CB Radios...

Solid Snake · 04-09-2024, 10:52 AM

I may have posted about this in the past, but I need knowledge so I'm making a new thread. I want to install a CB in my truck and I need advice. Yes, I know CB radio is a dying art, and I'll only use it once a year on my annual road trip, but I still want one. Call it nostalgia, as I had CB radios in my teenage years. My question is this: What is the best way to hard wire a CB, and not use the cigarette lighter plug. Its weird, I used to do this all the time decades ago, but either my memory has faded with time and/or vehicles have evolved over time. So, what's the best way to install a CB? Through the fuse box? Straight to the battery?

Pogo · 04-09-2024, 11:00 AM

Find the accessory wire and splice into that.

aviator · 04-09-2024, 11:04 AM

Or find the hot wire to your car radio and tap into it, use any available ground you can find too.

Hunter07 · 04-09-2024, 03:15 PM

Not worth the expense. Steering wheel holders these days reply on their GPS and their phones. The only reason I have one, is it's in my work truck, and when working road construction, stuff changes a couple, to many times a day on certain jobs. Otherwise all you hear is 'atmospheric skip'. I hear sh*t from down south or out east, all the way up here in MN.

RTO · 04-09-2024, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aviator

Or find the hot wire to your car radio and tap into it, use any available ground you can find too.

I agree because the radio circuit may have noise suppression built into it to eliminate or reduce noises coming from spark plugs, wipers, blower motors, fuel pumps etc.

AM radio picks up noises from everywhere and that is why the EV manufacturers were trying to (or did) remove AM radio from their vehicles.

Sanders · 04-09-2024, 03:58 PM

The guys I run with mostly wire their CBs direct to the battery. I'm lazy with mine plugged into a cigarette lighter. About the only place I ever use mine is on offroad trail runs with groups. Travelling across the country, I hardly heard anyone talking at all, except in Louisiana.

It also gets more active when there's a traffic jam. Lots of pajeets on the CB now, too as well as mexicans.

Merc · 04-10-2024, 03:37 AM

If the grid goes down , paper maps , CB radios ,
ham radios , and point to point radio will
become S.O.P. again .

MERC

04-09-2024, 10:52 AM	#1
Solid Snake Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 2,548	CB Radios... I may have posted about this in the past, but I need knowledge so I'm making a new thread. I want to install a CB in my truck and I need advice. Yes, I know CB radio is a dying art, and I'll only use it once a year on my annual road trip, but I still want one. Call it nostalgia, as I had CB radios in my teenage years. My question is this: What is the best way to hard wire a CB, and not use the cigarette lighter plug. Its weird, I used to do this all the time decades ago, but either my memory has faded with time and/or vehicles have evolved over time. So, what's the best way to install a CB? Through the fuse box? Straight to the battery? __________________ End of line.

04-09-2024, 11:00 AM	#2
Pogo Mystic Knight of the Sea Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great Swamp Posts: 82,001	Find the accessory wire and splice into that. __________________ .................................................. ....................................… *We have met the enemy, and he is us!*

04-09-2024, 11:04 AM	#3
aviator unum de multis Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bunker's Headquarters. Posts: 52,588	Or find the hot wire to your car radio and tap into it, use any available ground you can find too. __________________ "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Pesident Ronald Reagan

04-09-2024, 03:58 PM	#6
Sanders Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 66,564	The guys I run with mostly wire their CBs direct to the battery. I'm lazy with mine plugged into a cigarette lighter. About the only place I ever use mine is on offroad trail runs with groups. Travelling across the country, I hardly heard anyone talking at all, except in Louisiana. It also gets more active when there's a traffic jam. Lots of pajeets on the CB now, too as well as mexicans. __________________ "The truly dangerous man dresses inconspicuously and is soft- spoken. He walks away from most confrontations. The only time you learn that the truly dangerous man is mad at you is a split second before you die, for he never fights. He only kills. The truly dangerous man knows that fighting is what children do and killing is what men do." - Charley Reese 1986 3

04-10-2024, 03:37 AM	#7
Merc Expendable Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Concrete Jungle NYC Posts: 23,830	If the grid goes down , paper maps , CB radios , ham radios , and point to point radio will become S.O.P. again . MERC __________________ Keep your powder dry and an edge on your knife, Know your enemy, know his sword - Miyamoto Musashi The Book of Five Rings Blessed be the Lord , my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust;

04-09-2024, 03:15 PM	#4
Hunter07 I'm a grumpy SOB Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Frostbite Falls, MN Posts: 10,532	Not worth the expense. Steering wheel holders these days reply on their GPS and their phones. The only reason I have one, is it's in my work truck, and when working road construction, stuff changes a couple, to many times a day on certain jobs. Otherwise all you hear is 'atmospheric skip'. I hear sh*t from down south or out east, all the way up here in MN.