A Girl and A Ham Radio

Tom put a new ham radio in the Toyota. Not new but one he got last summer and stronger than the handheld radio I currently use. He put it in my car and powered it up to the rear lighter outlet in the "way back" area of the car. That's it. I went out and started assessing the situation. Ran the power cord and antenna wire under the back seat to put the radio under the driver's seat: too much electronics under that seat. Re-route the wires to put the radio under the passenger seat: not enough cord on the microphone to reach back to the driver/operator. Re-re-route the wires under the middle of the back seat and place the radio next to the driver side console. Nice, the microphone is in a comfortable position, the faceplate for the radio will be mounted on the console. Here is the result:

The faceplate will be mounted on the console with sticky magnets.
I will need to see it in the sunlight with my polarized sunglasses
to see where the final mounting place will be.

Here is the floor in the back seat, the wires are neatly tucked under the floor mat where they won't be stepped on:


Here is the "way back" of the Toyota, the plug outlet, and wires nicely hidden under the mat. I took everything out of the back to maneuver better.

After all that, I checked the radio, all in working order but find out the speaker for the radio is on the radio and not on the microphone like with my handheld microphone. So, the radio can be positioned on the console without interfering with the hanging microphone and mounted faceplate. I keep the key on in case I get a call on the radio, listening to the music on the satellite radio, put all the stuff back in the car. All is good...

...I want to check the position of the faceplate when the car would be in gear. Why does the satellite radio stop playing when I press on the brake? That's dumb. Does it again. It can't be because the new ham radio is powered up. Does it again. hmmmm, I should try to start the car. Crap, just tick tick tick. I guess I'll be calling the auto club in the morning for a jump start.