This forum is dedicated to helping people with questions about installing radio equipment in vehicles. This can include antenna installs, electrical wiring questions/problems, and mounting systems. Pictures of installs are welcome.
Note: Discussions regarding lighting, sirens, and other equipment now has its own forum in the 'off-topic' section below.
Hi All! I am finally getting around to building the computer system for my touchscreen project now so I can stop bringing the laptop in and out of the truck... I am planning out what features I would like, one of which is 802.11b. I would like to get a PCI card that is rather small so it will fit into my case, and then have an external antenna. I do not really want to have a cheap setup, I would rather wait to save up the funds to buy the right equipment. I see cheaper looking antennas on eBay, such as: 7db Mobile Antenna. I would like to know what else is out there for a mobile setup? I want something a little more permanate, and unobtrusive/ugly. I was going through pictures for other purposes earlier when I remembered the antennas we use at the local PD for the data networks. I believe they are made by Antenex, but I am not sure. I will attach a photo from file that shows one. These things are really flat overall, and fairly easy on the eye. There are also mini little antennas made by several companies that use an NMO mount, as seen in the second picture. My basic question is, has anyone had any experiance with any of these antennas? Either way, what can someone recommend to me for a higher-quality yet low profile antenna that will work great for 802.11b purposes?
As a sidenote, I have a few devices already in the truck that use antennas. I have tried and tried up to this point to keep them all inside. I have been very lucky with the results so far. I have an 800MHz radio with the antenna inside the extended cab and the GPS mouse in the corner of the windsheild. I just put the XM antenna on today, but I was in a hurry and threw it onto the top outside . I would like to hide it inside too, but I really don't want to clutter the windshield with the GPS and XM together.
Finally, I know this thread is slightly OT for the Batboard (and dealing with Motorola Radios), but I would like to tap into the great knowledgebase of users on here in search for the BEST solution. I hope nobody minds .
Thanks!
Last edited by Mrbmw99 on Wed Jan 19, 2005 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I've used a few different NMO 2.4ghz antennas, ones from Mobile Mark, Antennex, and a few generic ones off eBay. The Mobile Mark one has worked pretty good and is the one I use most often.
Be sure you use an NMO mount that is rated for that frequency range, it should be entirely sealed. Hirschmann used an excellent design on their microwave rated NMO, if you can find it :/
Robert, if I was to do NMO it would MOST LIKELY (havent quite made up mind) be flush mount thru-hole style. Do they make a sealed unit that you speak of in a thru-hole style? Thanks! -BW
Yes they do make what you seek. What i use is a Radiall/Larsen 5db NMO mount antenna, with a matching sealed through hole NMO mount.
The really nice thing about the antenna is it has the coils molded over, i used to have one of those eBay ones, while it worked fairly well, the wind noise off it was annoying, and it was always snagging stuff with all the trees i have at home.
Antenna Model NMO5E2400B
NMO MOUNT NMOKHFUD
The antenna is about $20, and the NMO mount is about $8 and comes with 17ft of coax, no connector though. But, thats actually a good thing with all the variations out there on 802.11b and g equipment. Its easy enough to install the connector to match. Keep the coax run as short as possible and route it so its not going around tight corners, i have had problems with one local installer making tight bends on a 2.4 install for some guys, had to go do it the right way for them.
As for the actual 802.11 device, which case are you using, if its a Micro ATX or one of the other small formats for car computers just get a PCI WLAN adapter. You can get them as cheap as $20-$30 now for a 802.11g version from a lot of sources, i usually use Newegg.com for any computer needs. They all have removable antennas so you can connect your external one in place of the little rubber duck it comes with. This is what i have done, works great for a mobile application, and if you need to bring the computer inside for servicing you can always put the rubber duck back on it.
Get a 802.11g, they don't cost much more than a 802.11b PCI adapter now. They are backwards compatible to work with any 802.11b router or access points etc, but when you need the 802.11g speed you have it.
Last edited by kb0nly on Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Good point about the adapter. It would be better to go with a g instead. I am using a small form case, and the PCI will be vertical, so I have to find one that is rather small to fit it... Anywho, I like that antenna you have, except I was looking into a smaller one first, and a whip as my last option. Again I really do like that one though - if I do go with a whip that's what I would use! Any ideas on a smaller antenna? Thanks!
