1998 Toyota Camry Radio Installation

[n4gix]

I finally managed to get my dual-band TYT TH-7800 and CS800 DMR radios installed in my replacement car. I hope this one lasts longer than the last install in my now wrecked 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis!

 

I had just completed the installation in the Mercury when three days latter got rear-ended...

 

Anyway, the control heads fit in very nicely I think. The TH-7800 fits tightly in the box below the AM/FM radio, and the CS800 control head fits in the little tray below the ashtray. I used two 1/2" angle brackets that I put in the vise to squeeze to 45º. This puts the head at a nice angle for easy viewing.

 

The two radio chassis are mounted as shown temporarily until I have the time and energy to remove the front pax seat and mount them under the seat. There is a nice, deep "well" below the seat where they'll fit nicely.

 

http://puu.sh/piaVw.jpg

[uniden278]

A bit off topic: I've been thinking about picking up a CS800 and/or 801 soon. How is the performance of that unit? My only DMR radio now is a TYTERA MD380 handheld, not sure if you can compare ease of operation to that or a similar portable. Like the clean setup you have there.

[n4gix]

I'm very pleased with the CS800 (UHF) DMR radio. Note that I've used a 5' CAT5 cable to connect the control head and the radio. The radio itself is mounted temporarily to the right side of the console, and will be relocated to a position under the front passenger seat when I get the time/energy to do so.

One feature that the CS800/801 radios do not have is "automatic roaming" but given than I rarely drive outside of my local DMR repeater's coverage, that's not really much of a shortcoming, IMHO!

 

The CS800/801 microphones are very much similar to the Motorola "potato microphones" in that they are beefy and robust and not lightweight and wimpy like so many radios have.

 

Another nice feature that makes mobile operations safer is a voice channel announcement: "Channel One," "Channel Two," et cetera, which means you don't have to take your eyes off the road to "see" what channel has been selected. Also, there are four programmable buttons on the microphone that may be assigned. I have "B" and "C" programmed for channel up/down so I don't have to fumble to reach the control panel's up/down buttons.