CB Radio (1 Viewer)

[DanielFord]

For reasons far to complicated and uninteresting to go into here, I was clearing my mothers loft this weekend, and of all things, I found my old CB radio, and I am considering fitted it to out MH.

I know the subject has been raised a few times in the past, however I can't really work out the answer from previous threads. How many peeps on here have CB's fitted to their MH's? I am just wondering whether it is worthwhile to fit it or not.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

I prefer to speak to them on the mobile. CB is sooooo old hat now.

 

[gloworm]

Although i dont use one myself anymore i think there are still a lot of truckers using them who are always willing to pass on usefull help & information,

Go for it
Eric

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[Jaws]

Just bought a new antenna mount for mine.. It is going back in the motorhome as soon as I get the time..
As a by the by, make sure it aint an old AM unit you have dug out !
It should have either 27/81 or MPT1320 or indeed the later MPT1321 or MPT 1382 if the unit is dual band ( as in CEPT and old UK channels )

Since 2006 the requirement to hold a CB radio licence has been abolished

 

[DanielFord]

It is a good old 27/81, if it works out, I may invest in a new one with the EU frequencies, but who knows?
Out of interest, what mount have you got? I was going to go for a side mount on the side and ground it out to the chassis. Any comments?

 

[Tootles]

For reasons far to complicated and uninteresting to go into here, I was clearing my mothers loft this weekend, and of all things, I found my old CB radio, and I am considering fitted it to out MH.

I know the subject has been raised a few times in the past, however I can't really work out the answer from previous threads. How many peeps on here have CB's fitted to their MH's? I am just wondering whether it is worthwhile to fit it or not.

BE VERY CAREFUL!! You might pick up a TRUCKER!!!!!

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[Bertie Bassett]

BE VERY CAREFUL!! You might pick up a TRUCKER!!!!!

And that's another one we know a song about..........................

 

[jollyrodger]

Stateside booming in at the moment

 

[Tootles]

And that's another one we know a song about..........................

Yes we do, Geoffrey.........

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[Bertie Bassett]

Yes we do, Geoffrey.........

Brilliant...........................great minds etc

 

[DanielFord]

I love that sketch

 

[Tootles]

I love that sketch

So do other truckers we know, don't they, Bungle??

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[Bertie Bassett]

So do other truckers we know, don't they, Bungle??

We do Geoffrey, we do!...............

 

[Jaws]

It is a good old 27/81, if it works out, I may invest in a new one with the EU frequencies, but who knows?
Out of interest, what mount have you got? I was going to go for a side mount on the side and ground it out to the chassis. Any comments?

As I usually not want to drill a hole ( or two ) I tend to go for a lip mount and put it on the bonnet..

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I have a quick release mount that the Z27 antenna screws in to.
The quick release has a standard 3/8 x 24 thread and screws in to the base mount, and you screw the antenna in the top half..
So it is very quick and easy to lift the bonnet should I need to..............

 

[DanielFord]

Thanks Jaws, I will have to measure up, but I suspect that because of our overcab I will not be able to fit a 1.5m antenna on the bonnet (that is the size I have decided to go with). I think that for the same reason I can't go for the side of the cab either.
A more expensive solution may be to get a bike rack fitted, the I have somewhere at the back to mount the antenna.

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[Jaws]

Yessss... but that is not going to give you much ground plane to say the least.
We had a massive over hand on the Miller and the one on the current Autotrail is not much less..

 

[Chockswahay]

Crikey......... I just spent 10 minutes trying to work out where my post to this thread went

Then I discovered it was HERE

 

[DanielFord]

Yessss... but that is not going to give you much ground plane to say the least.
We had a massive over hand on the Miller and the one on the current Autotrail is not much less..

The Sundance bike rack goes on a bar that protrudes from the chassis at the rear, but I think it is aluminium, and therefore useless as a ground plane.
Out of interest what length antenna do you have on the autotrail?