I made a typo in my last post and just corrected it, the Larsen whip is a 5db antenna not a 4db, a slip of the digit.
If the height of the card is the major issue, as some of the small form cases have half height card slots, you can always bend and cut to reform the top end of the cards metal bracket.
Most of the wireless PCI cards are only half or less the height of a normal PCI card so they are plenty small! Here is one that i have used with great success before, its very small, and has a Reverse SMA for the antenna connector. The best part, after mail in rebate it only costs about $20 with shipping.
There is plenty of sources out there for the smaller antennas, like the flat saucer shaped ones, and the short fat stubby ones. That just happens to be one site that i have used before.
Scroll down to near the bottom to see the small mobile antennas without mounts. They also sell 3/4" and 3/8" through hole NMO mounts with connector pre-installed. The RP-SMA is one of the options, so you can get one ready to go that works with the PCI card i mentioned above.
I like the 3/8" hole mounts myself, easier to drill in my opinion than a 3/4 inch hole, and a lot easier to pop a body plug in later if you remove them and sell the vehicle. They also have a NMO-N Connector mount, they sell them for going through thick surfaces up to 11/16" and use a 5/8" hole. What i like about them is you can use an N connector on any coax and you have a nice sealed connection at the mount. I have used these before with a 90 degree N connector and LMR coax to make a heavy duty mobile mount for higher frequency use.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
$16.50 for the small PCI adapter? WOW! I think that's what I'll get!! I like that one. And FYI, I would take the metal piece off of the card so it basically sits in the PCI slot. The metal piece is too tall... How well do you think the http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2403urnmob-w.php antenna would work with that card? I would like for it to be able to reach the router in the house while being parked outside. Anything more is of course better, but not really NEEDED.
As far as the stereo head, it has been hooked up for a little while now. I took 2 pieces of Cat5e cable (not the BEST, but it's what I had available to me at the time) and connected them to the pins on the connectors on both the head and the deck. On both units, I took the plastic off, and soldered to the pins, and covered it back up. When you look at the unit in the glove box it looks like there is nothing connected, but in reality there is. The Cat5e runs back behind the unit and down in the dash, and comes out under the cupholder. I also used the same method for the Aux in port on the front of the head. This way that plug still works, but I also have a connector in the back that the PC plugs into. -BW
I have a Motorola MW-800 in my vehicle and it is equipped with the optional 802.11b transceiver option. For the mobile antenna I am using the Radialllarsen 5 dB external antenna. Larsen makes 2 different antennas for WiFi mobile use (2.4 GHz). Both of them have the NMO-like mount, except the WiFi version is much better. The center conductor uses a coax type center pin connector, as opposed to the simple top "button" plate on the standard NMO mount. Larsen makes this NMO-like mount for all freqs above 1 GHz, and they claim to have a much better impedance match at these higher frequencies. The neat thing about Larsen's design is that you can replace this coax center pin connector on their above 1 GHz NMO mount with their standard top plate button connector for operations below 1 GHz, in case you change operating freqs to frequencies below 1 GHz.
Larsen makes two types of mobile antennas for WiFi use. One has a closed two coil design, while the other has two open coils. We tried both, and found that the open coil design is much less obtrusive looking than the closed coil design. If you look at Larsen's published Smith Charts on these two antennas, for some reason the open coil design has a noticeably better performance. I talked to Larsen and they said their closed coil antenna should have less of a whistling problem at freeway speeds, as compared to their open coil design. I have not had any whistling effects with their open coil design on my vehicle at freeway speeds, so it sounds a bit academic to me.
I recommend the open coil type, but either Larsen is a great way to go for WiFi ops.
If the metal piece is to tall you must have the half height slots on the case your using. Unless your going to make a way to keep it steady i would suggest you just modify the metal piece by cutting it down and bending it to match the height you need. Who cares about warranty on such a cheap item anyway, hack and fit, lol.
That antenna will do the job just fine, i had one of those mounted on the top of my van, i could get a signal from my router for about a block and a half from my house in one direction, about a block the other way because of trees. That and the router is sitting inside with the two stock antennas off the back, Linksys dual antenna model.
More than enough for your driveway, i would be surprised if you couldn't use it a few houses down or better depending on obstructions. Add an outside antenna to your router and your good for blocks.
