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I would like to put a CB radio in my 2011 XLT Super Crew but I want it to look nice and at the same time be functional. If you have one in yours can you post pics of the radio install and the antennae setup your using?
I had installed one on my 2007 for 3000 mile road trip. There was barely no one on any channel. I asked a truck driver at a truck stop if truckers still use them. He responded that cell phones kind of took over and not too many truckers use CBs. I was real disappointed, I love CB radios. I still may get another. Good luck.
Unless you travel a lot get a removable hump mount so you can remove it when you don't need it. I was a CB'r many years ago and have installed countless radios, but I can't remember even one that looked really good when I was done. They all had to hang under the dash or in some out of the way place that made access almost impossible.
Now if you prefer to listen more than talk you could put a speaker under the seat and stash a hand held in the console.
Antenna mounting? No ideas on that one. I wouldn't drill a hold in my screw for a $70 radio and a mag mount will mar the paint over time. If you have a toolbox stick a Wilson Little Wil or something similar in the center. It won't make for a perfect ground plane but it will work.
Just a few weeks ago, I mimicked the set up on my former Nissan Frontier by using same Cobra 75WXST in combo w/ remote mounted Cobra speaker, mic extension cable plus Wilson antenna and gumdrop mount. BTW, I've used this same radio model in my jeep for 15 yrs (3rd unit currently due to more delicate electronics which tend to fail faster during rough trail use).
In my F150 application, only drilled one 5/8" hole through rear bumper plastic cap while slightly enlarging existing hole in stamped steel below. Routed coax and tie-wrapped along and above passenger frame rail and entered rear cab through plastic hole plug under door sill (*). This radio model uses a remote "junction box" for power connections (**), coax plug plus port for remote speaker jack (* use coax w/ threaded detachable coax connector allowing pass-through on smaller diameter holes; ** all of that attached next to Sony subwoofer mtg brkt and wired temporarily to rear 12V plug w/ optional extension cable allowing main mic unit (delicate electronics within) to be in easy reach for use while being out of the way otherwise.
My purpose for CB stems from many years offroading where its primary form of communication to adjacent vehicles. Likewise, its handy during travels in "convoy mode" w/ other vehicles out on the highway. I'll use it in my truck for SAR missions on FS roads when storage in the truck is more suitable vs nimbleness of the jeep.
Yes,I still use CB's. I've got one in the big truck, and one in the 150, and would put one in the Ranger if I could figure out a good place.
In the 150, I got one of those small, compact Midlands, and mounted it in the cubby hole under the AC controls. I also use a "LilWill" base loaded magnet mount, stuck on just forward of the highmount brakelight, and installed a remote speaker just in front of the drivers seat on the floor.
I wouldn't have a big truck without one, even though the newer generation of drivers can't/won't use one. Those things can save your ***, but that only works if you have a couple guys that aren't afraid to give info. Then there is a certain group that love their sound effects, like the "good buddy beep", among others, then the salesmen, then the preachers, then the lawyers, then the lover boys. But you learn to ignore them, and I've found the further north you go, the quieter it gets, but most guys where I go have them, and use them. Just not for stupidity.
10-06-2014, 08:25 PM
CB Radio anybody still using them?
