The real fun of doing every day driving is contacting Hams in Europe, South America, Mexico and all over North America and the fine reports I get from them.

The removable Control Head is mounted on the dash with a piece of aluminum angle. The speaker is located in front of the gear shift with double stick tape and the switch to raise and lower the antenna is located on the dash under the Jeep radio. Driving and tuning is easy because of the menu driven aspect of the Icom. All menu functions are well thought out by the engineers at Icom. Using the radio while driving is a real pleasure.

Using the Icom bracket, I mounted the radio on the passenger side of the rear compartment of the Jeep. The wires connecting the Control Head were placed under the carpet and up behind the dash, the speaker wire runs to the speaker in the same manner.

The Tarheel Jr. is mounted on the spare tire bracket with a mount purchased from the Internet. It is a screwdriver antenna and the wires mounted, as per the instructions, isolates the motor noise from the RF. The installation of a ground strap was needed from the antenna mount to the radio and the chassis to finish the job. The outside wires are installed with a drip curve so water does not run into the vehicle. The Tarheel Jr. does not cover the 70cm and 2 meter bands because of it's size, I use a mag mount Diamond duel band mounted on the front of the Jeep. (It's true what they say- "A ham's car looks like a porcupine .")

Most of the projects involving Ham Radio usually starts with a desire to do something new, and this was no exception. To permanently install a mobile radio that looks nice and works well requires thought and experience. I would like to thank N3AOI, Darrell and N3BUB, Bub (Mike) for their guidance, info and understanding to get me up and running with this project.