You got all the workings of a good netstumbling setup. They used to call it wardriving, but thats not correct anymore since there is no actual hacking or anything taking place. A lot of guys use a gps receiver and software from netstumbler.com to record all the routers they drive past, its a passive software, just like having a scanner on except its using the wireless card to scan the WLAN channels and it reports any signals received. The reason it works is because a lot, it not 90%+ of the wireless router users don't turn off the broadcast packet feature so the router announces its presence at a set interval, and the netstumbler software receives that.
That brings me to another good point. Make sure, and i mean absolutely sure that if your using Windows XP on that computer that its not set for Wireless Zero Config or your going to be in deep brown stuff when you go driving around with it. Or you might want to just disable the wireless adapter in the network connections whenever your leaving home base. Otherwise that bugger will associate and connect to routers that it shouldn't be. You would be surprised how many people have wireless routers but don't turn on any security features and leave them wide open. And if your computer associates and makes a connection and leaves it in the routers connection log you could be at fault for intrusion into someone elses network, or theft of services, and plenty of other ugly legal charges, even if you didn't know it happened while driving along.
Most good routers have the ability to log all connections made, and it usually shows the id of the computer that connected, the computer name which is usually the user account name along with a bunch of numbers and letters behind it. Chances are they would never be able to track down a random connection that only happened once, but if your computer would happen to connect to the same router everyday while sitting at a stop light on the way to work or something, and at the same time while its connected windows decides to check for updates, or your antivirus software does or something, deep doo doo time.
Just wanted to add that for anyone that might be reading this. I didn't know much about the whole netstumbling crowd and stuff like that until one day while driving with the laptop in the van for gps mapping, trying to find an oddball location, all of a sudden i had an active internet connection and windows told me there was updates available from windows update, lol, oops!
Ok, on the cable between the radio and the front panel. I like the install you did, its really good looking and resembles the factory in dash navigation screens. You need to add some pictures with it on, i want to see how it looks with gps mapping or something up on the screen. WAIT, i know, even better get the wireless working and have a picture of the Batboard on screen, LOL!!
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Wow thanks for the responses! Ok, I could settle for that 3db mini antenna. Its not toooooo noticable overall. I need to figure out for sure what I am going to do for the PC, but at this point I am going to use an old small form factor case that I have and throw a mini-ITX form factor motherboard into it. The slots will not line up for the PCI, its kind of a temporary hacked design. Should be ok though... Maybe tomorrow and tomorrow night I will snap some pix for you with the main screens for the different functions I have...
I know a site that might interest you, they have a lot of goodies for building car computers. Like dc-dc power supplies that are very small, and also riser cards that allow you turn your PCI cards 90 degrees from the motherboard.
The have two heights, so you can put in two cards stacked if you need to run a sound card or other along with the wireless card.
The only bad thing is the price and availability of the Mini-ITX cases. Which is why so many people build their own. They are getting better though, and more in the price range of other ATX form cases for a new one, but then you still need to remove the AC power supply and put the DC one in. Thats what sucks, you pay for an AC supply that you don't even need. I'm sure there is someone out there somewhere that is selling Mini-ITX cases with DC-DC supplies intended solely for car computer use, but i don't know of any right now. They do however sell ones with the dc-dc converter board in them and an external 12v dc power supply that looks just like a laptop adapter. So, you could use one like that and replace the external power adapter with a fused source of power from the vehicle, but its only intended to have a 12v input, not sure if you would have to worry about regulating it so that your not getting 13-14v from the vehicle to the cases converter board. Unfortunately the cases that have this are $100+ range on average right now. One that i really like after helping a guy put it all together for his car is a IBM Netvista Micro. Easy enough to mod for whatever, its a small case, and there seems to be a cheap supply of them on eBay with a stripe painted on them. Must have been someones form of demilling it or something. Easy enough to clean up, its just spray paint and could be cleaned off. But, better yet just paint the darn thing to match the vehicle interior. Here is an example:
Good price, but he wants almost the same price for shipping on top of that. Still, about $30 for a base to build off of ain't bad.
Search on eBay for Mini-ITX cases, there is a fair supply of them, and some nice cheap used ones that would suite your needs. I have built a few car computers now for customers, usually they do everything beyond me building the computer, but i did a full install once. Didn't take any pictures since it wasn't my vehicle, but now i wish i did!!
