The Mobile Shack Has Arrived!

Many of the folks in the local radio club, and on the local repeater (Red Rose Repeater Association) have heard me lamenting the length of time it was taking for my new vehicle to arrive.  Well, the wait is finally over!  Today I picked up my new 2016 Ford Fusion SE.

I can hardly wait to start making holes in it!  I have big plans for the radio install in this vehicle (well, maybe medium size plans compared to some of the stuff I've seen on them-there inter-nets.)  You'll have to watch the progress to see how the plans that are in my head play out in the car, but here is the high level plan:

1.  Install radio 
   
2. Talk 
3. Have fun

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The plan is to use the convenient empty space under the climate controls to mount the control head of the radio [ed. you can see my first pass at this here, and my upgraded version here].  I've held the control head in place, and it should be a good fit.  When the car is in park, the shifter will be close, but while driving it will be quite easy to operate the radio.  As the project progresses you'll see why I'm not too worried about the control head feeling close to the shifter while in park.

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There is just enough room in the center console for a couple things too [ed. like an "other" radio].  The little tray will come out, and the plan is to eventually put a couple radio nick-nac's in here.

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 Looks like there is plenty of clearance with the trunk open.  The plan is to put an antenna on the roof of the car [ed. which I did!], and another mounted on the center of the trunk [ed. did that too!].  Based on this, I should be able to open the trunk without the trunk mounted antenna hitting anything.  Speaking of trunks....there's enough room in there for a body!  (Radio body that is......) I have big plans for this space too, but that's a secret...you'll have to follow along to see what goes on in here.

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And of course - one of the important parts.  I'm not a motor-head, so I could care less about the engine.  What I'm interested in is the battery, and how easy it will be to connect power to.  Easy access, and plenty of room to work with power wiring.  Awesome!

As an added bonus, I struck a deal with the YL - she wanted to go to IKEA tomorrow, which is close enough to HRO (at least from where we live) that she's willing to ride along to the candy store after a trip to the infamous Swedish furniture monger, so that I can pick up a couple bits of stuff that I just have to have right away.

P.S.  I've heard that IKEA is the Swedish word for marital spat....