CB Radio Location

[bluebear15]

Anyone have a good location to mount a CB? I have a Cobra 25GTL that I'd like to put in but wasn't sure where to mount it. I was thinking in maybe one of the pockets on the center console but it's a little big for that without cutting it up.

Also, what's a good CB antenna? I was thinking of mounting it opposite of the radio antenna by the corner of the hood on the driver side.

 

[MadDogDelpho]

If you have the full center console, I think a lot of guys put theirs in between the cigarette lighters or right below there. And I've heard good things about Firestik antennas, lots of bang for your buck.

 

[bluebear15]

If you have the full center console, I think a lot of guys put theirs in between the cigarette lighters or right below there. And I've heard good things about Firestik antennas, lots of bang for your buck.

Any pictures or links to pictures? Ideally I'd like to put it in between the cigarette lighters but wasn't sure about cutting to make it bigger and how to put the mic.

That's what I was leaning towards was a Firestik just wasn't sure of what kind.

 

[MadDogDelpho]

This is on an 02 so the console is different, but @02TahoeMD has a build thread on Expedition Portal that is just awesome for overlanding!
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...itionary-Vehicle-quot-Under-Construction-quot

 

[MadDogDelpho]

Here's one in an 03-06 truck, gives you a better look at what I mean.

 

[Kenny D]

Back in my CB days, I ran a little bitty Realistic 40 chan. with SSB. Added a little silver box and ran all that through a Wilson 1000 antenna. I could talk coast to coast on SSB. The little CB shop that built the system, peaked and tuned my set up. I am not admitting anything but I may or may not have pushed the 4 Watt max envelope.

 

[bluebear15]

Thanks for the pictures. That's not bad doing a face plate. I'll play around with it some and see if I can come up with a good location. Was thinking of maybe putting it in the center console it self possibly instead of in one of those pockets. But we will see.

Back in my CB days, I ran a little bitty Realistic 40 chan. with SSB. Added a little silver box and ran all that through a Wilson 1000 antenna. I could talk coast to coast on SSB. The little CB shop that built the system, peaked and tuned my set up. I am not admitting anything but I may or may not have pushed the 4 Watt max envelope.

What's SSB? would be nice to have a long range on mine.

 

[Kenny D]

Single Side Band. You get into Ham Frequencies. Basically it steps in between the standard frequency bands 1-40. You can switch to channel 19 for example and either go upper SSB or lower SSB. I forgot which channel I would drop from to get the best responses.

 

[Kenny D]

Are you getting a CB for any particular reason? Just curious as even when I had mine back in the early 2000s, the air waves were full of noise with the occasional truck stop blasting out with a 2000W base station advertising their truck wash or some joker with a powerful radio deliberatly talking over everyone. If you are just going to try and talk with truckers while traveling then you do not need much reach. I had more fun just sitting in the truck at night on SSB reaching out to whoever could hear me, some nights I would catch someone on the east coast and some times it was west coast. Once I got all the way to Jamiaca. Skip is wonderful.
One thing to remember that if you do not have an SWR meter to set your system up, find a good CB shop that can match your antenna with your system, your SWR or "Standing Wave Ratio" is more important than wattage. If you got a little extra cash, have him tune and peak your radio, and ask about some fire for your wire, wink wink.

 

[bluebear15]

Are you getting a CB for any particular reason? Just curious as even when I had mine back in the early 2000s, the air waves were full of noise with the occasional truck stop blasting out with a 2000W base station advertising their truck wash or some joker with a powerful radio deliberatly talking over everyone. If you are just going to try and talk with truckers while traveling then you do not need much reach. I had more fun just sitting in the truck at night on SSB reaching out to whoever could hear me, some nights I would catch someone on the east coast and some times it was west coast. Once I got all the way to Jamiaca. Skip is wonderful.
One thing to remember that if you do not have an SWR meter to set your system up, find a good CB shop that can match your antenna with your system, your SWR or "Standing Wave Ratio" is more important than wattage. If you got a little extra cash, have him tune and peak your radio, and ask about some fire for your wire, wink wink.

Mainly just since I have an older Cobra that was my dad's stepdads and it's just been sitting around. So figured I'd put it to use and there's the whole cool and fun factor too. But ya that's mainly what I'd use it for and for those emergency rare kinda situations