PS: I am The Computer Doctor, so computers are my thing... LOL
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Uhh ohh... I'm lookin at ITX cases.. They are tiny, and expensive. I might want to do this though because if I can get something small enough, I can probably fit it closer to the front so its easier to add DVDs.
Now - my point in saying that was: what adapters are out there that are 802.11b/g compliant that have a good option for that external antenna? I want to use that NMO 3db one... Help! -BW
EDIT: I was referring to USB, sorry about that! I meant what good USB adapters are out there with the external antenna option. But actually, I think i may give up on the REALLY small case idea, and go with the little bit bigger case that has room for 2 PCI cards....
Last edited by Mrbmw99 on Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yes, you'll want a sealed NMO mount. If I can scrounge up my install pics, I'll post you an image. Just about any PCI wireless card will be able to use an external antenna. Provided it's not a model that just sticks a PCMCIA card into an adapter.
I can't find a picture of a sealed NMO, but basically it just has a molded plastic over a metal shield installed on the area where the coax gets connected to the mount. The only reason is its a bit more critical at 2.4 to keep it all closed up!
I don't know of any USB wireless adapters with removable antennas. You could get one and modify it for an external antenna. But, its really not worth it. Once you add up the cost of the USB wireless adapter, connectors, and time to mess around with it, its cheaper to get the PCI one.
The really small Mini-ITX don't have PCI slots, but most of the slightly larger ones have one or two slots with a 90 degree riser.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Right.. I was looking at the REALLY small one, but now I will go a bit bigger so I have access to PCI for both the Wifi and the extra ports I'd like to add. I am pricing it out and i can tell you it's going to be EXPENSIVE! With the stuff I have so far, about $450!!!!!!!!! Do you have anything to sell at all? Maybe a complete system? Yeah a lot of money I can tell you...
If i had a complete system to sell you wouldn't be able to afford it,
But seriously...
That stuff is so pricey and specialized that i never bother keeping anything on hand, if someone needs something i special order it after getting the money for it up front first, because if they stiff me on it chances are it will just take up space on the shelf for a long time.
I know the Mini-ITX stuff is pricey. I think the cheapest case i have seen so far with at least one expansion slot on the back was at least $50, that was at directron.com but the last time i checked it was out of stock.
Have you decided on a case then? Just wondering which one your going to use.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
No I havent yet... I am looking at the Casetronic designs. I like the C137 with it's 2 PCI slots, but at $140 it's a little much. I just started looking at the C138s.. Any ideas? I want to use a VIA EPIA M10000 motherboard, and have AT LEAST 1 PCI slot - 2 is better.
Oh yeah, the casetronic ones are really nice, you get what you pay for, but boy do you pay!
I have used a C137, i haven't used a 138 but got to look over one, its a really sturdy bugger cause the sides are fairly thick extruded aluminum pieces, and the top slides into them and the front and back are solidly mounted but removable.
They include adapters for using laptop drives, and the case is made to take a laptop cd-rom drive. The main reason for using laptop drives is that the hard drives are more resistant to vibration when used mobile, and the laptop cd-rom's have pretty good skip protection as well.
I've mainly used small cases that i modified for mobile use, so i haven't tried many of the ones available now.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Yeah. I have actually read a LOT about these systems, but I cannot make up my mind... I have a case here at the house that I was going to use, but I want to get an actual ITX case so I can do it right. I want a unit that has the following features:
12vdc in plug on the back (connect a laptop-like power brick)
Internal Power Supply
Fits a M10000 VIA EPIA motherboard (common)
Has 1 PCI slot
Fits a 2.5" laptop HD
Dont need:
Slim DVD drive slot
From there I will add in a CarNetix unit to regulate the car's 12v supply, and provide the on/off control for the computer. It's just tough to decide on a case to get that is cheaper...
If you find a cheap one let me know, i have been wanting to do this in my van for a gps navigation computer, and also to feed mp3 audio directly to the aux in on my in dash stereo. The prices of the motherboards and cases have put me off from doing it so far, compared to the prices of building your standard atx desktop its a lot more for all the parts.
Oh, and i was wondering, what brand and model is the touch screen that you used? I don't remember if you mentioned in the other post dealing with its install. Was it spendy?
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
I just found iDOTpc.com. They seem to have fairly reasonable pricing... Or it's just me liking the idea of buying a prebuilt unit .
