlet stores today, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop in!  I picked up a small dualband antenna for the NMO mount I just installed on the roof the car (see my post from 11/16/2015.)  I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, but I ended up getting an antenna that is a basic 1/4 wave on 2 meters, and 1/2 wave on 70cm.  I figure that with the antenna mounted in the center of the roof, it should work pretty well for me, and it's short enough to clear my garage door.  I figure I can always keep a couple other antenna's in the trunk if I want to swap out for any reason. I actaully have an NMO mount 5/8 whip flying around my garage that might as well travel with me in case I want to use it in situations where the different gain and takeoff angle could be advantageous.
     I also picked up some 1" wide copper braid that they had on their clearance rack.  This will be used to bond the various metal parts of the car together.  When I was setting up my first mobile shack I read a lot of information on K0BG's web site, and he has a great article on bonding, why it should be done, and how to do it.  I'll end up doing on this car like I did on the last one - 2 straps bonding the hood to body, 2 straps bonding the trunk to the body, 1 strap bonding each of the 4 doors to the body, and 3 or 4 bonding the exahaust to the body.  I'll also try to do what I didn't do last time, and put a couple straps bonding the engine to the body.  
     I also picked up a couple oddball connectors that I'll need down the road.  Stay tuned!

     So.......I've had my car just over a week, and someone hit it already!  Based on the location and type of damage it looks like someone hit it in a parking lot.  I was in Pittsburg PA, Rochester NY, and Philadelphia PA this past week, and while I was in Philly it was valet parked, so who knows when it happened.  Oh well.  I took it to the body shop for the estimate today, and as soon as they get their estimate put together it'll get fixed up like new - that's what we get insurance for.
     Now that the bad news is over - here's some random news - this weekend I was putting the "ham" in ham radio operator.....my family does their own butchering every year, and for the last 20 or so years we've done it as a demonstration of 19th century butchering techniques at a living history farm in New Jersey.  If you happen to know me personally, you might be able to find me in the picture. 

       Anyway, enough of that - I'm sure you're more interested in my progress on my project.  I had a little bit of time to work this evening before and after my daughter's swimming lesson.  I started by popping off the door and moulding trim on the drivers side of the vehicle.  With this done, I was able to peak up between the headliner and the roof of the car to see what was up - looked straightforward enough. ​After having a peak up there, I ran a peice of painters tape across the top of the car, from side to side, and measured to find the centerline of the vehicle.  On my car this turned out to be 1' 10 3/4" from the side of the vehicle (just in case you cared....)  

     After marking the center, I put down a bunch of tape around the area I intended to drill, and then taped the end of the hose of my small shop vac right at the location of the future hole.  This way most of the metal shavings would get sucked up as I was drilling.  Once the hole was made (I used a 3/4" metal hole saw), I also used the vacuum and sucked up every speck of dust that even looked like it wanted to pretend to be a metal filing.  I found out the hard way with my old vehicle that if you don't get all these off you end up with little rust spots.  With the hole made, I followed the dirctions that came with the Larson NMO mount to fish the coax through the hole and attach the mount.  I ran the coax down the rear pillar (being carful to route the cable away from the airbags!) to the location in the trunk where the radio body will be mounted.  Just a small amount of snugging with the wrench and presto!  A rooftop NMO mount.  I stuck an antenna on it for a quick pic also.  I don't think this is the final anteanna I will use, but it's one I had laying around (that also happens to clear my garage doors.)