Uniden CB Radio is Deceased

[grantracy]

Can anybody recommend a replacement for in-dash installation. Also is there a good antenna set up...i get zero range with my current antenna.

[SteveCooper]

I'll be interested to learn what you find out. My radio receives OK but I can yell further than it will transmit. Changed antennas, checked SWR's,etc. Had a CB guy tell me that unless I could get a antenna on the roof for a decent base plane(?) I was doomed

[Jon Wehrenberg]

My greatest antenna success was with this antenna

http://www.rightchannelradios.com/fi...a-kit-302.html

I had to trim it a lot to tune it, but it has reasonable range.

I don't want to talk a great distance, but this seems to work well for the distance when running with another coach. My previous antennas were not good for transmitting, but I could receive OK

[lloyd&pamela]

Granville we just installed a new Galaxy radio with the Firestick from Right Channel Radios as Jon mentioned above. Good company to work with, very helpful. We installed the Galexy 949 radio, you would want the 979 for in-dash. The 979 is there latest radio and I wish I had installed it, because it is smaller and has several nicer features. Galaxy was the highest rated radio I could find and the signal seems great. The Antenna we installed is NGP Side-Mount Kit - Firestik CB Antenna Kit the antenna has an easy adjustment to reduce SWR.

The side mount installed just over the drivers window and is a good warning for height limits before something reaches the sat dome in the back. The installation is simple and resulted in 0 SWR. We had a strong signal for our Tour of NS with Eric and Debbie. Hope this helps.

[grantracy]

Thanks,that is the setup I will probably go with.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gran....I don't think any of us has a CB that transmits long distances unless we go illegal on the power. We hear enough to get alerts on traffic jams or accidents or to talk to anyone we are running with as long as we can see them in the mirror.

Tell Kim Di is enjoying the Wente that she led her to. Morning Fog i think.

[grantracy]

That's about all I am looking for...how difficult is it to snake the coax from the side of the coach to the dash? Kim will be pleased her advice doesn't go unheeded

[lloyd&pamela]

The coax snakes down the corner column to the left of the windshield. The tight spots are exiting the header and entering at the dash. Pamela was able to squeeze in in front of the driver's seat easier than I could. A mirror helps identify which side of the existing wires have the largest gap. We found it simpler to snake it up from the floor since much of the electronics bay circuit boards hid the hole.

Good luck,

Lloyd & pamela

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gran,

My antenna is located above the corner of the upper cabinet to the left. Liberty uses that spot to locate the evaporator of the Cruise Air so with the panel off I easily can see the base penetration of the antenna on the roof. It ends up being located just inside the curvature of the roof and almost next to my air horn. I fished the cable as Lloyd suggested down the LH windshield post. The plastic cover of the post is removeable on my coach so it was easy to get the wire there and hidden. There are many wires that have been run up that area and it was easy to find room for the CB cable following those wires.

My CB is not dash mounted, but is on the console next to my right hip. Once I got the cable into the dash area I just kept it behind removeable side panels until it got behind the driver's seat and then I ran it across to the CB. The cable has 17' of length and you cannot adjust the length or you will lose some range. In your case the extra length should just be coiled and kept up in the top cabinet area.

[lloyd&pamela]

Granvil,

There are two other important points regarding the installation: first, do not coil excess cable in a loop because that interferes with transmission. The excess coax must be folded back over itself and zip-tied at both ends. The best solution is to not have any excess. Second, the link of coax is directly related to the length of the antenna. Right channel radios can help you with this, but the kit I recommended has the correct length cable for the antenna.

Also, my radio is mounted to the side wall by my left leg so I had excess coax. If yours is mounted in the centre column or like Jon' s that may not be an issue.

Lloyd