KD2IFF Golf Cart Mobile!!!

I have had this golf cart for somewhere about 8 years now.  Previously, I had a TK-880 on it, that I used on a commercial repeater for dedicated communication.

Now that I am licensed, i decided that i needed to put a VHF radio on it as well.  The problem was, I didnt have a viable spot to put a second radio.  A couple years ago, I added a 'roll bar' to the cart, and had always planned to make an overhead 'console' type setup for the radios (then a FM stereo, and the TK-880).   Now that I had a second 2-way radio to add, I finally put the plan into motion.  This console also provided me the much needed means of adding some switches for additional electrical items.

I started by using 'cereal' box templates, and came up with a plan.  After moving to CAD, I was able to come up with a decent concept, and worked that into a design.  I went to Home Depot, and purchased some 1/2" and 1/4" MDF.  Worked with the saws, drill, wood filler, and paint, and below are the results.  It came out quite well, even though I can see some flaws.

The final wiring setup includes a fuse box above the console, that is powered by a heavy solenoid relay at the battery, controlled by the key.  This brings both radios, and the switch panel alive when the key is turned on.  Antennas are mounted either side of the front basket using mirror mount NMO brackets.  Both antennas are no-ground-plane antennas.

All in all, it seems to work very good.  The UHF antenna is not complete yet due to a slight glitch in cabling, but i know already that it will easily reach the top of Bristol Mountain, so no worries there.

The strobe lightbar was added as part of decor for pulling a float in parades - see Hydrant Hero for more information on that.

So.... dont be surprised, when you hear me call out "KD2IFF, Golf Cart Mobile!!!"