Its a ic2720h

Got it from my dads truck but was unable to get the separation cable, coax and antenna.

Can I make a separation cable from cat 5e or cat 6 cable with an rj11 connector?

Eta...I guess it would be an rj12 with 6 pins.

Also would like to have a mic extension plugged.into the radio itself and not dangling from the dash. Can I make that from cat** with rj45 connections?

I read that you can but one guy said that the solid wire will not last long with the vibration of a vehicle.  Not sure how true that is.

Antenna, what would you recommend? Coax?

Thanks

Eta. What about a programming cable . I've looked but not sure which is the right cable and the manual doesn't seem to help. Just says its an option. And will chirp work on that radio?

One other thing. I so need batteries for an icom ic w32a. Bp 173m is what I have now but neither will take a charge.

Typically you'd use non-twisted pair wire to make the separation cable, I don't know on that specific radio how important that is. If you use Cat5e and look at the wiring diagram for the radio you might be able to get the data pins away from mic pins etc and use twisted pair cable.

Back when I ran iCom radios I made mic extension cables with a cat5 cable and then a rj45 coupler. Worked well.

Cool! I'm going to give it a shot.

i've diy'd both for mine a decade ago.  Both worked.   Dont forget the ferrite bead.

I have no idea what’s going on here. Sounds neat though.

Really depends on the manufacturer and what they choose to do. As an example, when Motorola released the Odyssey series heads around 2009...they actually migrated from a 12 pair control cable to a control cable made up with CAT5e. For the analog signals, you could several hundred feet but since Motorola radios uses a serial protocol based upon RS-232 for radio control, about 50 ft is as long as the cable can physically be. Also, the twisted pair keeps noises the radio makes (such as a channel grant) from bleeding into the TX audio line via crosstalk.

So far I've purchased a mic extension cable and a through the glass antenna. No luck really on the separation cable. All I could find was one that was 9 ft. I dont think its long enough to go from the back wall of the cab, through/under the step plates and up the center of the dash. So I'll probably try and make one from cat6.

One other thing I was wondering about was the power cables. I will go directly to the battery, but don't want it powered all the time. Knowing me ill forget and not turn it off and have a dead battery.  

So, I was thinking of coming off the battery and wire in a relay that is ON when the key is ON only. Any tips of what circuits not to use to power the relay? Any interference problems from a relay?
Thanks

It shouldn't be an issue using any circuit that comes on with the key. The other side of the relay is what carries the load of your radio.
I would use a solid state relay.

Thru glass antenna. EWWWWW no, just no.

Especially with the factory tint. It will not work well at all.

It was recommended by my dads friend thats been a ham for probably 20 years or more. Eta...he uses a Larsen ( not sure which model) and says it does ok.

I will try it out and see how it goes. If not so well then ill try something else like a feeder mount , or a bed mount(stake pocket). Only thing with that is the soft bed cover. I could fabricate one that would stick out the side though.  
Last resort would be to bore a hole in the roof. Ugggg.

Ok. Cool. Now to locate what to tap into.

Install taking a while. However I'm not one that just throws shit together. I like nice and neat and planned out. Here , I'm installing a board against the rear wall of the cab to mount the radio body and a rack for my AR. Attached File


Eta..

Dang screws I bought were a little short. Uggg.

I like you OP (no homo)

Finally got it installed . Attached File
Attached File


Was unable to find a separation cable long enough so went with some cat5e . Seems to work fine. Also for the mic extension all I could find was 10 ft. Not near long enough for a crew cab,  so I'll use cat5e for that too.
Now to keep studying and get licensed.

Still need to trim the bracket for the head unit . When I drilled the hole in the plastic panel for the separation cable to go through it was right under where the bracket mounts. Ugg.

Once I get the bracket trimmed I'll pop that panel back down.

Used to be you could get a wire device that plugged into a spot on the fuse block where in you could tap that circuit for low power devices. In the past I have done this using the fan circuit fuse because it was always off/ on with the ignition key and used this to power a relay circuit. Now, I just wire to the battery and remember to shut off the radio. The modern radios have a timed automatic shut off which will power down the radio if it is not being used as well.
73,
Rob

Yeah I bought an 'add a circuit', it creates a piggy back which I wired to a relay.

I used to have a "through glass" Larsen on my 1995 Camaro (with factory tint). It worked surprisingly well. It's just capacitively coupled through the glass. There is enough capacity between the plates to minimize any losses. Make sure to avoid glass heater (defroster) strips on the rear glass.

Also, use APO (automatic power off) feature found in most radios (see the parameters). I set all of my mobile radios for 120 minutes. No need to add any relays and I can also operate the radios when parked with no engine running. It won't run down your battery if you left it for several hours, even if the radio is actively receiving with audio volume at max. Keep it simple.
Also, it's important to fuse both positive and negative power wires, as close to the source as possible, unless the factory power cable already has two fuses (positive and negative wires). If you use the fused factory cable, then only add a fuse to the positive extension wire as close to the battery as possible.

P.S. Just to clarify. Different manufacturers may use different materials for glass tinting. Some may use conductive material. You can try using masking tape to keep the antenna in place and check it performance before you use and expose the clued strips on both sides of the antenna plates. Obviously, do this while parked.

Well the relay is already wired in. Why the need for a fuse on the ground?

I removed the tint where the antenna is but did have to put it over one of the wires for defrost.  The antenna covers about a 2x2 and the wire is only about 1 1/2" from top 9f glass. It receives great! No idea on Tx though.

So your radio doesn't become the negative (ground) path if the connection between the battery negative and the engine/body fails or develops some resistance. Your antenna shield is often bonded with the vehicle body and many people also bond (ground) the radio's case too.
Engine starter draws several hundred amps when cranking. Engine or body ground failure is quite common. Customers would often complain about weird electrical problems. Also, they often complain about the auto transmission selector lever being too stiff when shifting (shifting cable becomes the grounding path and heats up when starter is cranking).

Of course...the way to eliminate that negative lead fuse entirely is to just ground to the chassis instead of the negative post on the battery. Then the antenna shield and radio are at the same ground potential from the get go...regardless of whether or not the chassis to negative post corrodes or comes off.