I am planning on disconnecting the TMU (telephone modulation unit) from the shark fin antenna and installing a Wilson in car cell phone repeater. I would prefer to remove it, do the work, and reinstall it. If there is room, may want to mount my ICOM IC-7000 ham radio in their too.

1. Does anyone know what type of connector is on the TMU that goes to the antenna? I would like to have that available on a short lead to the cell phone repeater before I tear into it.

2. Does someone have any pictures of the right rear interior panel removed that shows how much room is in there? I have the Rave Manual and see the process but only want to open it up once.

It may seem I am asking others to do my work, but based upon the depth on experience on this forum, I am sure that someone as removed this panel and taken pictures so...... Just trying to not reinvent the wheel.

Also, my cell phone amp can transmit up to 3 watts, any idea on the power limits of the sharks fin antenna?

 

Unfortunately, I can't answer any of your questions, but I would really appreciate it if you would do a write up after your install. I'm thinking of doing the same thing after reading a post with the idea from bbyer and would love to see how you do it!

 

When you say right rear, are you talking passenger side.

There are several options for installing a ham radio / antenna. I've been through several iterations of this, as well as the power distribution, and solar charging.

The slickest and simplest for the antennas might be to install a bracket on the hood hinge bolt. You can also install a hood lip mount on the upper rear hatch, or use the roof rack rail. The latter being the most likely to get knocked off due to the height.

I can steer you to a source for the hood bracket, and explain the routing, and also provide a few ideas for mounting a radio.

If you can provide a picture of the antenna you are trying to mount it would be helpful. The roof is different on vehicles with the antenna fin on the roof, the actual glass is different. I'd probably be inclined to leave it and go with a magnetic mount on the metal section in the rear.

Here's a few pictures, and I can provide a lot more info, drop me a PM and I can get in touch with you.

DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - HAM Antenna Install

 

unseenone:
Well, I should have made this into two threads.
Project one is to get a more robust cell phone system in the car. It came with a TMU under the right rear trim panel and the phone mount under the center arm rest, but since I have a glass face "smart" phone and it doesn't fit any way I thought I use a Wilson brand cell phone booster from my last car and connect it to the "Shark Fin" antenna already on the car. I do not know the type connectors or even if the antenna will take the power. (3 watts)
I "think" that the Land Rover cell phone, like most other modern cars would uses a "FAKRA" type connector but I am not sure. The antenna connector under the tail gate trim piece is a purple FAKRA, so I will guess the one at the TMU is as well. I don't know if it is a male or female on the box or which type (they use a type A thru E for cell phones in cars in the US) will be needed.
I was hoping someone had a picture of one so I would not be removing the panel just to take photos and then put it back while I wait on parts to arrive before tearing it all apart again.

Project two is still a work in progress and I will address it in a different thread. I am operational on VHF and UHF for the local repeaters with lip mount on the top right part of the tail gate. This will change once I figure out the airbag wire situation as I HATE lip mount antennas as they are VERY lossy)

cmb6s
Yes I will take pictures as I go.

here is radio under the seat and the control head on the dash.

 

unseenone,

I will concentrate on the cell phone then the VHF/UHF then the HF last. But, since you asked, here is a picture of the antenna I will be using mounted on my Nissan Titan

It is a Stealth Telecom model 9310. It covers 3.5 to 30 MHz and tunes in less than a second. It weighs 12 pounds and mounts with a single 16 mm bolt. I have a piece of thick wall 1 1/4 inch square tube that is mounted to the frame underneath the bed and comes up through the stake hole of the pickup bed side. The mounts for these thing must be strong and when it comes to HF antennas there is no such thing as "over engineered"

 

UPDATE:

I removed rear trim panel and found the TMU and other items of interest I removed the sat nav module, the bracket that holds the sat nav module and mounted the Wilson cell phone booster on the bracket next to where the sat nav module mounts. Reinstalled bracket with the sat nav module and the Wilson cell phone booster right behind it. I pulled power from the sat nav connector and all is good. Since the antenna cable did not terminate near the TMU, I ran a new piece of RG-174 from the booster inside the rear trim panel, up the D Pillar and put a new FAKRA D make plug to the antenna. (it looks dark red but the color is called Bordeaux) I ran the inside antenna under the carpet and up to the small tray on the center console opposite the parking brake. I leave the cell phone in that small tray and the antenna under the console increases the average signal about 22-24 Db. I am now able to travel the back roads and keep in cell phone range in places I would normally not have cell phone coverage.

So the cell phone issue is resolved....Now on to the HF antenna.

 

Rufflyer, did you install the 3G Wilson Cell Booster or the 4G model? Just wondering if the LR3 integrated antenna will work with 4G. I'm assuming probably not, but would be happy if it did.

Also, I'm about to do this install (have finally installed my dual battery system and aux fuse and relay boxes i the trunk), but was wondering how you ran the RG-174 for the interior antenna under the carpet. Did you have to pull out the front passenger seat, or did you manage to do it by threading the cable underneath somehow?

 

Funny you should ask.

I thought about the 3G/4G amplifier, but the cost was too high considering I had a perfectly good 3G unit and phone and text work fine in 3G. I do notice a slight increase in the 4G signal on my Motorola Droid phone. The signal strength on what they call 1X will generally improve from -85 DbM to -62 DbM and the 4X goes from -104 DbM to -92 DbM. This is close to the stated 24 Db gain. and the 10 Db on 4G seems like a nice compromise.

I agree with the statement about the limit of the antenna. The amp has a protection circuit for high SWR and the antenna may be broad banded enough to work. My main concern was the increase from 200 milliwatts to 3 watts.. So far so good

The interior antenna is still a work in progress. I ran it under the floor mats and then up and under the little tray area on the right side of the console. Still trying to figure that one out.

 

Thanks for the response! I may give the 4G version a try, but haven't quite decided yet.

I think the location you chose for the interior antenna is a good one. I was thinking about three different locations, with my favorite options being #1 or #2 right now.

#1: The location you chose would be a good one since I tend to place my phone in that little rubber pocket opposite the parking brake most of the time. You could simply mount the antenna on the underside of the plastic console by velcroing it there, but I don't know how the plastic console itself would affect/block the RF from the antenna.

#2: I was thinking about removing the existing phone cradle dock in the center cubby/console and removing the wiring that runs to it. Then, I could run some RG-174 through that same hole/grommet and install the antenna to the underside of the lid with velcro. This would be a very neat installation if I can pull it off, but I would probably need to place my phone inside of the armrest every time I want to boost the signal. Great for calls... not so much for data usage.

#3: You could place the antenna back behind the ashtray part of the dashboard. This way, you could put your cell phone in the try underneath the cigarette outlets. However, I plan to put a ham radio face here eventually, so I think this option is probably out.

 

cmb6s:

I thought about option #2 a lot. some problem presented themselves right away.

First, I would need to disassemble the console to remove the cradle.
Second, I would have to put the phone under the lid each time (good to keep it from flying around if you are in an accident, but no so much if I need to dial a number that is not in the voice directory).

I would have explored option #3 but the RG-174 supplied with the kit was only so long, and I was too lazy at this point to make up a new coax/antenna setup just to test out if the ashtray location was better.

On the DISCO3.UK forum Wiggs has a D4 software upgrade service for the D3 that should add phone list and signal strength to the radio display. I plan to do the upgrade in the future, so I may move the antenna and place the phone in the console then. Thus the reason I have not permanently the antenna in the console yet. like I said a work in progress.