CB Radio

The faceplate has a little step bushing on it and drops into a minimalist mount I 3D printed. All cabling is hidden and easily stashed with the radio faceplate, including the mic.

 

Not much of anything. Lots of people have brake controllers mounted where the cubby is. It's probably deep enough you could mount it if you wanted.

 

might be a good idea where you are, around here no one uses ham, just CB since ham you need to pay for.

 

the hand held units are probably your best bet for a clean install in the tacos.

 

I went with handheld cb when wheeling. Got tired of killing mounted units with dust dirt and crap. Reception is crap but everyone I wheeled with stayed together within line of sight. You can always hook an external antenna for more range.

Now if you wheel alone and need outside help and there is no cell coverage ham makes sense.

 

Uniden 520xl is bulletproof

 

I have never seen a clean full size cb install.


I'd go ham.

 

Ham dual band radios, such as the TYT TH-7800 have removable faceplates and communicate in the 70cm band as well as 2m. Technically, (although not legally), you can communicate with GMRS radios such as walkie talkies, expanding your flexibility greatly.

Besides, I spent 2 weeks studying for the test, and those 2 weeks taught me a ton of stuff about radios and to appreciate how much in everyday life we still use them. Things that seemed daunting aren't really that complex at all.

And cost? It's $15 for 10 years, and after those 10 years? $15. No test...just another $15.

My Ham license is going to cost about $100 for my entire life.

 

Here's my install. I have hit 12 miles simplex and 75 miles with a 2m repeater as my best so far. Using a single 1/2 wave antenna which handles both bands and doesn't require a ground plane on 2m. (it's a 5/8 wave radio on 70cm, and even without a ground plane its 7 or so miles simplex)

I found some bracket I had laying around, and bent it up in a vice. It's screwed with 2 small screws into the removable face of the trim.

 

I had the same problem. Just did a really clean install (in my opinion anyways lol). Doing a write up now on it... Will post and share a link

 

Just did this write up... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clean-cb-install-on-my-trd-pro-not-janky-at-all.490998/

 

Got any more pics of that uniden hanging out in the cubby there? I have toyed around with the idea of using that spot.

 

Clean CB install? Excuse me while I whip this out...

 

Very happy with this ...

 

Nice Job, looks good.
How did you run antenna cable out? Any picks on what you did for antenna (kind, mount)?

 

Cable is under the carpet, out a drain hole in the floor and up over the bed, under the rail to the rear left corner sorry this is the best pic I have of it right now. I fabricated a bracket to attach to the aft bed pillar

 

I use this for holding my mic and it works very well. http://www.hondogarage.com/index.php/product/landing/cb-mic-hanger
I also have been working on building a bracket out of some scrap metal I had hanging around to work with my oem tonneau cover. I was looking for a way to move my 3ft firestik (in the picture I have a 2ft one on) as far back from the cab for best swr possible with that setup. I will be painting the bracket after testing swr soon. I have the bracket mounting to the bed rail which I tested the ground on and showed up fine on my multimeter. Anyways it is a work in progress....

 

Here you go...

 

Did you just screw the bracket into the plastic?