OK, I just got a new ICOM VHF radio with a RAM microphone. Are there any easy ways I'm not seeing to run the RAM cable from the Nav station aft near the wheel?
I also have an '87. On my boat there is a wire bundle port side, behind the trim piece, way back in the outboard corner. I was able to pull a wire all the way back to my engine pannel. I'm looking to get a RCM (CMP23) and when I do that's the route I plan to take. I'll build a recessed box for the mike. Good luck.
Scotty
A recessed box is nice, but I'll only keep the RAM connected in the cockpit when we're actually using the boat. Otherwise, it will be stored inside.
Chuck, there sure is, and it's pretty easy.
Look under the top of the cabinet in the head with the mirrored slider doors. There are tads of wires up there, at least on my boat, behind the teak trim. Follow them forward and they go into the short cabinet with black doors above the nav station, and to there to the square teak faced box (two sections, above and below the shelf) where the wires come straight down and go into the back of the electrical panel. When we first got Aquavite, that's one of the first things I did: removed the screws from that vertical box, for access to the wiring so I could trace and label it all. The screws are still out and the box holds itself up.
Aft of the head they go through the port locker and into the lazarette.
I ran my stereo cockpit speaker wires that way. The old Loran was in the storage behind the black doors just forward of the nav station, and its antenna cable (mounted on the stern pulpit) was run through there, too.
Just for Grins & Giggles, you could go down from the electrical panel, underneath the sole to starboard underneath the galley sink, and run it all the way back under the engine.
That's harder. 8)
I know, that's how I routed my new alternator output to the house bank a few years ago. :D
Thanks Stu. It may be a couple of weeks before I get to it, but I'll let you know what happens.
It will probably still be a couple of weeks before I get around to it, but I just discovered the PO had a Loran antenna wire running from the just above the nav station to the aft lazerette. That will certainly make running my new wire a lot easier....just pull it thru. I certainly don't need a Loran.
It may not be as easy as you think....most installers go overboard with the number of spot ties they use. I had over 20 between the electrical panel and the cockpit locker.
Here's an idea you may wish to use. You can buy a fish steel (I get the fiberglass ones, are they still called a steel?). Very inexpensive at Home Depot. I use two of them taped together. It is a thin (less diameter than a drinking straw), flexible fiberglass pole. Just feed it through the course of where you want to put your wire/pipe, and tape your wire (or a line) to it. Just pull it through and go to the next section. I just ran a wire (two) through it for the windless control, using the same route you're describing (but all the way from the forepeak to the engine guages in the cockpit). It was really easy to do, and you may find it so also.
Chuck : It's easy to run a cable from the nav station to the rear of the boat. Most of us had a LORAN and a GPS mounted below at the nav station with the antennas aft!!
You can go under the nav station cabinet, thru the top of the mirrored sliders in the head, thru the port side lazerette to the back of the engine instrument panel.
With that said - I say again that it easier to just mount another VHF radio below the engine insturment panel (see a Mainsheet tech note article in the early C34s) and also have the redundancy of a second VHF receiver. Just put a slider switch on the mast antenna cable for FWD & AFT radios.
BTW, I quarried ICOM as to why they needed a GPS input for their DSS to function?? I reminded them that all cell phones (by law) have to have a built in GPS for tracking!! To date I have not received a reply.
A few thoughts
I picked up the new Standard Horizon GX1700 in May along with the Ram3 Mic. This unit has built in GPS and works great. I removed the Loran was a little tricky with all the tie downs), fished the new wire through the Head, storage locker and installed the Ram just below the Instrument panel. I had my twelve year old son, go into the locker and tie off the cable :D
This installation took only a few hours.
Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve:
Any chance of a photo of the RAM mic connector location that you used at the instrument panel? I'm about to do the same thing with my new Standard Horizon GX1700 on my '90 and I'm looking at options.
My pipe dream is to install the RAM mic connector on the trunk of the pedestal, but I'm not sure if there will be enough room given the length/size of the actual connector. I fished my GPS and autohelm cables inside the pedestal previously, tedious but look nice.
Thanks,
"Another" Steve
Keep in mind that the plug for the ICOM remote microphone is very large on the microphone end and in our case required feeding the wire from the pedestal guard down through the cockpit floor, behind the aft and port panels in the aft cabin, through the space in the head behind the cabinets and into the salon. The limiting factor was the diameter of the holes in our pedestal guard and the cockpit floor - the plug to connect to the microphone was too large to fit through either hole. In fact, the smaller connecting plug on the other end of the wire just barely fit through the hole in the cockpit floor and required that all of the other wires be disconnected and removed first. This will not be an issue for you if you are drilling a new hole elsewhere in the cockpit.
Hi Claygr:
The mic end of the RAM cable is quite large on the Standard Horizon as well, and as you've described with the Icom RAM cable, the radio end of Standard Horizon is smaller, but I've yet to check to see if even the small end will fit through the bottom on the pedestal/cockpit floor behind the aft cabin. If it will, my plan is to remove the compass etc. and lower the whole cable into the pedestal from the the top, then feed the small end out the bottom of the pedestal making its way to the radio.