As far as the screen, it's 7" Lilliput - VERY common for these installs. I would not recommend the Lilliput though, due to the common touchscreen problem they have. MANY Lilliputs have a defective touchscreen unit. I would recommend a Xenarc. While they cost a little more, it's worth it.
See one of my favorite sites, http://www.mp3car.com, for a wealth of information about this topic.
EDIT: Yeah, after looking into the systems on iDOTpc.com, they are cheaper than building a system yourself (from what I see).
A Super Slim iBox PC with:
M10000 Motherboard (ITX Form Factor 1GHz)
256MB RAM
40GB 7200RPM HD
Super Slim Case
Internal 60w PSU
Outside Adapter 120v
Included Linspire CD (Extra OS)
Total: $382
Not bad really! For the car application you'd have to add in a regulator/controller, which is about $85. That totals $467 or so. I dont know - still a little pricey I guess..
EDIT #2: HAHAHAA! I just realized that they are in Hayward, CA, the city right next to mine! I emailed to see if they would let me pick the system up in person...
I bought the WiFi card from Newegg.com. Now I need to find one of these 'sealed' NMO mounts that I am being told about. If anyone could find one online somewhere shoot me the link... This card has a RP-SMA connector. Thanks
You'll be on your own for the connector. I've never seen one sold from a distributor with an RP-SMA installed.
Give these guys a call:
Electro-Comm West
(800) 262-4968
They are over here in Los Angeles. If the sales person doesn't know what you are talking about ask to speak to Larry, he's the owner and will make sure you get what you need. Tell him you are installing a 2.4ghz antenna and need a high frequency sealed NMO mount. He'll have antennas too.
I sell all mounts with your choice of no connector, loose connector, or installed connector. I am just now starting to stock the Radiall/Larsen 6GHz mounts. You can get your very own (with an installed connector if you wish) by clicking on this link.
Hey i didn't know you sold the Radiall/Larsen high frequency mounts. Hooray!
I must have missed them when i looked through the other day. I have been comparing prices and a lot of your stuff is very competively priced.
I like the fact that a guy can actually add any connector for a few bucks or so. I know where i am ordering my next NMO mounts from!! Too bad i already used my $10 signup discount.
Are any of the 6Ghz mounts your stocking the 3/8" hole type? I hate having to drill a big 3/4" hole. And whats the difference between the three you have now?
Scott
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
We just added the mounts this morning, and will be adding the matching antennas in the next day or so. We actually sell anything that Radiall/Larsen (and many others) manufacturer, even if it isn't on the website.
As for the differences in the mounts, the mount itself is the same on all three; it's the coax that is the difference. The NMOKHFUD has RG-58/U (solid center conductor) dual shield coax, the NMOKHFCX has regular RG-58A/U (stranded center conductor) coax, and the NMOKHFDS has RG-58A/U (stranded center conductor) dual shield coax. The NMOHF is the mount only with no coax.
I don't know of any 3/8" hole 6GHz mounts, but I bet they will come out with some in the next few months.
Yeah I too like the pricing option, and the ability to add a connector for a few $. What kind of cable would you recommend for my application? Thanks! -BW
Mrbmw99 wrote:Yeah I too like the pricing option, and the ability to add a connector for a few $. What kind of cable would you recommend for my application? Thanks! -BW
I've always used the ones with the Microloss 900 on them. I wouldn't use regular RG58 for this application.
The RG-58 solid center, double shielded works fine for this application. Just keep the coax as short as possible.
The only bad thing about ordering one pre-made with a connector is that you may end up with extra coax. Or, perhaps you could ask if he could cut it down to a specific length before installing the connector.
I've tried other small low loss coax cables for this application, its not a big deal unless your running 20+ feet of cable, and your trying to get a good signal from a mile away from your router.
For what your doing these mounts should fine.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Considering the average AP is only putting a Mw's I'd take all I can get. We're not talking 50 watt mobiles going into repeaters 1000' up. The less loss you can incur the better off you'll be.
I do sell a lot of the NMO mounts with the RG-8X style cable. However, you have to keep in mind that the popular connectors for most devices (RP-SMA, MCX, MMCX, etc) are not available for that size cable. Most are available for RG-58 and RG-174 sizes only. So if you want to use the RG-8X mounts then you have to introduce a small RG-58 or RG-174 size jumper into the equation. This adds to the cost, parts count, and potentially loss due to the extra connectors. I've always figured it to be a wash loss wise, and a losing proposition cost wise.
