OK, I know this one's outside most queries. My C43 is in the production pipeline.

I'm a ham radio geek as well, and all of my cars end up with a radio installation. I'm anticipating moving my current Kenwood TM V71 radio from my current car to the C43.

Has anyone wired up a ham radio or business band radio in a W205 ? I'd need a home run to a battery for power, and will be drilling a hole for the antenna (19 inch whip).

I know car companies sometimes publish instructions (of widely varying usefulness) as in many markets, this frame ends up in service (think E class taxi or cop cars).

Thanks and 73.

 

Did you finish the install? I'm about to try something similar in my 2014 E350 with a Yaesu FTM-400 XDR. Likely do a mag mount Antenna since the deck is aluminum or composite. Looking at charging a LiFePo battery with a Epic Power Gate and tapping somewhere for 15 Amps for the PowerGate. I'd like to use switched power, but may have to put a switching relay in as part of the install. Another thread showed a ICOM custom install in an S550.

 

Funny you should ask. My Kenwood 71 is sitting on my desk, and I just go done putting an Icom 7000 in my Acura mdx. I'll report back wen I've gone further. How will a mag mount work on an aluminum deck ?

 

You will probably need super glue.

 

Mercedes do offer a specific guide on how to install radio gear. The vehicle is comonly used as a taxi in Germany, so they have all the parts available to do it, without needing to drill holes etc. If you google Mercedes-Benz body builder guide for W205, hopefully you'll find the PDF guide with diagrams and parts etc. I could dounload it from their online portal but I have signed an NDA and I can't jeapodise my relationship with Mercedes (My business builds Mercedes based ambulances). If you get really stuck, send my a PM and I'll see what I can find for you.

 

Thank you very much. I've been working on this, and started with the install of a valentine one. That went OK, was able to find power but ground was elusive...eventually fixed as well. Now that my situational awareness has improved, the ham rig is next.

MB gave us a small gift. If you look near the trunk fuse box, there is a full fuse block diagram on tissue paper. I took mine out, photographed it, and put it back.

I'm just putting in a 50 w max v/UHF ring, so I know that it has been "vetted" somewhere in MB land, because elsewhere it will be a cop car or some contractor will want radios. Re inventing wheels sucks....

 

Ham Radio Install in the C43 a Success, and not a single hole was drilled. You could even give it back as a lease with no issues !!!

The radio is a Kenwood V71, VHF and UHF. I mostly chat on 2m repeaters and use the rest for scanning while on the road. Most of my local Public Safety still use analog FM, fortunately. I decided not to mount my Icom 7000, because I don't have any interest in operation of HF mobile, and most of the roads I use, CB is never useful (I've tried with other setups, it's dead everywhere but a few interstates)

You will need the remote mount kit. Once assembled, that turned out to be the easiest part...the head is now to the right of the cup holders, and turned out to be a press fit between the cup holders and the inside of the cubby. Holds the head end up perfectly, and out of the way of the all important coffee cups. It's the bracket that looks like a half moon-take out the cup holder, put it on the side, reinstall cup holders. Almost too easy, and with a small bend, the displays face you !

I ran the wires tucked under the console... After taking out the back seat, the wires for the microphone and the head end (separate on this radio, the mike doesn't hook to the head like all the others) were run into the trunk. I am keeping the mike in the back pocket of the passenger seat-easy to grab but out of the way.

The radio itself is mounted in the "not a spare tire" area. I cut holes in the bottom, and used zip ties to mount the base of the radio bracket it to the fabric.

A matching speaker is mounted to the center of the back seats, carefully zip tied to the headrests. Looks way more sano than it reads. I took the trunk rug up, ran everything under, to the not a spare tire area...no wires showing or waiting to be grabbed by packages or luggage.

Power turned out to be fairly easy. The old advice of a home run to the battery is just that...old, and I wasn't looking forward to running wires from the front to the back having suffered that in far simpler cars. I used the advice previously found for an S550 Ham install, and stared at the fuse box in the trunk. After some searching and staring at the fuse diagram and the actual box, I was able to find that F435 was un used, and had a very large terminal. Some searching found it was for an electronic differential or trailer brakes in other cars, neither of which I have, and was rated beyond the 13 amps max the radio would pull. A spade tab slid right it and no issues to date. (The terminal is unswitched so I made sure to adjust the radio's auto-off settings.) Ground was one of the bolts holding the fuse box to the car-not all of them actually ground so you have to check with your voltmeter.

Antenna is a 19 inch Laird whip on a trunk lip mount. I had to bend the lip mount a bit more open to get it to fit. I'm not against drilling a hole, it's not leased, but wanted to see if the system would work first. Bonus is that the way the trunk articulates, the whip doesn't hit the window. I'd still love to see the official MB installation instructions though, I'm sure there is somewhere M-B intended for that NMO mount I'd prefer to use.

Overall works quite well, I can listen in to the local road situations, and check into my club's round tables. I haven't seen/heard any interference between the radio and car in either direction even full power. The whole installation is neatly tucked away so there won't be any issues when family takes the car...they won't break anything but won't notice it exists, either-that's how I learned the mag mount on top of the SUV was a bad idea (low garage ? antenna ?) I spend too much time driving anyway, and more of my ham radio action is mobile than stationary.

The Laird whip and trunk lip mount is a glossy black, which matches the OE blackout trim perfectly....

Oh, and that wire across the passenger seat in one photo isn't from the Kenwood, it's the cord for the telephone, which now also still slides into the cubby out of the way.

 

Neat! Too bad our club 2M repeater is dead almost all the time, except net night on Sunday.

73

 

I fully confess that one side of the Kenwood is usually set to the channels of the local enforcers-it is nice to learn what a major traffic snafu is about from the first responders and I've been saved once or twice by hearing on car-to-car of a mass production radar trap ahead..like I said, I spend a lot of time in the car...and these bits of info have often saved actual time. We have about four active repeaters in the area, so there is usually some drive time chatter. Radio is like fishing...sometimes you get nothing, other times you get to hear a dragnet to catch an escaped prisoner. In NY, scanners in a car are illegal, unless one is a ham op-I've also used ham radio to run Rallies in Sullivan County, NY, with Rally New York, which is fun and yet another topic of radio/car geekery....