The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Chief's Vehicle Radio and Lighting Layout
Hi everyone! I'm back to work, but not in a fire station... Instead, as my knee recovers from surgery, I am working in what we call a light duty position, or in other words, headquarters...
I have the chance to put together a standard design for our tahoes and suburbans that will be replaced now and over the next few years. What would be helpful would be to see photos of how and where you mounted radios and emergency lighting. Below are some photos that I took at our county garage radio shop. My department has a communication committee that provided specs for the radios even though one question did come up...
Can you have two separate radios in the same vehicle that would transmit on the same channels? Concern was expressed that when one radio was in the monitoring mode, and the other radio's mic was keyed, that the input into the other antennae, which are mounted on the roof four-feet apart, would transmit onto the other radio, possibly blowing out the front filters. This came up because we have a radio head in a console between the front two seats and one mounted facing toward you on the rear left roof area. Anyone else mount rear radios like this? Have you had problem with rain getting the control head wet? Any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Mike from Santa Barbara : )
2008 Chevy Tahoe Radio and Lighting Installation / Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Rear view of tailgate area with radio, speaker and gooseneck map light installed.
This is called a "Supervisors Lightbar" and it's very stealth... only visible when turned on.
By vehicle code requirements, one section of the LED pods are programmed to constantly on to satisfy the requirement to have a solid steady burning red light to denote that it is an emergency vehicle. It was interesting that the lightbars do not come "pre-programmed". You have to wire it and tell it how you want it to be set-up... Like any of us have ever thought about that one before...
The center console currently has a radio, unitrol and cigarette 12v plugs. There will be a scanner mounted and possibly a rear directional light control. There is also a goose-neck map light mounted.
Have I missed anything? Yea... someday we will have a computer mounted and there is a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx mounted on the dashboard as a temporary fix. But I know there are other things to factor...
Strobe lights are also mounted on both the front and rear turn signals.
I have the chance to put together a standard design for our tahoes and suburbans that will be replaced now and over the next few years. What would be helpful would be to see photos of how and where you mounted radios and emergency lighting. Below are some photos that I took at our county garage radio shop. My department has a communication committee that provided specs for the radios even though one question did come up...
Can you have two separate radios in the same vehicle that would transmit on the same channels? Concern was expressed that when one radio was in the monitoring mode, and the other radio's mic was keyed, that the input into the other antennae, which are mounted on the roof four-feet apart, would transmit onto the other radio, possibly blowing out the front filters. This came up because we have a radio head in a console between the front two seats and one mounted facing toward you on the rear left roof area. Anyone else mount rear radios like this? Have you had problem with rain getting the control head wet? Any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Mike from Santa Barbara : )
2008 Chevy Tahoe Radio and Lighting Installation / Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Rear view of tailgate area with radio, speaker and gooseneck map light installed.
This is called a "Supervisors Lightbar" and it's very stealth... only visible when turned on.
By vehicle code requirements, one section of the LED pods are programmed to constantly on to satisfy the requirement to have a solid steady burning red light to denote that it is an emergency vehicle. It was interesting that the lightbars do not come "pre-programmed". You have to wire it and tell it how you want it to be set-up... Like any of us have ever thought about that one before...
The center console currently has a radio, unitrol and cigarette 12v plugs. There will be a scanner mounted and possibly a rear directional light control. There is also a goose-neck map light mounted.
Have I missed anything? Yea... someday we will have a computer mounted and there is a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx mounted on the dashboard as a temporary fix. But I know there are other things to factor...
Strobe lights are also mounted on both the front and rear turn signals.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
-
Here is a picture of the back of a county command vehicle. I think I have another one with no people in the way but it's not on this computer. If you want I can look for it another time.
In between the two members you can see two of the three rear-mounted control heads for the radios. The vehicle has one each VHF-low band, VHF high band and UHF radios. Each one is a dual head configuration, something that only Kenwood seems to do well anymore.
The radios can be linked together into cross-band repeat function. Any two bands or all three can be patched together.
I don't see the need for two radios on the same frequency band in one vehicle; I think that's a recipe for disaster between overload and desensitization problems that will be encountered. Seems that a dual head configuration would be the better deal.
I also am not a real fan of dash-lights on authorized emergency vehicles either. In NYS the law mandates that the light be visible in all directions, which most dash lights clearly are not. Strobes tend to confuse drivers (me anyways) and are generally way too bright at night.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
-
Excellent input Joe, thanks for posting the photo. I like the box in the back. I am assuming that you made it in house? ms
-
-
there is a second radio that had only the wiring and antennae installed. there's a cap on the roof where the antennae was placed for now. some of the chiefs want to run more than one radio, which if happened would cause the bleed over issues...
-
-
I'm not sure that I fully followed your LED's inside the rear hatch... please help me understand this concept and thanks so much for giving me some input Ted. ms
-
Permalink Reply by Cameron Monroe, Captain, Argyle on
-
I am with Joe-The best way to do what you want is duel heads-And to top it off it is cheeper-We also run Duel Band Kenwoods with the same head and love them-The only Truck we have More then one radio with same bands is the Rescue with Command post in back-But I put the Antennas as far apart as I could works fine just dont want more then one radio on came FQ do to feedback.
-
-
so you are saying that I can have two control heads for each radio, installing two separate 35 watt radios, which will total four command heads. two in the front and two in the rear and you have not had a problem as long as you separate the antennaes?
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Vito on
-
Hey mike, cool car. What is that cable thing your holding on your left hand at no. 8 picture? thanks.
-
Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
-
On the same issue, but slightly off track a little bit- make sure there's either a foot switch or some other quick and easy devcie for siren tone changes- I HATE seeing drivers putting hands anywhere excpet on the wheel. They should not have to reach to centre consoles or other distractive places to change tones!!!!
-
Permalink Reply by Oldman on
-
Mike,
You are not going to have an issue. We run the Kenwood dual head, dual band radios in all our apparatus including the ambulances. One antenna for the VHF, and one antenna for the UHF. The Chief's truck is set up similar to your photos with one control head at the rear with a command area. The biggest problem with antenna spacing depends on the band and frequencies of the radios. As a general rule, if you space them more than 1/4 wavelength apart at the midrange of the spectrum, there usually not a problem with "harmonics". We use 22'' for VHF, 12" UHF and 8" for 800, and have never had an issue.
Those Kenwood radio control heads are extremely water tight. We operate one totally exposed on the pump panel and have no problems with the radio. The weakest part of those are the mic cord. They are very prone to the rubber covering splitting at the termination ends. We replace them at a rate of 7-8 year.
Looks like a good setup.
-
Permalink Reply by Tony P on
-
Mike. Are those windscreen lights in a cowl? If not, don't they give horrible reflection problems inside the vehicle?
The need to request programming for your lightbar? If a lightbar was sold here with a steady red light showing to the front it would be unusable. No steady red lights to the front on any vehicle here - emergency vehicle or not. Perhaps some of your States have a similar requirement? So the manufacturer has to cater for differences?
Joe. Doesn't having those flashing lights inside the rear of the vehicle would make that a very nasty place to work? I know I don't like being too close to the lights!
-
-
You can, but I'm not sure you would want to. Kenwood radios are VERY voltage specific (13.6v or better). Unless you have a very high output alternator on the vehicle, running all the emergency lights, AC, and all the radios, you will probably have some radio issues due to low voltage. Once the voltage drops below 13v, the radios don't transmit as well. Once down into say 12v range, they quit transmitting altogether. Something to think about.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
