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Rugged Radio/Intercom System

16K views 29 replies 8 participants last post by  HavasuDave 
#1 ·
Just ordered the Rugged Radio 2-Person car to car radio and person to person intercom system with their carbon fiber Alpha Bass headphones, along with their Talon mounting face plate. Anyone have any experience with Rugged Radio or their system for the Talon?
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Looks good! I’m just looking at mine, and of course nothing came with any instructions, but it’s obvious the back of the cubby hole has to be cut out to get enough depth for the radios. Problem is there’s is a molded in bracket that looks to support the instrument panel mounted to the back of the cubby hole housing. Any idea how they overcame that issue?
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
I talked to RR and they said cut the back out of the cubby and cut the bracket. Said the bracket is unnecessary. I wonder if Honda would agree! ?. I’m pretty sure the bracket supports the instrument panel, but maybe the support is just over engineered! I’ll remove the mounting screw and see how solid it seems without that support before I cut anything.
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Well mine is fine, but better safe then sorry. Glad you called them ???
Got it all installed. Had to cut out pretty much the entire cubby hole but it all fits nicely. Certainly not the quick and easy install they advertise though!, and definitely some things you need to be careful about when cutting!
 

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Discussion starter · #15 ·
Nice job! Looks great!
So got my radio and all accessories all installed and thought all was good to go... until the first time I pushed the Push To Talk button with the engine running. As soon as I pressed the button the engine died. Long story short, I think it’s a Radio Frequency issue. I mounted my antenna on the roll bar via Rugged Radio’s roll bar antenna mount, just behind the passenger seat, which isn’t far from the flag mount you used. When I press the Push To Talk button with the engine off but the ignition on, I get a bunch of relay cycling from the area behind the passenger seat which I assume is where the ECM must be located. Two questions for you... do you know if your installer used any RF shielding material to shield the ECM from the antenna? And, do you know if your antenna is a 1/4 Wave or 1/2 Wave antenna? It should be identified on the antenna label. Thanks for your help!
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Ezgoin, did you connect your radio/intercom direct to the battey? And did you do it through a radio master switch? That is how mine is and how Rugged recommends it to be done. My installer also put one of those electric noise filters on.
Yeah, direct from the battery to the noise filter. The other side of the filter splits out to power both the radio and intercom via plug and play. I didn’t wire in a master switch, but that should just make the connection even cleaner. I discussed the issue with a second RR tech who guessed it’s a grounding issue, rather than an RF interfearance issue, but aside from grounding between the antenna to a “manufactured” grounding lug rather than the empty threaded connector on the roll bar, I’ve already tried that. I guess tonight I’ll try and run a ground from the antenna base to a designed grounding lug and see if it makes any difference. Do you have a separate grounding strap coming off your antenna mount?
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Interesting because that’s a completely different antenna than they sold me. I ended up moving my antenna mount out a far as my cable would let me and then moved it back closer and closer to where I had it originally mounted testing at increments along the way. I ended up as shown in the pic, which strangely is exactly where I had it originally mounted except outboard of the diagonal roll bar instead of inboard. It seems to work fine in this location, even though the antenna is only 2” from where it was. Crazy, but it seems to be fine now.
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