The length of the mic end jack is probably about 1/2 to 3/4 of the width of the inside diameter of the pedestal, so with the chain/cable controlling the rudder quadrant, it may be just too tight. I've had the pedestal apart before, a bit messy and a pain in the butt, but do-able. I like the idea of having the RAM right at the helm, but I suspect there is a good chance I'll have to put it by the instrument panel or some other location. It sounds like you were successful using the pedestal guard - here's hoping it works for me inside the actual pedestal.
Anyone with suggestions/photos etc. is welcome to comment.
Steve
Folks,
I have an ICOM Command Mic HM-127 (RAM Mic) set up to work with my ICOM M502 radio. Last year I had trouble with it in two areas:
1 - I couldn't get the volume to go high enough to hear the speaker in the HM-127 unit. Cranking up the master volume on the unit inside helped slightly but still not loud enough at the mic and overpoweringly loud inside. I know I can turn off the internal speaker but I don't want to do that since I often use the radio when inside the cabin
2 - I get terrible interference on the remote mic when the fridge is running. I have no problems at all working with the main unit when the fridge is on.
I noticed the extension cable plug was cracked at the Mic end so I bought a new cable and tried it out without permanently installing the routing. No change in performance.
I understand a ferrite might help the RF interference. I don't know how to size one (or even where to get one) for this application.
Does anyone have any thoughts on either of these issues? I'm fairly handy at mechanical items (including wiring) but RF issues baffle me. Any and all thoughts appreciated.
Here's a link to Ram installation and you'll see the installation on my boat...it's in the instrument box, under the whell.
On the upright the microphone is clipped on a bracket attached to it...but it doesn't show on the picture.
Just another way if it can be done on your boat. Just above the ram conection I also have a 12V lighter plug.
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6428.0.html
Hi Serge:
Yes I saw that post when I was scouring looking for previous installs - very nice and professional, and meci for sharing in case I hadn't. Unfortunately I have an older model, and my instrument panel is on the port side of the cockpit. Maybe I need a new boat for this new RAM install? :clap
Steve
Hi Dave;
The ferrite core would be a good start for the RF issues, won't help the speaker volume though. Then again you never know as with RF strange things happen that don't always make sense. I used to be in the radio/telecom business and we had a saying for such things, "FM" F***ing Magic.
As to where to find one, look at any old computer equipment that you may have laying around, typically monitors. There will be a ferrite core on the cable that can often be re-used, but if you can't find one to re-use, at least you'll know what you're looking for (eBay maybe to buy one, Radio Shack??).
Install it as close to the microphone jack on the RAM cable as possible, and I'd also suggest on the power at the fridge compressor (closes to the RF source - motor brushes likely). They won't hurt anything, and if doesn't help, move the ferrite core to other power feeds including the VHF radio. In the case of the power leads, coil them as many times as possible through the ferrite coil to increase it's effectiveness.
RF sneaks in all over and as I said before, sometimes it's won't make sense even when you solve it - FM.
Steve
Thanks Steve,
I'll hunt around for a ferrite and try some of that FM in the AM. :D
You can buy ferrites at Radio Shack or you can spend 5x as much and order them from Raymarine.
After a few hours of measurements (with some finger crossed guessing) I took the plunge and drilled a hole in the stem of the pedestal and successfully mounted the RAM cable connector inside the pedestal.
The connector is on the forward side of the pedestal, slightly off centre to starboard about the width of the connector as the steering control cables do a slight twist inside the pedestal and I had to split the difference between them for the connector's tail to reside without rubbing against the steering cables/chain. If a person wanted to have the connector facing aft, I would suggest to reverse the off centre towards the port side.
I was then able to fish the small end (radio connector end) of the RAM cable in from the top of the pedestal (compass and plastic mounting plate removed for access) and out the bottom of the pedestal through a snug clearance factory hole located dead forward at the pedestal base, exiting above the aft water tank.
I then ran the cable aft of the cabin wall to the port side, above fuel tank, fished it through behind the port wall of the head, through the nav table hanging locker into the power panel cavity, and finally to the VHF mounted above the power panel, all out of sight.
All said, I had less than a foot of slack left in the RAM cable. It may be possible (wasn't prepared to drill a hole to find out my cable was too short - MAY have worked in hindsight) to mount the mic end of the RAM cable in the pedestal ~3" "spacer ring" located between the steering chain sprocket and the compass, if you want a more centered cosmetically pleasing location.
The Standard Horizon RAM cable is 23' vs. Icom's 20', so keep that in mind if you should attempt the same install.
Steve
Hey Steve, thanks for your post...
Quote from: Sailing Steve on September 04, 2012, 12:10:24 PM
After a few hours of measurements (with some finger crossed guessing)drilled a hole in the stem of the pedestal and successfully mounted the RAM cable connector inside the pedestal.
Do you have pictures of this location?
Steve : Look in the Mainsheet tech note and you'll find an article on installing a second VHF radio under your engine instrument panel in a MKI C34. We used the same mast antenna with a slide switch inside by the Nav station. That way you have the redundancy of 2 radios, but one near the Wheel where you can see the radio face!! :thumb:
A thought