Clean VHF/CB radio installs

For those of you who understand all this CB radio talk help me out here. Looking to a functional CB radio setup and need all the necessary equipment aswell as I want to be able to pop on intercom with an onboard PA system. How do I achieve this?

Thanks CB gods

 

Yup. The channel in the display is my wide-area LCP Talk Group spanning six tower sites and about 12,000 square miles of coverage.

 

Question, where is this said drain hole? I'm trying to run my cable down a drain hole to the back of the bed. I cant find any.

 

I thought I was onto something for a different and clean mounting location. It still may be if someone has a small enough CB.

The inside of the console lid is recessed. The only thing there is a pen holder. I measured and made a thin plate that follows the bent at the front and extends just past the rib at the back. There is enough meat at the front inside of the lid and on that rib for small self tappers to hole the plate. The plate will have two mounting ears in the appropriate location. The inside of the lid is recessed enough that with the CB attached to the plate it would still be recessed a little, as to take up less space. Oriented with the knobs forward, when you open the console lid, you have easy access to them. The mic comes out the front of the CB on the passenger side and feeds straight through the charging wire slot. The speaker is pointed downward so the console acts a little like a bass box.

Pros.
Out of the way and invisible
Still easy to hear
All wires hidden under console
Easy to access
Doesn't take up usable space in the console

Cons.
You have to cut out the pen holder from the inside
The spring will no longer lift the console door or hold it up

The biggest deal breaker for me so far is CB size. I tried it with a little Radio Shack unit. It's pretty small and would fit. The issue with it is that the screw in mike has about a 2 inch plug that would require the radio to be pushed too far back and into the hinge. I really think this is a viable location with the right CB. I have the Cobra Handheld in my Jeep. I may switch it to the Taco and mount the little base in that spot. I refuse to put another CB on the side of my console. It just takes up too much leg room. I like the Charging cubby location, but I don't want to lose the use of my cup holders.

 

General Thread comment: Uniden CMX Off-Road series (no PA) radios look really nice and compact...

Back to the question:
First thing is to get syked up by listening to this (do not skip this step):
Prime Minister - Big Johnson

Next - decide what you want out of it and then manage your expectations (they don't make Johnson radios anymore either). If you want to talk "in town" or to your buddies on the trail, then the recommendations will work for you:

Find a cb with a PA - I'd recommend the Uniden Pro 520 due to its relatively compact size and PA (Cobra 25 LTD, Cobra 29 LTD, Cobra 19 DX, Midland 5001 also are good); but there are loads of options (make sure your buddies aren't on sideband (SSB) or "extra channels" - that puts you in a 10 meter ham radio expanded down to catch CB - we wont go there for now). If you want weather band reception, you may try the

Midland® 1001LWX - 40 Channel CB Radio Long Range 4-Watt Output Power for Truckers Overlanding RZR and Side by Side - NOAA Weather Radio Scan Alert - Digital Tuning and LCD Display

Midland 1001LWX - This seems fairly compact as well - the only reason I didn't recommend this over the pro 520 is because I have never owned one personally.

Mixed news on the PA - I have never been fully satisfied with CB PA systems as they always seemed weak & low volumed - not quite as obnoxious as I would expect. I think you may have to find some sort of small audio amp to be satisfied... I would start by researching the specs of a police cruiser PA... I think you will find the audio power more than the 7 watts audio from a CB. (I'd expect more like 50W or 100W).

Power - you can run a wire to the battery but i find it much easier (especially for a 5W CB) to use this plug with binding posts: https://vetco.net/products/cigarett...post-adapter?gclid=CNGo5N_x9dMCFQ-maQodkuYCYA

Antenna - by far the most important. The best talking mobile antenna that i have ever used was a 9' steel whip - not cool looking and a pain. You may go with a 5' Firestik II which will deliver decent results and can be fine tuned for SWR. you can find these at truck stops complete with mount. Otherwise a K40 or Wilson Magnet mount will work well too. Unless you have a built in SWR meter in your radio, you will need to find a friend who has one to tune the antenna.

Coax wire - I dont recall the length that I used. My guess is you will need 15'-20'. it must be 50 ohm coax with PL259 male x male connectors (go to the truck stop). a lot of rumors about coax length to match antenna - there is something to it but I stopped caring a long time ago (I just ticked off 5 fellow hams). It is not that critical for a 5W application - just tune the antenna for minimum SWR and make sure that is under 3:1 ratio & you are good to go. If you really care, see this:
http://www.stu-offroad.com/misc/myth-1.htm

I feel like i have left something off... anyhow... have fun

 

Awesome, thanks a lot for all of the information. Just on a quick aside, you mentioned range, what do I need to best reach emergency services in the event of an incident outside of an area with cellular reception. Always has been a concern of mine, and would like to tackle that while building my system.

