Share Ham and CB on 1 external speaker?

[woytovich]

Can I use 1 external speaker for both my Ham and my CB radios assuming they could both be in use at the same time?

My son built this little thing to be able to use 1 set of headphones on 2 sources (music and and 1st person shooter game!). I should be able to build the same thing only for the mono output of the external speaker jacks of the ham and CB...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-18-Stereo-Mixer/

The question is: do I need to or can I just "Y" the 2 together? Do I risk damaging either unit this way?

Mark

 

[JCruse]

Deleted

 

[george_tlc]

Don't Y them together, you risk damaging the rigs depending on their output stage. Without knowing what the output driver stage of each radio looks like you can't assume anything.

The instructables design is for headphones that are high impedance. Won't work for your typical 4ohm/8ohm speaks in CB's etc and again without knowing the output stage design you risk damage.

cheers,
george.

 

[woytovich]

Good info George - I think my plans have changed anyway.

The ham will now be a Kenwood with a front firing speaker mounted in the stereo cubby in my Tuffy center console (the bottom is open and the top will be open during use so it should get enough ventilation - if not I'll be adding a 12v fan (from a computer).

For the CB I think I have decided to switch from a standard box and mic unit to a Midland Handheld CB that will be clipped to a mic holder on the dash during use. This way I avoid the speaker issue altogether and when not in use everything can be stowed away from thieving eyes.

 

[PACK MULE]

The ham will now be a Kenwood with a front firing speaker mounted in the stereo cubby in my Tuffy center console (the bottom is open and the top will be open during use so it should get enough ventilation - if not I'll be adding a 12v fan (from a computer).

Can you post up a few pictures of this center console? I have been thinking about this mod and doing it to the LX. Same setup of going with the ham in this console and either getting rid of the CB or going to a hand held for trail communications.

Did you do the install yourself? How many job did you think it was?

Thanks,
Pack Mule

 

[woytovich]

It is the "stereo" Tuffy console

In the FJ60 it is pretty easy to install... easier if you pull out the seat(s) first. Be sure to know where the console should sit in the space between the parking brake and the passenger set before you bolt it down... leave room for you to get your hand around the parking brake lever. There MAY be brackets specifically for installing this in a 60... I made my own.

 

[alia176]

Good info George - I think my plans have changed anyway.

The ham will now be a Kenwood with a front firing speaker mounted in the stereo cubby in my Tuffy center console (the bottom is open and the top will be open during use so it should get enough ventilation - if not I'll be adding a 12v fan (from a computer).

For the CB I think I have decided to switch from a standard box and mic unit to a Midland Handheld CB that will be clipped to a mic holder on the dash during use. This way I avoid the speaker issue altogether and when not in use everything can be stowed away from thieving eyes.

One thing that others have done successfully is to utilize both front speakers: one side for HAM, other side for CB. Given that these speakers are firing at your knee caps, the "high fidelity-ness" of the speakers are sorta lost on my ears

 

[woytovich]

When I had the CB in the center console I had an external CB speaker mounted on the little flat part of the dash to the left of the gauge cluster. It worked out really well as it was pointing right at my face and was easy to hear.

 

[alia176]

This is what I'm doing for my HAM speaker.

 

[VegasNick]

Guys, I have an audio mixer in the works that I hope to have available in a month or so. I have the prototype circuit cards on order. This will allow mixing of CB, ham, etc and stereo inputs to the aux jack of the car stereo. It converts the mono from CB/ham to a stereo output. I have a thread running on it on the blue board now.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/stereo-electronics-electrical/162848-audio-combiner-works.html

Initial testing went great but I had some frequency response issues with the stereo side after mixing with the mono inputs but we resolved that. Right now we're testing a second audio amplifier chip to reduce some the number of components thereby making the package smaller. This isn't some "hack a day" job but actually a box that has some engineering and design thought going into it. feel free to pop over there and have a look and offer any feedback you may have.

This was just a quick test of the power supply and a single amplifier. The box at the moment is 5x5.5 and I'd like to shrink it to at least half of that.

 

[VegasNick]

Thanks for reopening this thread. I'll go delete the other one.