Where do you mount your communications radios?
- Thread starter Irun
- Start date
I’ve got the Uniden 520xl and the Midland mxt275. The uniden is mounted on the drivers side on the center console. The Midland is hidden under the passenger airbag switch. Since you will barely ever need to access the midland console.
CB and Ham VHF/UHF on homemade overhead mount. Ham HF on dash. I haven’t mounted the GMRS yet.
What kind of antenna are you running with the HF rig? I'm kicking around the idea of adding an HF to mine, with possibly a rear bumper mount extensible mast for stationary deployment.
Oh, and because I forgot a pix - my CB installation:
I have a Yaesu ATAS-120 which is a small screwdriver antenna good from 40M up. I have not figured out how to do 80M.
Some seriously busy cockpits going on over here!
I mounted a Midland MXT275 on the driver side footwell, and ran a mic outlet plug in place of the cig. lighter. Seams to work well for me and it's out of the way
OP
I'm not a fan of a bar mounting, like ARR, mainly due to the fact that everything is in plain sight for thieves. I like this idea, since it could be hidden more. I'll take a peak behind the glove box or on the passenger side. Tapping into power and routing antenna cable would be fairly easy as well.
I have a 20 ft Jackite pole on the back of my camper that I string an 80M dipole from. You could easily do that on the back of your Jeep as well.
This is basically how I did mine. And that's the same radio Irun has. Since you never really need to get at the "radio" itself since everything is on the mic, it makes for a super clean install. I did something similar with my new radio and tucked my CB away inside my center console since I haven't seen/heard anybody use it in forever. It's still there and functional just in case though.
Added benefit that it's just a standard CAT5 network cable so the mounting is easy, and you can unplug the mic and put it away when not in use. Less attention from thieves and even cleaner look if you don't want to see that mic hanging there all the time.
OP
I'm definitely going the route @Plumber1 did. At this point I need to figure out where to put a Cat 5 Jack, then get the time to make it happen!