I know CB is old tech, but it is still the most common form of communication in the off-road world (and what my local cruiser group uses). I run a simple setup on my FZJ80 and after a ton of work (and even more help from this forum group) I've managed to get it tuned and working great with about a 15 mile range on the highway (great for finding speed traps on ch19).
I originally purchased a second control box for my cobra with the plan of doing a second install in the 'family truckster' as the control unit is easily moveable. I never got around to it in the past year and just used a simple magnet mount (cheapie from Radio Shack) with the coax getting smashed in the rear door and wire all over the dang place - but the range was very good.
I finally decided to do a hard mount this weekend and went to work. After a lot of debating in the driveway, I decided to place the mount on the driver side in hopes of better highway range, and I decided to place it below the rear light assembly (the alternate and probably better location was above the rear light assembly, but more on that decision later).
I drilled the four (4) holes for the mount after getting everything lined up (I wanted the antenna tilted *slightly* forward toward the truck to compensate for highway winds from driving). I routed the coax down below the bumper to access an existing entry into the rear light assembly void. From there, I drilled a hole into the cab to accomodate the grommet included with the Firestick mount. This got me into a boxed-in section of the rear body, but with no access into the interior of the truck. I removed all the interior panels in the rear of the truck on the DS in advance and still determined this was the best route. I then drilled a second hole and used another grommet to route the coax into the passenger compartment behind the rear trim panel. From there, I was able to route the coax forward to the second row of seats where I went under the door sill trim (plenty of room) and then into the front door sill groove. From there I went under the driver's seat using voids below the power seat rails to avoid any damage to the coax, and routed the coax into the void beneath the center console (there is a TON of room under there!).
I then mounted the control box under the console in the void, ran power to it, and fished the short connector cable out next to the DS seat rail. This proved to be convenient for many reasons:
1) When not in use, the 'pigtail' tucks rearward between the DS seat rail and the center console where it is completely out of view and does not interfere with the movement of the power seat. When needed, it is easily accessable and leaves the full length of the handset cord available for use.
2) By mounting the control box in the void beneath the center console, I have easy access to power from either of the three 12v power points on the center console (switched or always-hot) or I can easily route power directly from the battery.
3) The mounting location beneath the center console cupholders allows easy access to the inline fuse and the unit (for SWR meter hookup and testing) via the removable access panel inside the center console storage compartment.
4) The 18' coax of the Firestick 'firering' coax would not have reached from the rear of the Yukon XL to under the front dash even if I wanted it there. I ended up with about 8" of 'play' inside the center console.
Here are a few pics of the final install (and yes I know the carpet is really dirty - this is a long-trip kid hauler (but I did clean it all out after the install, and the cleaning took longer than the antenna install).
I originally purchased a second control box for my cobra with the plan of doing a second install in the 'family truckster' as the control unit is easily moveable. I never got around to it in the past year and just used a simple magnet mount (cheapie from Radio Shack) with the coax getting smashed in the rear door and wire all over the dang place - but the range was very good.
I finally decided to do a hard mount this weekend and went to work. After a lot of debating in the driveway, I decided to place the mount on the driver side in hopes of better highway range, and I decided to place it below the rear light assembly (the alternate and probably better location was above the rear light assembly, but more on that decision later).
I drilled the four (4) holes for the mount after getting everything lined up (I wanted the antenna tilted *slightly* forward toward the truck to compensate for highway winds from driving). I routed the coax down below the bumper to access an existing entry into the rear light assembly void. From there, I drilled a hole into the cab to accomodate the grommet included with the Firestick mount. This got me into a boxed-in section of the rear body, but with no access into the interior of the truck. I removed all the interior panels in the rear of the truck on the DS in advance and still determined this was the best route. I then drilled a second hole and used another grommet to route the coax into the passenger compartment behind the rear trim panel. From there, I was able to route the coax forward to the second row of seats where I went under the door sill trim (plenty of room) and then into the front door sill groove. From there I went under the driver's seat using voids below the power seat rails to avoid any damage to the coax, and routed the coax into the void beneath the center console (there is a TON of room under there!).
I then mounted the control box under the console in the void, ran power to it, and fished the short connector cable out next to the DS seat rail. This proved to be convenient for many reasons:
1) When not in use, the 'pigtail' tucks rearward between the DS seat rail and the center console where it is completely out of view and does not interfere with the movement of the power seat. When needed, it is easily accessable and leaves the full length of the handset cord available for use.
2) By mounting the control box in the void beneath the center console, I have easy access to power from either of the three 12v power points on the center console (switched or always-hot) or I can easily route power directly from the battery.
3) The mounting location beneath the center console cupholders allows easy access to the inline fuse and the unit (for SWR meter hookup and testing) via the removable access panel inside the center console storage compartment.
4) The 18' coax of the Firestick 'firering' coax would not have reached from the rear of the Yukon XL to under the front dash even if I wanted it there. I ended up with about 8" of 'play' inside the center console.
Here are a few pics of the final install (and yes I know the carpet is really dirty - this is a long-trip kid hauler (but I did clean it all out after the install, and the cleaning took longer than the antenna install).