Real Men Don't Need Instructions

I like a funny story even if it is on me.

About a year ago, I bought a Yaesu FT-857D High Frequency Ham radio and a nice ARAS 120A screwdriver antenna that automatically tunes to the frequency you have selected on the transceiver. Yesterday I decided it had set around the house long enough, and decided to install it in my truck...where it was intended to be put a year ago.

I found the right spot on the truck for the antenna and installed it. It took about an hour to run the coax behind panels and under the threshold of the door. It went without too much trouble.

The radio can be installed with the transceiver in a remote location with the head closer to the driver. I had built a small console that sits between the front passengers and had an ICOM 2720 remote head installed on it with the transceiver installed under the driver's seat. I wanted to install this HF rig in a similar manner with the transceiver under the passenger seat and the remote head on the little console next to the head of the 2720.

I took the 4 bolts loose from the passenger seat, turned it upside down and began the install. For your information, even a captains seat on a truck is not a really light thing and to get it out takes some maneuvering and a lot of straining...besides having to go to the front door to get those bolts out and then moving the seat as far forward as it will go and then going to the back door to get those bolts out. That does not count the number of times that I left the wrench in the front floor board when I needed it at the back and had to then get unwound from between the seats and go fetch the wrench.

After about 30 minutes, I finally got the seat out and upside down so I could work on it. I finally found some holes under the seat that would align with the holes on the transceiver bracket and got it installed. That sounds simple enough until you realize that there are 4 machine screws on the side of the transceiver that holds it in place on the mounting bracket and the mechanisms under the seat only allow about a half inch on each side to get them in and then get them tight. Then I wrestled the seat back into place…no easy feat in itself…and got the 4 bolts that hold the seat back in place. Keeping in mind the reverse of the above sequence where you have to go from one door to the other and forgetting the wrench again, etc. etc. Now keep this sequence of events in mind as the story progresses; because, it will come in handy later.

Now I have the remote head in hand and take about an hour to fabricate a piece of wood that will fit it at just the right angle so I can see it from the driver's seat. I recessed some screws, put the block on the console, fastened the remote head-mounting bracket and was ready to mount the remote head to the bracket when I realized a problem. You remember I said I had installed that ICOM 2720 before? On the remote head of the ICOM, it has a receptacle for a cable that goes from the remote head to the transceiver below the driver's seat, and on the other side of the remote head, it has another receptacle for the mike cord. -- A cord coming from the transceiver to one side of the remote head and a cord from the remote head to the microphone on the other side. -- Very simple; straightforward and logical.

When I looked at the remote head on the 857, sure enough there was a receptacle from the transceiver...now attached under the right front passenger seat…to the remote head, but no place to plug the microphone into the remote head. That couldn't be right. Why have a remote head with a 10' cord when you have to plug the microphone into the transceiver with a 3' cord? I thought that was one of the stupidest things I had ever seen a Japanese radio company do, but there was only one thing to do. I had to remount the transceiver up on the console so the microphone cord would reach. How dumb?

You remember I said to keep in mind how difficult it was to take that seat out, etc.? That is exactly what I did. When I got the transceiver out, I put the seat back with all the difficulties related above...sans the transceiver. I then found a proper place on the console for the receiver and mounted it there…after having to move a speaker about 2 inches so I could get the screws into the mounting bracket for the transceiver. Now the transceiver is mounted within 6" of the remote head...looks like s___t, but the microphone is now accessible. I found the cable that goes between the transceiver and the remote head…it wont fit. I then saw another package of cables and discovered it was the correct 10' cable that goes from the transceiver to the remote head, but what was this other 10' cable?

After looking at it for about 10 minutes like a calf looking at a new gate, a terrible thought struck me…sure enough…that cable was an extension cable for the mike. -- Still a crappy design. If I want to have a remote install, I would now have two cables coming from the transceiver…one for the remote head, and one for the microphone…instead of one cable between the transceiver and the remote head and a shorter cable from the remote to the mic.

Well if that is the way those guys designed it, it will not get the best of me. I am better than any radio...soooo. I uninstalled the transceiver from the console and took that front seat out a third time and reinstalled the transceiver under it…reference the above paragraph about the difficulty of taking the seat out, installing the transceiver and reinstalling the seat.

Finally everything was all installed, tested and works like a charm. I am very pleased with the radio and begin putting all the tools up and throwing away all the plastic bags and boxes, etc. I got all the tools put up, got all the trash picked up and put in trashcans except one final box…the big box that the radio came in. When I picked it up, there, underneath, was the instruction pamphlet for the "install of your new remote head and microphone." I threw it on the ground and stomped it till my feet hurt.

I am a grown man and don't need instructions.

Arlie Edwards

Wills Point

(((73)))

KE5DYD

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