GA Tacoma Owners BS Thread

Yeah, this is for the 150. It looks like the previous owner enabled the plug back there, so once the pigtail comes in from Amazon I’ll solder up the harness and see how it goes. I had to cut the carpet on the back wall so it’d better be worth it. Haha.

Yes, please do send that info on over, PM or text is good!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...protect-your-investment.619464/#post-21084921

 

Oh shit, son. That's just about perfect.

I picked a different cutoff, but I'd be willing to upgrade.

 

Well Chris is good people so he will treat ya right even if he's picked Alabama over Us lol.

 

I was outside for a good thirty minutes staring at the engine bay trying to figure out where I was going to mount this thing. This just knocks one thing off my list, too bad the logo designs are out of stock.

 

That’s the exact place. They have really smoothed the trail out since my last visit.

 

I remember coming around that corner and not expecting that long rutted out muddy stretch. Immediate thoughts "Oh sh!t. Well, here goes nothing! Better keep up momentum."

...and it turned out to not be nearly as bad as it looked.

 

What does everyone do for comms?

I'm likely going to HAM test before the price goes up, will grab my GMRS when the price comes down, and then there's always CB.

 

I have CB now - Bearcat with firestick - not happy with it since i relocated the antenna to the hood - can't get the swr right. Anyway, I'm looking at the GMRS setup that you can cut the wire to make it work as a CB as well or may just give up the ghost and go HAM, have the book sitting here need to go through it and test out - did RF stuff in the Air Force at times and understand it all just need a quick review, actually a first time read of the HAM stuff lol.

If I go HAM and sell off my CB stuff I have decided I will drop the headliner and pull the stock satellite whale tale off and put a NMO hard mount setup in that Satellite hole. I have had SIRUS in all my vehicles since around 2001, I have NEVER had any interest in it or ever used it - so I figure that's the perfect place to put a solid and strong NMO.

What do you mean about the price going up on HAM?

 

GMRS is supposed to go from $70 to $35, and HAM is supposed to go from $15(?) to $35. No timetable, but the pricing is announced and there will be a 30-day runup to implementation whenever they decide.

I have no idea where I'd mount an antenna at this point. Which GMRS can you cut a wire, the Boafeng?

 

Combo of CB and HAM.

My CB is hard mounted and my HAM is a handheld Baofeng. If I could do it over, I would have just bought the handheld CB. ....easily moves between vehicles, can go on a hike, no worry of proper SWR readings, etc. Plus, about the same cost when you factor in coax, mounts, antenna, etc.

 

I just went through this thought process. I purchased a handheld Baofeng HAM and Uniden CB trying to avoid all of the hard mount options. The tx/rx inside of the truck was absolutely terrible on the CB. It didn’t make a difference if the windows were up or down or the proximity of the receiving user. Even purchased two different magnet mount antennas to go on the roof, both with less than stellar results.

Ended up buying the cheapest hard mount unit and 36” firestik I could find and made my own mount under the seat. SWR is below 1 and no tx/rx issues.

Will note that outside of the truck, the handheld was great for hoping out to spot.

 

You could really improve the range of your CB if you hard-mount an antenna to the vehicle - the roof being the optimum spot.

Not much difference between mobile and hand-held radios - the antenna is the critical factor.

 

Interesting. I had a handheld that was loaned when I went on another trip. I had no issues with transmission or reception while in the truck.

I do like the idea of mounting it below the seat. That seems way better than what I see most people doing. Mine is mounted inside the center console. The Midland unit that I have fit perfectly in the cutout section that is closest to the passenger seat.

 

@MAG GRY TACO15 thanks for looking out!

@TheCochese let me know if you have any questions! Next batch will be in production soon, with a couple new cutouts available. I'll put you down on my list to notify you when they are in stock

 

Bought it at 3 Damn you started early! Frigin nice truck though!

 

Yeah I have to admit I couldn't believe what I was looking at either ( and I was right behind you) Granted it wasn't that bad but just damn I puckered up a good bit for sure! What a fun day!

 

Well my dad needed something with more room so I guess I had a hand in the purchase decision lol

 

The one I was considering was the Stryker based off of on-road comms - I did Alot of trips down from Melbourne Florida to Ringgold this summer, so first two things I did to my truck were Rear AAL and Comms/CB as towed a uhaul with full bed, and then on the trip back I actually removed front and rear seats for even more storage - then filled every square inch with over 2k pounds in the truck, then filled my Notchback Mustang up and towed it. I wasn't doing that without backup comms aka the CB.

Anyway - I will do the Stryker

$135 Stryker 10 Meter Amateur Ham Mobile Radio Am Slim, Black, SR94HPC

here:

You can simply cut a wire to get it to work on CB channels, or you can do several mods MARS or CAP mod, in the end I will probably end up with the Stryker with a cap mod to run GRMS and CB with 60-100watt CAP done, and a Yaesu or Kenwood HAM setup with relocatable face that I mount somewhere slick. I have never used GMRS but have some old experience with HAM on base stations from when I was younger, got to hear the "Russian Woodpecker" before they shut it down with CERBERUS or some rendition of the spelling for his Ham license and he had a 60 or 70ft tower at his house.

If you don't know what I mean by the woodpecker I'll look if I can find the info now to link HERE

Here's another one that I'll check out when I get a proper setup: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170801-the-ghostly-radio-station-that-no-one-claims-to-run

Great site here and considering this radio:

 

Step 2 complete! Now we wait...a long ass time