You're right, 2.2 pounds or 1 kgm (whichever is the heavier) isn't that heavy but if it should become detached from its carrier or the panel in an accident will still do some significant damage while it's flying around inside the vehicle.
There's another slight problem with fitting on the left side panel, while there's a 12 volt supply, switched with the ignition, the hinges for the tailgate door are on the right, so you're going to have to run your aerial coax across the vehicle probably at roof level in order to get to the spare wheel carrier, if that's still where you intend to mount the aerial.
Obviously, if you decide to put the rig on the right then the aerial will be easier, but the power might present a problem.
If you don't do any towing, then you might be able to utilise the wiring to the secondary trailer socket which has a permanent 12 volt, fused at 5 amps supply on it. I think that there's a connector for that trailer socket behind the panel.
Hmm. Hadn't considered the impact value issue, but I do have a dog grill mounted above the rear seats, so that's, IMHO, an acceptable risk.
The trailer socket power's a no-go, due to insufficient amperage. Power will instead be drawn from the lines behind the rear accessory power socket; it's rated up to 12VDC/20ADC, and the radio (Yaesu FT-8900R) only draws 12VDC/8.5ADC, less than half of the rating. There are three advantages in this.
- The power lines will be shorter and easier to manage.
- I won't have to run any long lines within the trim, merely drill a smallish hole between the storage bin and the power socket, fit a small grommet, a couple of in-line fuses (one each line) and bob's my uncle, or something.
- Power is shut off to the radio when I take the key out of the ignition, saving me from accidentally flattening the battery on leaving the car.
The antenna cable will be run as you suspected, inside the internal trim over the back door, and from there, through the cabling conduit for the rear window wash/wipe cabling
into the back door (thus saving putting dents in the door seals). I have to take the door card trim panel off to do the next bit, which is drill a hole between the two legs of the spare wheel carrier, file it smooth, then thread the cable through the new hole via a grommet, which will then be sealed with silicon on both sides and the lips of the hole as well, then over the offside leg to a boot-lip mounting between the hinges of the door (big antenna, quad-band Comet CR-8900). Once that's done, I'll stick the door card back on, and do the antenna tuning for VSWR (easy bit, that!).
I have to thread two cables from the main unit of the radio, through the internal trim to the front of the car, where the remote head will be located, these cables being the control cable, and the speaker cable. I'm not yet certain where I'm going to locate the remote head, but it has to be accessible, easy to reach, out of the line of sight to the road, and not distracting. I suspect I'll wind up either mounting it overhead, likely on the sunroof control panel (the sunroof was sealed shut by a PO to prevent leakage, and silicon sealed to ensure that), or on a mount over the centre console in front of the rubber coin mat. I'm going to be using a safety mike for the radio eventually (switch on the gear stick, mike in a flex mount from the forward A pillar offside edge of the windscreen affixed to the trim there), but in the interim, the fist mike will be clipped into a mike clip near the remote head.
Thoughts?