 

Ham.

 

I don't know how clean it is but it works

 

That does look nice. Is it any different than the Cobra handheld though. It looks like the speaker is in the mic, and obviously all the controls are. The mic does look smaller than the Cobra's version (which would be nice) as the Cobra is too big IMO.

 

I think that you have high expectations of any single platform...but that is OK. If your wheeling buddies chat on CB then that is what you will use mostly and the previous response is OK for that. I do not personally believe CB radio to be reliable for emergency comms - too much bleedover and skip noise - plus I dont think anyone monitors channel 9 anymore. Since I dont know your situation, I'm going to recommend a

$19 BAOFENG UV-5R Dual Band Two Way Radio (Black), 144-148MHz & 420-450MHz

Baofeng UV5R VHF/UHF (2 meter (144-148 MHz) / 70cm (420-450 MHz))rig - very cheap, very solid, and very reliable frequencies for line of sight comms & emergency purposes. You may also want to get this for supplemental power if your battery dies. This should hit repeaters in a 5-10 mile radius -ish so long as you are not in a valley. A decent magnet antenna or external antenna would work nicely to boost range (perhaps even a dual band antenna) as would an amplifier (or you could get a 75-100W mobile unit (like this Yaesu) if you decide against cB (or get both?)... you probably will definitely want an upgrade from the rubber duck antenna that comes with the unit. For under 50 bucks you cant really go wrong -even if you never use it. But you need to figure out which repeaters VHF or UHF (or if there are any active simplex frequencies nearby) are active (and open to public) nearest your wheeling sites to determine how extreme to go with the rig as far as antenna or power requirements. Some repeaters used to have a public phone patch for local calls... You will need a ham license - but the entry level technician class is easy to obtain and that is all you need for this.

I hope that gets you pointed in the right direction - once you get a feel for what you want...ask away and we can recommend more custom equipment close to your budget.
here are some repeaters near you - check to see what exists near your wheeling sites:

https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/location_search.php?type=county&state_id=06&loc=Orange
https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeat...hp?state_id=06&type=city&loc=Huntington Beach

Ham Radio Bands: http://www.arrl.org/graphical-frequency-allocations

Yes, I agree... if we are going to behave ourselves.

I had one of the Cobra 75 units in my Jeep. It was a neat concept but the microphone unit was sort of bulky & the readout wasn't very big. the Uniden unit seems a bit more refined.

 

Awesome, this is just what I was looking for. In the end I will probably end up going both but will get a cb setup first. As far as that set up goes I just need the radio, Coax, power, and an antenna and im good to go? And considering I want to be able to use a PA system I will need a speaker aswell and a compatible CB radio.... A lot of parts to pick out, this should be interesting.

 

those are the essentials aside from some potential connectors or hookup wire for the PA horn... i am interested to see what you come up with on the PA... i did see a few horns that had amplifiers built into them and a few others with no amps but good reviews on Amazon. also saw some cheap amps there too. I still think you will need an amp one way or another. keep us posted

 

Any say screw it and go with a hand held like cobra 38wxst?

 

A little different.

 

Could I monitor/play with this radio without a license? I know I definitely cannot transmit, but kind of a way to get my toes wet...

 

Yes.

 

Would you recommend me doing this? I am not asking for permission lol but as a HAM operator yourself, would this be a good way of learning

 

Listening to others is a good way to learn radio etiquette and having a handle on that before you ever key a mic isn't a bad thing at all. Also, most 2m/440 radios will also pick up most public safety bands (police/fire/SAR/marine/etc) and listening to those channels has some inherent benefit in spite of the fact that you can't transmit there even with a ham license. I personally know of people that think license verification should be a part of legally purchasing a radio, but I'm pretty confident that's a minority opinion. Get a radio. Play with it. Don't key the mic (or transmit in any other way) until you get your ticket.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much

 

if you want you can go and take a test on a website to see how much you know
and just study for what you dont know. the tests have become easier over the years
i guess to keep the ham group alive. i think i got 85-90% without studying (taking online test).
i reviewed my notes on the stuff i wasn't familiar with at starbucks then went to
take the test. i was't interested in becoming a ham but a friend wanted me to take it with him
so i did.