CB Radio

[KylieKamper87]

I was thinking of running mine down the one of the vents at back into engine bay and then under van, and up through the floor into cab.

Just have the bit of cable visible from the gutter into the vent.

I don't know how practical this is though ?

Welcome any thought?

[ghost123uk]

i would like one but i have a high top and cant see a way to get lead from the inside of the
van to the gutter mount any idears !!

Easy, I have one on our Hi-Top = just mount it immediately behind the o/s door and feed the cable forewards to the top left hand corner of the door opening and feed it around the rubber weather strip. I used some EvoStick impact adhesive (applied 3 thin lots) to keep the cable in place. Looks tidy, no downside, been like that for 10 months + now.

Note = I had to cut about 1/2" off the top inside bit of the gutter mount (where the actual aerial fits) to prevent it from fowling the Hi-Top. Easy to do, but for the sake of "doing it right", round off the sharp edges with a file

You don't need pics, do you...

[johnnyvespa]

thanks for info will have a look at that.

[Mocki]

I was thinking of running mine down the one of the vents at back into engine bay and then under van, and up through the floor into cab.

Just have the bit of cable visible from the gutter into the vent.

I don't know how practical this is though ?

Welcome any thought?

Yes, I have a thought or two...... its the antenna thats important get that right, and it matter not what you screw on the noisey end of it!!
--- golden rule of mobile radio-----
1. make all good earth connections, esp antenna to body earth
2. The physically bigger the antenna the better, the more metal you get in the air, the higher the better, the better it will work. (and dont forget fibreglass does not exist for radio- its just not there)
3. keep all cable as short and tidy as possible, and away from other electrical equipment

So using 25ft of coax where 3 ft would do is only going to reduce the range you can hear and so communicate, and furthermore it's putting your interference closer to your antenna , which is why we all mount the antennas as far away from the engine as possible and as close to the radio as we can......

[johnnyvespa]

thanks steve most helpfull

[Mocki]

Take the antenna coax in through the cab door , I can take some pictures after the weekend if you need them !

[johnnyvespa]

thanks steve that would be good

[ghost123uk]

A bit more =

Once you have your good quality aerial securely mounted and earthed, as per Steve's words above, I find the next greatest improvement is the following :-

In use on the road, one of the commonest causes of difficult communication is the reception (not your transmission). Often the voice you are trying to hear is drowned out with crackling noises and a general lack of quality, making it hard to hear what the other guy is saying.

The cure = 2 main things :-

The biggest improvement you can make on any well set up CB system is to fit a decent quality extension speaker !
Fit it as near to your ear as possible. I have one mounted right by the upper seat belt mounting point, so it is less than a foot from my right ear. These speakers are not dear, they are small and dead easy to fit. Trust me, this was a revelation to me when I first discovered the fact ! Makes hearing the received voice so much better than all the fancy (expensive) gizmos in the world ! An added benefit is that passengers often do not want to hear a crackly CB noise and having a speaker near your ear means you don't have to have it on anywhere near as loud. Pic to follow

Then make sure your HT leads and alternator brush pack are in good nick. Electrical noise from these can cause a lot of interference on your reception. Serious radio guys fit an earthed tin shield around the dizzy cap (you can buy them or make one). That is what that earth tag on the side of the dizzy body is for. They were fitted as standard to vans designed as ambulances and fire support vehicles etc because they always have similar radios fitted.

And as Steve says, keep your coax away from the engine and don't have it longer than necessary. Oh and if you have it too long don't coil it up, radio signals don't like coils of wire (well not in the aerial lead anyway )

[johnnyvespa]

thanks for info keep me busy for a bit thanks

[KylieKamper87]

I was thinking of running mine down the one of the vents at back into engine bay and then under van, and up through the floor into cab.

Just have the bit of cable visible from the gutter into the vent.

I don't know how practical this is though ?

Welcome any thought?

Thanks for the advice, as you can tell I don't know much about this

[aahyoo]

Hi all,
Maybe not the best place for this, but possibly as good as any other.....

What would your opinion be of something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walkie-Talkie ... 3ccaa7eb94" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd only really want it for use at events, plus portable would be handy for snowboarding etc

Much appreciated!

[Mocki]

Hi all,
Maybe not the best place for this, but possibly as good as any other.....

What would your opinion be of something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walkie-Talkie ... 3ccaa7eb94" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd only really want it for use at events, plus portable would be handy for snowboarding etc

Much appreciated!

Unless you are licenced to use those frequencies you could end up in court!
That aside, the range from inside a vehicle would be pretty minimal, and after buying two of them you would still be not able o talk to anyone other than those who are licenced to use those frequencies

You need to be searching for "PMR446” radios to be licence free in the uk

[aahyoo]

Phew, thanks Steve!

You guessed right - I have no license or experience with these things (Unless you count my sons Spiderman WalkieTalkies) I could quite easily have bought that and gotten myself into trouble!

I simply would like to be able to join in with everyone else...

I've searched PMR446 and come up with a varied array of radios, some look like toys and I'm not sure if they'd get me onto the relevant frequencies I want - a suggestion of a worthwhile purchase would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ru

[ghost123uk]

Unless you are licenced to use those frequencies you could end up in court!

And thence to prison possibly, as of the pics shows it set to the of the civil aviation band

Imagine what would happen if you caused an aircraft crash by blocking a frequency

Is it me being blind, nowhere on that listing can I see the frequency boundaries listed ?

Nope, don't buy one of those !

[aahyoo]

Duly noted... Thanks both.

Suggestions as to what I could use would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.