CB Project - Small Improvements one at a time.

[BradHend]

Decided to defer a day at the campsite due to the weather this weekend here in Ontario Canada.  Heading out tomorrow instead.  
With that said, I finally had some time to complete a few little upgrades I’ve had on the back burner for some time now.  
Got the CB Radio installed, powered off the spare wire from the OEM Radio switch to a dedicated rocker switch on the drivers console to act as a sub-master I guess we could call it.  PO already had the antenna mounted but there was no radio when I purchased the rig.  
I have also now realized that my coach utilizes a ‘DIN and a half’ OEM radio, as I was going to replace with an apple CarPlay compatible radio, now I have to come up with a solution for that.  🙄 
Also replaced the original cigarette lighter 12v outlets with USB style plugs.  Had to enlarge the hole slightly to get them fit.  These are also now controlled on a dedicated switch on the drivers console as I didn’t want them left on if not needed to be.  
Last thing was a dedicated USB power supply for my Bluefire Tablet and a spare female usb connector behind it for the GPS or whatever.  This was powered off a spare ignition circuit I found in the mess of wiring on the drivers console.  
Gave the rig a much needed scrub down and on the exterior while i was at it.  Very noticeable to me and my wife and just super satisfying to have it all cleaned up finally.  

Happy Canada Day/Fourth of July everyone! Safe travels. 

 

[Tom Wallis]

Nice job. How much do you use your CB? My new to me 2002 HR Imperial came with a CB. I've been considering removing it. I used CBs a lot many years ago but wasn't sure if it would be of much use now.

Edited June 30 by Tom Wallis

[windsorbill06]

On 6/29/2024 at 9:40 PM, Tom Wallis said:

Nice job. How much do you use your CB? My new to me 2002 HR Imperial came with a CB. I've been considering removing it. I used CBs a lot many years ago but wasn't sure if it would be of much use now.

I'm curious as well.  I put one in years ago when we were active with jeep club.  Hardly ever turn it on now.  Tried it this last trip with grandson, as he was very curious, and I couldn't reach or hear anyone.   Need to trouble shoot it, or maybe just remove entirely.

[Ivan K]

Our coach came with a CB and I often turn it on just for entertainment but also to hear if a trucker was to warn me of my a$! on fire or something. There's still traffic on it, some truckers still use it to kill time or warn each other of traffic situations that I can use. Have a semi portable one in the Hummer in case of getting stranded near a trail in middle of nowhere.

[jacwjames]

Mine came the the hand held Cobra, but it didn't work.  The PO of my coach moved the antenna so I thought it would be worthwhile to replace so I bought another Cobra handheld.  The sound quality was terrible and not very good reception.  So I did some research and bought a new firestik antenna and even bought a uses SWR tuner to try and tune the antenna and spend several days tweaking the antenna. https://strykerradios.com/blog/cb-antenna-tuning-a-step-by-step-guide/

Long story short is it kinda works but not worth the effort.  Even stuck in traffic surrounded by OTR trucks there isn't much chatter on it. 

The one thing it is good for is to check the local weather. 

[Tom Wallis]

I finally removed mine. I didn't hear much on it and both the cord and the speaker were in the way. The speaker was such a cheesy little thing and the sound quality was terrible. It's all gone now. I have two sets of walkie talkies that work on the same bands and actually sound better. I'm sure they have much less range though.