InterceptRadio.com Forums

Can someone recommend a good radio shop that I can take my vehicle and have an antenna professionally installed? I would like to get an NMO mount professionally installed in the roof of my Durango.

Work to be done:

Drill hole
Install NMO mount (seal against leaks?)
Route coax thru ceiling carpet and trim

Anything else I'm missing?


Thanks
-Nick

If you felt like a day trip, our shop in Moses Lake would be glad to do it. Prices are VERY resonable.

Antenna Install $45.00 + parts.

_________________
Spectrum Communications, Inc.
526 S Locust Lane
Moses Lake, WA 98837

- - - - -
Kenwood/Relm-BK/Vertex-Standard/David Clark/USAlert/Swissphone. Serving You Since 1978!
- - - - -
http://www.scml.us
http://www.insp.com
- - - - -

Sounds pretty good. If I can't find someone a bit more local, then I'll give ya a call. I should have parts within the week here.

SeaTac Day Wireless, ask for Dave Marcinko.

Phone 878-3750

FCI Police Cars in North Bend does a LOT of work for the SAR group...

http://www.fcicars.com/index.html

_________________
Rob
N7LXI - Seattle

I 2nd this. It's a good shop. Day is a great shop too but FCI will take really good car of you.

_________________
I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

Personal Opinion -Maybe it's just me but after dealing with them and their work a few years ago, I wouldn't let FCI anywhere near my toaster, let alone a car. Remember, you get what you pay for.

_________________
I generate Board Warnings

I have worked out of ~20 cars done by FCI. All are done very neat, quick turn around and great service. I highly recommend them.

Ya but when does one shop ever really like another? :) I worked for Day and 1 other shop before Zetron picked me up.

If you don't go to FCI I recommend Day. Without naming names, there are two other shops in this region of Western Washington I would NOT recommend. I've mentioned the only ones I would send you to. Sean is off the hook since he doesn't serve the general public. :wink:

_________________
I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

Does FCI have actual radio people?

Unfortunately I have to agree. The several cars that Ive seen out of them where not good at all...

Its been a few years though...

Using non stainless on outside lighting that rusted badly within months..
Running strobe wires through the floor boards without grommets..
fusing 10 gauge wire into a vehicle with 70 amp circuit breakers under the hood... to name a few.

Hopefully they have gotten better..

I always wondered why a company called Financial Consultants Inc. got into patrol builds??

If that doesnt start some controversy... (and its not meant to) This might....... (it is) :mrgreen:

http://mrtmag.com/mag/radio_cut_coax/index.html

:D

_________________
"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

The company started doing something entirely different. Eventually they were leasing cars to government agencies. That turned into outfitting the leased cars. I had heard the whole story at some point, I've been going there for some time for work, but that's all I can remember. Even if they're work wasn't good in the past, they've been in that industry for a long time now. They built a new shop a few years ago a couple miles from the old one and it's a much nicer, larger, facility.

_________________
I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

I would have to recommend Brian's shop(Spectrum Communications) out in Moses Lake. With gas prices the way they are, it would have to be considered cost wise to drive out there. As far as workmanship they were top notch. Could not be happier. They installed a whip antenna with NMO mount and wired to the dash and were done in an hour and a half.

Besides this time of year is a great time to drive over the mountains and see the sights. Make a day of it :o

_________________
Richard
Do you know Bunnery?

I do my own work, but would select Day Wireless if I had to choose.

The North Bend guys may be competitive, but Day is a real radio shop with real radio people, from top to bottom.

73,
Nick
N7QOR

I thought I replied earlier but that post is not here... :shock:

Its always fun to know the history of an organization...

I always figure if a shop learns from their mistakes, their only going to go forward.

I know I made mistakes when I started building them - yikes 20 years now.

But in general-

You think an antenna is an easy install till you run into the number of buses Ive seen with a hole in the fiberglass portion of the roof with silicone sealant to hide the mistake.

If a shop uses wire crimpers to install the connector- Run!

_________________
"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

ugh, crimpers, I never trusted those. I have all 3 of my cables soldered with either LMR200 or RG58. The hardest part I think is the final connector solder. (cutting the hole is easy, just have to ask yourself 3 times, do I really want to ruin a perfectly good roof? :) I just re did a connector today. I took mine to a shop earlier who did a job that lasted about 1-2 days before I found a short and took it back. More likely he didn't do a good job on the soldering. I had another cable pull a connector a while back and decided to fix it today. All the local shops were busy and looking at this site it made a lot of sense.
http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/ ... erCoax.htm


I didn't have all the fancy tools but I did find checking the continuity is crucial, if not time saving before the rest of the connector is soldered.

_________________
"I was installing un-programmed radios"