New England B.S. Thread

I think I’m going to rig up the

$170 uniden cmx760 bearcat off road series compact mobile CB radio, 40-channel operation, ultra-compact for easy mounting, large 7-color backlit LCD display on mic with built-in speaker mic, black

uniden cmx760 I like that it’s compact and the mic and speaker are together. The next issue is the antenna. speaking of which does anyone have an SWR meter for tuning it? I have a coworker who might. If not I think they’re relatively cheap anyway.

my plan is to mount it on the center console next to the drive seat. Maybe inside the console not sure yet. And then the mic will sit god knows where. Maybe down by the unit or up by the ignition. TBD. I’ll probably order that stuff soon and start ripping out seats this weekend.

Oh Lordy.

paging @TreeFortRichard

I’m not on doge but BTC and LTC have been treating me well as of late.

 

Um.......Tacomaworld......does the word "duh" mean anything to you?

Please explain exactly what this SAIS Please?

 

That seems like a nice compact CB radio. I have been eyeing the Cobra 75 WX ST for if/when I get a CB set up but I may need to look at that Uniden. Looks like Lou's CB radio Sales and Service in West Bridgewater has some great reviews for his expertise and help with setups. I may go there when I am ready to get setup.

 

I have the Cobra 75 WX ST. I mounted the main box under the console and did a panel mount for the microphone. I actually found a nice rubber cap that fits the connection perfectly to protect the terminals from shorting.

IMG_0777 by Mike M, on Flickr

I currently do not have an antenna hooked up to my truck. I had a Firestik on a hood hinge / ditch light bracket with a quick release and the Firering cable. I kept running into issues with not getting the Firering to ground correctly. When it worked, I had some fairly good range. However, I was able to get it to work correctly for about three weeks at a time. I got very sick of tearing it apart and checking continuity continuously.

I've got a Wilson Lil Wil magnet mount in a package which I haven't done anything with to date. My eventual plan is to route the wire from the center console out the slider and mounting it on the roof. I will put some clear bra material on the pad where I decide to mount the mag mount to protect the paint, but I think that will solve the issue. I figure when I am done with the CB I can just store it in the truck. I may just have to invest some time this spring to getting it set up, hook it up to my SWR meter and see what I can make of it.

I had a NGP Firestik in the bed of my old truck and that never worked correctly either. I was convinced that I had issues with getting a good weatherproof connection and more or less gave up. I wouldn't do one of those again. I had the Lil Wil with a cheapie Midland CB in my old 93 that didn't have any problems. The only problem I've run into with the whole CB thing is that no one I know actually has a CB to see if my setup works or doesn't.

 

Thanks for the info! Also, that looks like an awesome clean setup for the cobra! Sucks you been having issues with it though...

 

I'm very pleased with the setup as far as how it looks in the dash. I just never had the right antenna setup for both performance and aesthetics.

IMG_0764 by Mike M, on Flickr
IMG_2501[5102]-edit by Mike M, on Flickr

This was with the 4' Firestick and the spring. It never sat straight which drove me bonkers and I never cared for the hinge bracket without the antenna itself on it. 95% of the time the antenna sat in the bed of the truck, or in my garage. If / when I put the Lil Wil in, then I can take it on/off at my leisure. Realistically, I probably wouldn't put a CB in again if I didn't have it leftover from my last truck.

I purchased a new subwoofer last week, so I anticipate this spring ripping my interior apart again to wire it up and change things out when I figure out what amp I want to run, so I'll probably pre-run the Lil Wil to my storage compartments. The only PITA thing is having to pull the kids' seats to fish it out. That being said, that's a minor inconvenience for how infrequently I will use it.

 

Nice man! Surprised you had issues with that antenna. Keep us posted on what you end up doing with the interior!

 

Secondary air injection system , emissions stuff

 

A lot of guys run the Cobra 75, including me. It works pretty well. Some complain it isn't loud enough, but you can add an external mic if you're so inclined. I don't have any issues with it personally. Most important is getting an antenna that's tuned correctly. I had poor luck with firestiks. Never could get the SWR acceptable. Switched to a lil-wil magmount and SWR was spot on with no adjusting needed. Just my $0.02.

What's nice is you can install the brain somewhere hidden, and disconnect the handset when not in use so it's out of the way. You don't get the insta points for having stuff installed you're not using, but it's nice to have the option.

 

Sweet, which sub did you get?

 

X2 @MikeyMcFly

 

Depending how much you want for power, I found a nice JBL mono for about $100 new a couple of years ago. Price is right

 

Benefits? Pros? Cons?

 

Yeah that is what is selling me on the cobra 75 is the fact I can pull the unit or hide it if not in use/unattended. I heard about the speaker being low volume before but I can always add an external if needed.

 

I went with the JL Audio Stealthbox designed specifically for the 3G Tacoma. I couldn’t do my little

$317 Alpine PWE-S8 Compact Powered 8" Subwoofer System

Alpine PWE-S8 anymore. Most of the other options I saw required losing a storage bin (physically taking it out, the JL obviously fills the large passenger side bin), cutting the plastic on the seat back or not being able to fully fold the seat. None of those options were for me.

I haven’t yet picked out an amp, but I’m doing a five channel one to amp my speakers as well. I figure based on what I have in the truck now and using the factory speaker wiring I want something that’s roughly 60-80 RMS per speaker channel and 300-400 RMS for the sub channel. My reading says 80 RMS is the upper limit for stock speaker wiring and I’m not interesting in pulling door wires. The sub is 400 RMS, 800 RMS so a 300-400 RMS amp channel should fit the bill perfectly.

There are a few options out there in the $300-400 range which will fit well. I only grabbed the Stealthbox now because JL has been on backorder for about a month and a half so when it popped back in stock I jumped. It’s allegedly arriving today. Once I save a bit more I’ll do some more specific research into exactly the amp I want.

 

The system will eventually break out have an issue. Mine did. It's not usually cheap to repair. Turn it off and never have an issue or high repair costs. In Massachusetts you are allowed one by ready item so still passes inspection

 

good to know on all this.

I wanted something small and the mic and speaker together. From what I’ve found it’s either the cobra or the uniden. I like the bigger buttons on the uniden mic. I figure it will be good enough for the road trips and when the people I go wheeling with have a cb instead of gmrs. It’s even more than I wanted to spend I was hoping to be in and out for a total of 100. The cheaper uniden can do that for me but isn’t “what I want” and is bulky. So I figure I’ll get what I want for a setup once and it’s not like “what I want” is 4 grand vs the cheap one being 40.

antennas are a whole new world for me. I understand a lot of it but haven’t had any first hand experience really. My thoughts are the brackets on the back of the bed. I can get a good ground that way and hopefully the cab won’t be in the way. I don’t want to do a mag mount I still care about my paint a little bit.

Real stretch goal would be to use the same antenna mounting and a quick release. And then for VHF just swap antennas and radios if I can find a cheap VHF radio and I know the group I’d be going with is using vhf ham or gmrs I can drop that in lickity split for that stretch. But I’m going to focus mainly on CB without compromising for that goal because I have a handy baofeng I can use in that case. Legal-ish.

I do like the look of the cobra too and it’s even smaller on the brain, just not a fan of how small the buttons are. But I’ll look more at them and might end up that way if I can find a way to mount the cobra completely hidden like @MikeyMcFly above that’s slick. Uniden is probably too big for that but I could do that with the cobra I bet.

 

Morning, meat-armored bone mechs. Looks like some rain tomorrow to turn the snowbanks into rock-hard armored berms in time for the next storm on Monday.