CB Radio/etc

[Guest]

So, i have a trifling, passing fancy to install a CB in miss abigail. 80's model cadillacs had a combined AM/FM/CB radio option like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-81-82-8...7b4aad&vxp=mtr

as well as a tri-band antenna option: http://www.ebay.com/itm/85-86-87-CAD...881300&vxp=mtr

So i'm not sure if i should go with OEM vintage gear, or get a more modern system, especially seeing how my current OEM radio is not hooked up. I am running a modern stereo in the glove box. My current stereo has an auxiliary input, into which i usually run my MP3 player. So i would want something i could hook up to that and be able to hear radio chatter over the speakers.

any thoughts?

[Dr. Frybrain]

I would say to put it in if your trying to set her up with all the bells and whistles, but not if you are hoping for functionality. You won't have anyone to talk to on it.

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk

[Guest]

for the record: i'm trying to take out the existing antenna because it won't retract, and has been a constant eyesore. and wow, it is definitely a pain in the ass.

so no truckers use CB radios anymore?

[Dr. Frybrain]

I think truckers still use them, but your friends probably don't.

[Guest]

lol, my friends never did. i have a hard enough time getting everyone to bring hand-held walkie-talkies to meetings.

[Dr. Frybrain]

Cell phones have pretty much killed walkie talkies.

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk

[Guest]

yeah, but if you have ever tried communicating with a convoy, it's much easier to press one button and talk to 3, 4, 6, or 8 people at once than it is to try and dial a cell phone while driving.

here's the old antenna. going to try and fix it

antenna.jpg

[Dr. Frybrain]

It probably depends on what area of the country you are in. Here in Detroit, it wouldn't be worth it.

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk

[LMS]

We have one of the hand held cb's that plugs into the cig lighter. I usually take it on road trips and keep it on 19, works better than a radar detector for finding out where the cops are.

As for the radio antenna Ryan, I have mine secured up under the dash out of sight and it seems to work just fine. But then my can never had a radio or antenna so there was no where to mount it without drilling a hole.

[Guest]

i fixed the antenna so it can retract, at least. the cable that makes it extend or retract broke off and was hitting up against a bushing, preventing it from going down. Now at least, once i install it i can manually retract the antenna, and it won't be such an eye sore.

if i decide to go the CB route, I will probably replace it with one of the OEM AM/FM/CB antennas.

Good to know it's still useful. i'll have to put some thought into how to mount and wire everything.

[sgath92]

Chrysler also offered these back in the late 70s/very early 80s. Had a few different versions, both in black & in silver:





I don't know how the antennas differed, if at all, from normal. If they used the same normal antennas you could try running one of those "invisible" antennas that they market towards the hot rod crowd, and add in a booster amp if necessary [technically illegal under FCC regs]. Do you have a fiberglass roof? You might be able to discretely hide a long whip antenna under the headliner without the car's body acting too much like a faraday shield.

CB, AM, SW, its all dying so it should be easy to pickup something aftermarket cheap at a hamfest.

It would be easy to feed a CB radio's audio output into a modern radio's aux in port. CB is going to be mono so at the most you may want a simple mixer circuit between the two so it plays in all of your speakers instead of just one side.

[Guest]

yes, i have a fiberglass roof. i had thought about doing an internal antenna type of thing. Based on some quick reading, i think the antenna has to be specifically tuned to the transmitter in some way. that's one reason i was thinking of doing the OEM am/fm/cb radio thing.

i also thought about looking around at flea markets and things to see if i could pick up something cheaply. there are modern ones that are somewhat expensive $300 +/-

[Abnorml]

Ryan, if you just want a simple CB, you can buy a plain one from Walmart for around $30 and $15 for a small antenna. The CB is made with a cigarette lighter plug. Also you can check on craigslist or Goodwill. I have bought one from both places. The most I payed was $10.
I have tried to get people in our club to get CB's. There are a couple reasons I like them better than 2-way radios. They have a longer range, don't have to worry about batteries dying, and you can hear better. Also some people take their 2-ways out of their hearses and forget to put them back.

This is what the CB I got from Goodwill looks like, the other is similar.
real1.jpg

[Guest]

i keep my two-way radios always in the coach, along with spare batteries. i have enough trouble getting everyone to invest in the walkie-talkies, much less a CB.

i'll look around next time i'm in walmart and see if they have any CB radios.

[sgath92]

i think the antenna has to be specifically tuned to the transmitter in some way.

Sort of. Transmitters & receivers will work with almost anything for an antenna. How antenna design comes into play is to get the best performance. Generally speaking the antenna is designed for the range of frequencies you're going to be broadcasting on. Usually simple vertical antennas like used on cars are not directional because cars are always changing position. Horizontal antennas OTOH are directional [there are other kinds of directional antennas also]. A horizontal antenna oriented directly north-south hanging between two trees is going to give you the most east-west performance. Setting it up the opposite way [E-W] will give you N-S. This shouldn't matter much with a car CB though, since chances are you're only going to be communicating with vehicles in your line of sight. Directional aim is more important with the amount of distance you're thinking about.

I'm guessing the 70s/80s GM & Mopar CB radios, if they used the stock car antenna, did it to sacrifice performance in exchange for aesthetics. It probably would have worked just not as well as a 10/11 meter whip would [CB is an 11 meter band]. Those are around 100-inches tall, so you can see how some consumers would have thought they were ugly if they were being installed on anything other than pickup trucks.