Installing CB Radio in overhead console

[thePunter1]

Hi,

I have an FJ73 Land Cruiser which has a removable / fold down windscreen. It is probably similar to any other 70 series with a removable windscreen.

I would like to mount a CB in an overhead console and I would like to know how others have routed the CB aerial coax to get the lead up to the CB.

With the power I can go up the side panel but the CB aerial coax is not that long and I would like to go up the windscreen channel if possible.

Regards,
David.

 

[coldtaco]

Just buy a longer coax! Don't cut them to custom length as I understand they have to be specific lengths for them to work right.

 

[thePunter1]

coldtaco - thanks for the reply.

I will buy a longer coax if I need to but this will increase the signal loss. Only want to do this as a last resort though.

 

[Ron R]

How much will it add to the total lenght? If it's only a few feet or a meter or so you won't have to worry about that if you buy a good quality coax cable intented for CB use. That is RG58 or if you go professional RG213. However this last one is thick and I don't think you can feed it through the window channel.
Then use a good quality SWR-meter to trim/tune your antenna. This is essential. An even slightly mis-tuned antenna will have much more influence than many many meters(!) of extra cable length. After that you won't find any difference in distance covered by your CB.
Most believe that the cable-length by itself is critical. That is not true. That is only applicable to antennas that have no ground, like antennas that can be used on non-metal bodies. For example for Camper-cars that often have glass-fiber roofs.
If your antenna is intented for use on your FRP-top then you should have an antenna like that AND the cable should have an exactly defined length

 

[thePunter1]

Hi,


We are probably getting a bit sidetracked here as I would still like to route the cables up through the front windscreen channel. So if anybody could help with that information it would be good.


Ron R - For your information, these are the three aerials that I currently have.

GME AE4705 1.2m 4.5dB [AE4705] : Prestige Communications, Lowest Prices in Australia Guaranteed!

GME AE409L 6 & 9 DB Antenna [AE409L] : Prestige Communications, Lowest Prices in Australia Guaranteed!

Explorist 3 & 6.5db GI 4WD Antenna Package [Explorist 6] : Prestige Communications, Lowest Prices in Australia Guaranteed!

All of them are 477 MHz, ground independent.

 

[Ron R]

Hi,


We are probably getting a bit sidetracked here as I would still like to route the cables up through the front windscreen channel. So if anybody could help with that information it would be good.

Ron R - For your information, these are the three aerials that I currently have.

All of them are 477 MHz, ground independent.

Cannot comment to these antennas as I don't know them. Afaik they are not sold here in Europe. CB frequency over here is in the 27 Mhz range.
At first glance I would say the GME 409L will give the best range ( highest gain) but I don't know about the quality of the antenna construction (durability)
But if you place one of these antennas on your (FRP-) top and you will be using an overhead console why not then route the antennalead via the overhead console?
Or is this console a short one, not covering the roof from window to rollbar?

Since al three are ground independent you have to keep the original leads. Or extend them at a predefined length.
What you can try is to have a a lead that is longer than stricktly necessary. Put the SWR-meter in between and if SWR is large, shorten the cable by a few centimers. Then try again. Untill you find a point where SWR is reasonable small ( use a centre frequency to do this). Then finetune by the antenna tuning system.