Some may say that a short RG-174 size jumper is good for strain relief on your equipment, and I agree that it is. However, you can get proper strain relief simply by securing the coax a few inches away from your device's connector so that it can't stress it.
That being said, I personally use a plain old RG-58 NMO mount with a Phantom antenna on 2.4GHz and I can tell you that it works much better than just having the card sitting in the laptop. I'm not saying it's the best solution, or has the least amount of loss. But it was relatively inexpensive, easy to do, and works great. Remember to KISS.
Now that these Radiall/Larsen dual shield coax mounts are out, I will probably recommend them over a regular RG-58 mount for mobile WiFi applications. I know I'll be putting one in my new vehicle for just that purpose.
I was asked (WAY UP THE THREAD!) to take pictures of the screen on. I had the batboard up, but I had to restart and lost it and didnt want to go back inside to get back online . Anywho - here are some pix of it working. Sorry about the quality, I will check on taking better pix later tonight..
The GPS Navigation Screen:
Searching for a destination (Points of Interest)
The main screen
The menu to open other areas (notice the SAAB logo in the middle? Needs to be replacedsometime when I have time...)
The simple screen (for when driving - its safer)
The picture viewer - and yes that is the recent install that was here on the board! (I like that install!)
There is a ton of mp3/media computer enthusiasts out there now. I don't even know where to start on recommending web pages with install info and pictures showing installs.
A tablet PC would be easy enough to install though. Does it have PC slots on it? That is if you want to use wireless in the first place.
Otherwise if your looking at using it for media and gps, all you need to do is come up with a mounting location and wire it up. I should try and dig up some pictures i have somewhere showing a tablet pc running GPS for APRS, it's also connected to the aux in on the stereo system to allow playing MP3's.
Basically though, all computers run on DC, which makes it oh so easy to adapt them to mobile applications. I have been dieing to put in a setup for GPS mapping and playing my huge mp3 collection from one in the com van.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
Well. I only visit one site for info and help on this project (except this thread), and that site is http://www.mp3car.com. They have a user forum there with a LOT of information and pictures ranging from peoples installs as well as parts, building dash bezels (better than mine tho), etc. A wealth of info on there. There is also mulitple FAQs on different subjects on there. Take a look - you might get addicted the same as I did!
Lucky caaauuusseee?? Yeah I priced it out on their website and they were cheaper than me building it myself - and they were local so its faster too! I priced the system I was gonna build at $450+, they sold me one for 382 which included a 80GB HD I forgot to add in my original one - much cheaper. I highly recommend them to anyone (even not close like me). the customer service was great and friendly too. Im sooo excited!
I thought about it though... I won't do the install until Thursday or maybe even Friday (only have about 2 hrs on fri tho). I have to install WinXP on the system on Weds night. I also need to wait for the WiFi Card and the CarNetix Power Supply / Regulator / PC switcher on/off'er unit (<-- nice technical name right there! ) to come in on Thursday. I should be able to do a fair amount of stuff tomorrow or Thursday though. I just ordered the antenna and NMO mounts, so it will take some time to get those. I will install those later on I suppose...
Your lucky cause your a heck of a lot closer to having a complete system than i am!
You know its funny, i custom build computers on a daily basis, but i still don't get to build much for myself! Though i do have two really nice gaming systems in the office/computer room.
Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together.
"I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own!" - Adam Savage
There you go! Sell one of those bad boys and get the car system! Hahahaaa!! Yeah... I started this project in November I believe, maybe Octorber. I simply started out with the screen purchase, then I had a lot of work to do to bondo it into the bash piece. Near the end of that section I started to get anxious about it, and didnt do the best job at the finish on it. Then I replaced the stereo so I'd have the AUX in. And I have just been using the laptop for a while - but it's a pain to have to lug in the laptop everytime.
I was possibly thinking about doing another install in my parent's vehicles. Dad is rather interested (it seems) in looking into a system for his 2003 F150. Mom just got the new '05 Explorer. She doesn't want me to touch it with anything custom (she think's Ill break it somehow - I've had good luck so far), but she likes GPS.... But that's why I am using the skin I posted about above with the wood grain - so it matches the inside of the Explorer. See mom - I'm not COMPLETELY silly!
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