Page 1 of 1
2003 FORD Expedition - 20 Mobiles!! - Install Pics...
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 10:23 am
by allcomm1
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 10:27 am
by Pj
Whoa....and we need all of those radio's because.....?
Nice job!
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 10:28 am
by jcobb
Jesus H. Christ! Hayzus Cristo! Holey Moley! Great jumpin' Jehosafat!
My mouth is agape........and drooling!
I would need someone to drive whilst I played!
Jack
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 10:41 am
by Matt
It's even better to see in person. Took a peek in the windows on a Doughboys' ( Police Supply Store) run and all I have to say is Damn!
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 11:45 am
by jim
Holy effing sheet, mon!
....and you can't communicate with which planet now?
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 1:12 pm
by Doug
Thats some mighty impressive install work. And I thought I took pride in my installs. Two thumbs up!

Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 1:38 pm
by Dale Earnhardt
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 1:59 pm
by alex
I'm quite impressed myself. Very cool setup.
I'd really like to know what the total bill for that install is - out of pure curiosity.
Amasing to see what you can stuff in an expidition.
Regardless, maybe sometime when I'm back in boston, i'll come across that porcupine.
-Alex
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 3:06 pm
by jcobb
I sent my wife the url to her at work, and told her that this was my "dream truck" (in white, of course).
She replied "you are a sick, sick man". She doesn't even like to ride in my Bronco with 7 radios in it.......
Ah, that's what dreams are made of. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp".
Jack
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 6:23 pm
by W4KRR
Allcomm, are those scanners Bearcat 780's or the new 785 digitals?
Nice job in any case!
--K--
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 6:28 pm
by nmfire10
HOLY HELL
I concur with all of the above. Great googaly moogaly. What is this thing for anyway. I'm guessing news media with all those scanners. I'm going to venture a guess there is some sort of enhanced electrical system here?
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 6:28 pm
by allcomm1
Actually both, the one mounted on the back of the console is a 785. The one mounted to the false floor is a 780.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 6:30 pm
by KC8NIY
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 6:45 pm
by FFParamedic571
Last year I did a 2002 PI for a local freelance Radio/TV reporter with 10 radios and scanners Cell and Nextel. All I know is his install bill would have paid my mortgage and then some...
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 7:05 pm
by alex
WBZ is a television station in Boston, so it was done for a media person. My guess is a freelance photographer probably with a WBZ contract - probably makes some serious cash.
Regardless, most of them sit in their vehicles and listen for stuff to go down. I think most of them work the 11pm-7am timeframe when a station doesn't want ot pay people to be on-call for events, but still wants footage for news if anything happens overnight.
Depending on the terms of a contract, my guess is that these photorgraphers can work for several stations, and share the raw footage to be later edited.
I'm not 100% sure on the whole contracted photographer - since Allcomm says it's for WBZ on their site, but regardless, they still need to monitor a lot of stuff.
A decent amount of stuff in boston is 800 trunked, T-band, and then most of the rest of the state is an interoperability nightmare - VHF, UHF, 800 conventional/trunked.
You might as well be prepared for everything.
Any chance we can get some larger more detailed photos of the wiring and the acutal console itself?
Still - very nice job, i'm quite impressed.
-Alex
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003 6:28 am
by allcomm1
Here are some of the close-ups of the wiring and radio stuff.

This shows the floor in the open position, exposing the radio chasis', the inverter (big white thing), the strobe power supply, and all the wiring

This shows the floor in the closed position, and you can see exactly where we constructed the false floor (the new carpet matches pretty good, but not 100%, and hinged it as you can see from the other pics.

