Anyone got a din mounted CB?

[Curly]

I will be buying a cb for my 3rd gen surf, and saw that they do a 'Din' mounting kit for some of them. (that means it mounts into a standard stereo slot for anyone that didn't know.. Me included!)

Does anyone have any recomendations? And where is the best place to mount the ariel? (and easiest to route the cable).

And what wires should i use to power it?

I'm useless when it comes to this sort of thing!

Cheers,

CURLY

[Hawaii]

Curly

I had exaclty the same thoughts and even bought the DIN adaptor so the CB would fit in (CB's are usually smaller that single DIN steros).

Fitted it is the holder but when it came to putting the holder back in the dash turned out that the CB I have (midland) is too deep and the dash stuck out by nearly an inch, fact that the ariel plug is a bit meaty also didn't help.

Still wanted the CB fitting so instead bought the mounting bracket and fixed it to the lower dash between the centre console and steering wheel. Doesn't get in the way, don't bang my knee on it and within easy reach to change channels etc.

Mounted my ariel on spare wheel carrier but had to run an extra earthing wire to get a decent signal.

I was really surprised as to how much filth people talk about over the waves so mostly use mine when out greenlaning or on play and pay sites and don't get the problem with no reception like on a mobile phone (and it looks good as well).

Hope this helps

Hawaii

[Curly]

what cb do you have? i was thinking of getting a 'Maycom em-27' which is really shallow.

[Hawaii]

mines an old Midland ew-85

does 40 channels and although is the same height as a single din, it's not as wide (hence the DIN adaptor) but it's about 1 1/2 inches deeper than a single DIN stereo

ta

hawaii

[mark g8awo]

I dont have the problem of mounting the radio as mine fits in the pockets in the boot.. From their i the run a lead to under the dash after removeing the useless ashtray..The aerial i use is mounted on the spare wheel hanger to which has the additional bonding attached to the chassis this i get a good path to earth as i have an electric which needs a good earth to give 7Mhz to 433Mhz

[Curly]

where did you mount your ariel?

i was thinking about making a clamp type bracket to go onto the swing away spare wheel holder?

i dont really want to drill any holes in anything permanent you see..

and should i take the power cables from the fag lighter in the front?

[mark g8awo]

There are a number of suppliers you can use to mount the aerial but what you are after is a truck stye mirror mount....You will need to add bonding otherwise you could have rf feedback into the radio.If you are game enough you could manufacture a plate the goes behind the hinge on the body of the hanger thus eliminating additional bonding

[dieselboy]

I too wish to fit a CB under my stereo. I have seen this done and it looks good.

Regarding an aerial, I have seen a number of trucks with Strong magnetic aerials that simply stick to the roof.

I know nothing about CB's but think it involves a little more than just connecting things up. Aerial length etc is a factor?

[mark g8awo]

Yes you use could a magmount the downside to this is that
1 the aerial is not bonded to the chassis and uses capacitance to work ok for VHF but as efficient on HF (below 30Mhz is classed as HF).
2 If you off road and go through trees and undergrowth you are likely to drag the mount across the roof but you can get a triple magmount the sticks like something to the blanket, these run out around £30 depending where you go.

The Aerial you buy is near to resonance but needs fine tuning the simple way is set the radio to the middle of the band and by using a VoltageStandingWaveRatio bridge not a swar meter you put the switch to set and adjust the meter to symbol that looks like an 8 on its side. you then put the switch back to the other side and without touch the settings you read the vswr..if its above what you think is incorrect you go to the top and bottom of the radio and without doing anything to the meter you check the readings again. from this you can tell which way you need to adjust the aerial. if its more resonant to the bottom of the band you need to shorten the aerial and in reverse for the top.
A good tip if you are using an aerial that has a short stub at the top replace that for some wire before you start snipping bits off because they dont glue back on too well and only snip small bits off at a time unless you are comfortable with how much you are removing.
I use a clever bit of kit that tells me exactly what the resonant frequency is but unless you do this on a regular basis its not worth buying the technology.

Hope that helps your plight