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[jollyrodger]

For reasons far to complicated and uninteresting to go into here, I was clearing my mothers loft this weekend, and of all things, I found my old CB radio, and I am considering fitted it to out MH.

I know the subject has been raised a few times in the past, however I can't really work out the answer from previous threads. How many peeps on here have CB's fitted to their MH's? I am just wondering whether it is worthwhile to fit it or not.

Quite a few it seems
Have had one on and of since way way back have one fitted in the van and a ssb/am/fm 24-32 when on site venues for fun DXing

 

[Jaws]

Ally is one of the best things to use as a ground plane !
But... Your radiation pattern will be shot to bits..
You will have very little radiated backwards ( the radiating pattern will follow the line of the ground plane ) and of course forward pattern will be far from great as the bulk of the van will be in the way

Antenna length
The Z27 has a coil at the bottom that is about 7" long and the whip is about 4 ft
The rule is .. the more coil the lower the Q of the antenna.. That means less efficiency, far less band width, and harder to tune
Base loaded antenna are better than centre or top loaded units though

Unless you are going for something like a 102" whip which I do have but absolutely NO chance of mounting it somewhere that it will work properly ! ) any mobile antenna is always going to be a compromise.

The better ones are the old K40 and the newer Wilson offerings
They are 'shunt fed'** antennas same as the old 'silver rod' base antenna.
The shunt windings pretune the coil but still allows fine tuning by altering the length of the whip for best radiation

It is essential that what ever type you use it is 'tuned' to the centre frequency ( channel ) you are going to use.
If the SWR ( Standing Wave Ratio ) is too high you end up cooking the output transistor(s) and paying someone like me some of your hard earned to replace then !


**Shunt fed
It is a tuned coil with a tapping which is shorted to earth. The circuit is precisely tuned to ( in the case of cb stuff ) 27 megs.. but gives a reasonable band width which means it will stay pretty much in tune from low 26 to high 27 megs

 

[Jaws]

Quite a few it seems
Have had one on and of since way way back have one fitted in the van and a ssb/am/fm 24-32 when on site venues for fun DXing

Would this be where your forum name came from perchance !!!!!!!!!!

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[jollyrodger]

Correct jr1944 amongst others

 

[Jaws]

LOL !! had an idea it might be !

 

[DanielFord]

Jaws, thank you for all of your advice, I have decided there is just enough room to fit a side mount on the wing, and the whip will clear the overcab. I popped out the headlamp today, and there is tonnes of clearance behind for the bolts, and I can use the grommet for the loom to get into the cab. I have no objection to drilling holes in the wing.

Downside is I ran out of time, so the passenger headlamp is still in the garage, best not let the wife know about that I'm sure I'll get it back in place before the weekend.

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[Jaws]

What sort of mount are you using Daniel ?

 

[jollyrodger]

Sounds like a dv27 type mount ?

 

[Jaws]

That was my first thought ( 2nd thought was if it is, lucky it is going on the left hand side of the vehicle !! ) but I have recently seen some really good side mount ones that are two bolt fixing..
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[DanielFord]

That was my first thought ( 2nd thought was if it is, lucky it is going on the left hand side of the vehicle !! ) but I have recently seen some really good side mount ones that are two bolt fixing..
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Sorry, was walking the dog, back now. And that is the chappie. Measured it all up, it will fit just in front of where it says Ducato on the wing, and height clearance just misses the overcab (I used a trimmed cane to test)

 

[Jaws]

Yup.. they look like a good mount.. What does it 'feel' like ? Is it as solid as it seems ?
Proly teaches granny to suck eggs here, but do not forget to clean off the paint inside the wing so it makes decent contact

 

[DanielFord]

What does it 'feel' like ? Is it as solid as it seems ?

I have it on order, I will let you know when it arrives. It looks solid in the photo. I am going back to bare metal behind the wing, and then when fitted, I'll be over spraying something like waxoyl to prevent any tin worm

I figured if I ever sell the van (unlikely) I will either leave the rig in, or remove the whip and rig, but leave the mount and wiring in place (doesn't look too unwieldy on the side)

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