Batboard

This is my latest challenge.... our brandy new Heavy Rescue. It is just being finished up at the local dealer's shop and will be in my hands the first week of July. It is at the New England Chief's Show this weekend which is where I took these pictures.

To start with, it will have a Kenwook TK-690 low band and a Kenwood TK-890 UHF radio. They are identical radios with remote control heads. They can each do single or dual control heads.

Problem is, the thing is so damn wide, finding a place where you can read and reach the control head is tough. I know there are people here who probably do this daily so what do you think?

All the pictures: http://www.nmvfc.org/10-96

Our department has a very similar pierce cab. Ours is on a pivot where your siren controler is. It can swing to both seats, and works very well.

The problem I see with the swivel is having this huge thing hanging down right in your field of vision. It's hard to tell without putting something there to test it.

Worked on an identical cab a few months ago. The radio was top center mounted above the main dash section. It was the best compromise between driver and officer position reach and use.

For those that used a swivel, what make/model did you use?

I had a similar problem with my trucks. What I did is mount both radios where your siren is, and install remote mics - one set for both radios on each side - One for the officer, one for the chauffer. Works well!

Where the GPS is would be a pretty good location. What's it there for anyways? You guys get lost often ? Did you all get the headset system installed (I forget the brand name)?

Do we get lost, usually not. It is supposed to be useful for mutual aid, landing zone, and hazmat stuff. Pierce put a marine model in though so I don't know what kind of street capabilities it has. We'll see, I haven't had time to play with it.

I need the driver and the officer to be within reach of the radio and mic. I can do it easily with two control heads but it would be nice to just use one.

most of the marine models can get rebooted/upgraded to steerts and they also have street maps as well .


if you need a hand holla

Just bustin' your chops Matt. The GPS is a good idea I suppose. We use maps done by our county GIS people...so that generally helps. Our medevac chopper, MUSC Meducare has our standard LZ sites, and they gave each company a handheld GPS for the coordinates for the non-standard LZs.

As far as the radios, are there any other similar units with a similar layout that you can see how they installed their radios?

Took a look at the rest of your pics. Nice truck But I don't see a Q...... A nice big truck like that and no Q..... what a shame!

Don't get me going on the siren issue. The lighting, sirens, and radios were my job to spec on the truck. Here's the story behind the whole thing.

I speced a Whelen X-Ecutor (electroninc Q) with the big ass nice looking speaker. Just the amp & speaker with foot switch control. I also speced a 200 watt WS295HFS1A normal siren. I had heard the X-Ecutor before and I liked it.

Well, the dual siren plan was nixed due to budget. So, it was decided to get just a full function X-Ecutor with the control head that did all the noises... and that nice big speaker.

A short while later after the papers were signed, I was notified that the X-Ecutor had been discontinued and no longer available. Instead, they suggested we get the Federal Signal equivilant, the EQ2B. Not much of a choice in the matter I guess. The EQ2B uses a single 200 watt speaker and it is behind a little stupid looking grill on the bumper. I have not had a chance to hear it yet so I have no idea how good it sounds. I'm not to happy with that aspect, but we didn't have much of a choice.


I was trying to put progress ahead of blind tradition and get the electroninc Q to save on amps. I also have a lot of LED's on it for the same reason.

The electronic Q will do you a good job. It's as loud if not louder than the real thing. We just got done installing one in our new brush truck to save on power. Works great and is very loud. You can order the Q Grill if you wanted and it should bolt right on, replacing the smaller flush mount grill in the bumper if you want it to look more like the Q. We had a custom box made for our speaker and mounted in on the brush guard with the traditional Q grill.

yes but it is still a federal

KitN1MCC wrote:yes but it is still a federal

Yea, rub it in. I'm going to stick an "I love Fed-Sig" bumper sticker on your back window.

On our Quantum with the same little swivel setup is the 295 on top with a remote midland head mounted right below it. I think its a double bracket thing, and doesn't affect the view. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow for you if I can.

Is there a camel painted on the front?

the R

Mike in CT wrote:Is there a camel painted on the front?

the R

Of course there is!!! Look at the white area in the rear of the cab.

I think I figured out how this can work.

Move the GPS to the officer's side of the dash. The driver is never going to be looking at it so having it where it is now is pointless. It will get it out of the way and out of the field of vision

Move the Firecom box to the back of that console. You never need to touch it so why have it over there.

Move the backup camera screen to just above the side mirror joystick. That puts it easily in view and totally out of all sight lines.

Now, the whole front of the dash console is open for the two radio control heads. There will eventually be a few more control heads down the road and can stack them as needed. I just have to find something to fill in the giant hole for the cable under where the camera screen is now.

My review of the EQ2B....

The Q sound itself is not bad at all. But the brake function sounds like a dying cow that got hit by a bus. The yelp sound, what the hell. That is the worst yelp I have ever heard. Typical FS.

However Matt I am still dissapointed in the fact there is no setting for "Ice Cream Truck Bells"....can we work on that somehow?



Sounds Good to me, and if anyone knows about how to squeeze lots of crap into a small space...I think it's me...and no the car hasn't exploded yet.

Yea, I know. I wanted to be able to say "Look, it can ding too!" but no dice. Now, instead of an ice cream truck, it can imitate a cow making it's last agonal respirations.

Your car is bound to explode, implode, or something soon.

Hey Matt

Did you get to go on any of the construction inspections at the Pierce factory, man that's some place. Very well thought out, how they keep track of what to order and when they will need it on the line is amazing.

Almost no 2 trucks the same, can get some real good ideas there and also come away scratching your head and muttering "WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY DID THAT"

Your rescue looks great, good luck with it.

We had a pre-construction meeting at the plant. Wow, what a place. It really is amazing. We got he whole tour, met lots of the people working on various parts, saw how it all comes together. Unbelievable.

I hadn't flown since I was in 4th grade. The plane from Hartford to Milwalkee to Appleton was like a bathtub with jet engines.

It is so flat out there, you can stand on a beer can and see for 40 miles.

All the people in Wisconsen are actually nice. A major change from the Tri-State area I live in. Everyone said things like "Hi" and "How are you". By the third day, I just wanted someone to say "hey, fu_k off".

All the people at the Pierce faclities seemed happy with their jobs. No one was pissed off about being at work. They all liked their jobs and were focused on what their task was. Lots of them were happy to stop and show you what they were doing and how. Really cool.

They treat you like kings the entire time you are there!!

Unfortunately, I was not able to go for a second time on the final inspection, but that was all work anyway

Yea it's like you landed in a diffrent world when you step off the plane at "outagame international airport" as we call it. First time we went there in 85 it was a 2 gate airport. Love them small planes where you have to step over the landing gear storage well that protrudes into the isle space in the cabin.

Like you said the plant and people are great. We are almost all Pierce and have very little trouble with them.

Their wireing diagrams are the best we have seen so far. We were worried about the new mutliplex system in the new ladder but so far no problems in almost 2 years.

Again good luck with yours, ours are great. I drove the old Mack spare the other day and forgot how many things rattled and that you could not use the mirrors at idle as they shake badly, the Pierce is sooooo smooth.