Here is a closeup of the console, you can see the Havis laptop stand, his GPS setup, as well as his 3 watt (woo hoo) cell phone, light switch panel, and custom audio mixer. (as well, of course, as the Relm Scanners, Bearcat Scanners, Vertex Mobile, and A-5 Spectra (top) and X9000 A-9 Head (right below it). The Motorola Radio Handset is wired to the X9000.
Also, in regards to some of the other posts above, the truck is owned by WBZ TV-4, but I am not positive what sort of Video contract Nat has with them.
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003 6:40 am
by bnn121
Just how long did this take you and was there more than just you working on it?
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003 11:26 am
by nmfire10
allcomm1 wrote:..... and custom audio mixer....
Ok, that ranks among the top 10 signs you have too much radio gear in your vehicle...
What is the portable radio strapped to the "Avionics Bay" for?
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003 6:07 pm
by davkenrem
I'm getting a "woodie"!!!
Just Wondering
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003 1:59 pm
by KE3UC
Just wondering, how many man hours were involved in this project ?
Are there any other pictures of the antennas ?
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003 3:34 pm
by KitN1MCC
now that the way to do it.
those relm scanners are damn good radios
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003 5:29 pm
by nmfire10
I have a Relm as well. I found the reciever is great but the PL feature doesn't work too well. A lot of crap blows right through it. Secure Net, paging overload, even sometime closing the squelch knob.
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 6:55 pm
by Twisted_Pear
That's insane. Not incredibly practical or cost-effective considering it's all mostly for receive (I'll bet). But an awesome install job.
I wonder what the current draw is with everything turned on and sqwaking. Is this something a stock Expedition electrical sys can handle since it won't handle a lot of transmitting?
-W
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 6:57 pm
by davkenrem
I can't imagine trying to listen to all that at once. But it really is a cool install. Makes me wish I needed something like that.
WHY?
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 9:18 pm
by code3media
Not that I am not impressed with the setup, and wished I had the cash to do something like that, but isn't that why the scanner was invented? I do some stringer work on the side, and get along just fine with a couple of scanners, and I live in Los Angeles.
Great job though, must get pretty loud in there!
Ryan
code3media
- Be SAFE! -
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 9:28 pm
by davkenrem
It really is one of those "bragging rights" kinda thing.
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:31 am
by n3obl
Are the relm mobile scanners still availble??
Frank N3OBL
FF/EMT
Relm
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 10:36 pm
by code3media
Relm has discontinued those scanners. You can still find them online though.
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 5:51 pm
by elkbow
I LIIIIIIIKE IT......only thing I would change is install it in a Humvee. Other thing, if I had a wiring problem, I wouldn't want to look for it.
Damn nice....
So what is that H
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:53 pm
by Heterodyne
So what is that HT strapped in there for? In case you get lost in the wires and need to call in a search party?
Great White North (Canada I Mean)
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 10:06 am
by Susan157
Great Pics and Lots of RF units But We do Not
Need All This In The Great White North.
Very Good Install.
Re: Great White North (Canada I Mean)
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:25 pm
by nmfire10
Susan157 wrote:
Great Pics and Lots of RF units But We do Not
Need All This In The Great White North.
Very Good Install.
I think there are more recievers in that truck than there are transmitters up there

Re: Great White North (Canada I Mean)
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 2:16 am
by Heterodyne
nmfire10 wrote:Susan157 wrote:
Great Pics and Lots of RF units But We do Not
Need All This In The Great White North.
I think there are more recievers in that truck than there are transmitters up there

Keep in mind that Susan lives in the nosebleed section of Nothern Ontario, where the bears roam unchallenged and the mosquitoes eat West Nile for breakfast.
Down here in civilization, 20 mobiles is pretty much a neccessity...
If I wanted to go visit her from here I'd need about 10 hours worth of CDs, a shotgun, twenty stout men and some beaver pelts & fire water to trade with the noble savages for passage on their sacred lands.
(grin)
ford expo 20 mobiles
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2003 1:15 pm
by tiredfireman
Odd, I don't see any photos of the trailer carrying the extra batteries and 12volt genset for the power

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 12:14 pm
by E911EMT
This is kool to see how much time and effort that went into it but how can they listen to all of the scanners???
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 5:30 pm
by allcomm1
To answer the questions of some, the console equipment used in this install is Troy and Havis-Shields, and can be purchased in our online store at the below link.
http://www.allcommtechnologies.com/havis_store.html
Mike
ALL-COMM