As everyone that owns a new model F150 knows, there is almost no good place to mount a CB Radio. Well, I found a place to put mine. The place I put mine is easly accessiable, easly seen, out of the way, and fairly easy to install. I installed my CB Radio in place of the sunglasses holder in the overhead console.

To get the overhead console down, you just simply pull down hard on the back end of it. It just pops out. I then disconnected the wire that goes to the lights and took the console inside. I took the console apart and removed the door that used to hold the sunglasses. I used the bracket that came with my Cobra 25 WX CB Radio. I drilled holes in the top of the console and mounted my bracket inside the console. My CB angles downward, so I cut a large hole in the back of the black plastic inside the console to allow the coax and power cables to run through to connect to the CB. I mounted my Wilson 1000 whip antenna to my toolbox using a L bracket. I ran the coax cable through the hole in the front of the bed, through the air vent in the back of the cab, under the plastic door jams at the bottom of the door openings, up the A post on the cab, and underneath the headliner to where it would come out at the overhead console. I ran my power wires in the same manner except going through the firewall instead. I also installed a PA speaker with my CB and ran that wire in the same manner as the power wire.

This is a very easy install. It solves the problem of having no room to mount a CB in a new model F150. I hope that this helps someone who has the same problem as I had. Good luck. Pics are attached at the bottom.

 

Looks good man I might move mine up there now.

 

in that shallow opening just above the transfer case lever and below the heat/AC controls.

Though, I have a 2-meter Icom in there not an 11-meter rig which are usually much bigger.

 

Dude, I was soooo about to be annoyed that you swiped my write up I posted on another site...

http://www.fordf150.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47478

I didn't post it here because of the limit of how many pics you can post on this site...

 

people still use CB's?

 

Lol, yea, I saw your post on that site. Ive never seen anyone put one in the overhead before, and in my opinion everywhere else would be in the way in my opinion, so I decided to stick it up there.

 

Boondocked, is there any problem with runinn gthe coax cable thorugh the vent flap on the backside of the cab and into the truck? Any chance of water coming in through there when raining or offroading?

 

Well, I am not going to promise that water cant get in there, but Im not worried about it. It holds the flap open so little that I just aint gonna worry about it. I reckon you could seal the opening up if it bothers ya anyway. There is another one of those vents on the other side of the cab, so I dont see where it would hurt anything.

 

LOL...

Yeah, CB isn't the national fad craze it was in the late 70s / early 80s, but there are a LOT of folks out there that use CBs. Actually the chatter on the channels doesn't really seem to have abated much at all over the years.

 

Nice job. I think I might have pulled a neck muscle looking at that 4th photo

 

Okay, yeah, I figured my post HAD to have inspired somebody... I tried to go into the down & dirty details of how & why exactly nut and bolts any monkey could follow the instructions. I like your install method. How does that Wilson work for you? I had one a long time ago that got stolen. It was a mag mount. They clipped the freaking coax and ran off with it. I now have a Radio Shack mag mount that is a real disappointment on my Saturn (Which is a reliable, but DULL car...). Anyway, that mount location looks really good, far enough back from the cab to allow the antenna to work right...

The radio mount location you picked is similar to what I originally thought of doing to mine, but I use the overhead console a LOT for my sunglasses, tissues, stuff like that, so I wasn't willing to lose that, and I find that I do not have interference problems with my setup, and I sit pretty close to the dash as I have fairly short legs for my height...

 

The Wilson 1000 works really good within a realistic distance. The fartherest I have talked so far is about 2 miles, and once I got the SWR tuned, it was pretty clear. Im new to the CB thing, so I am still figuring things out as I go, lol.

 

Always wanted to ask this -

WTF does a CB do anyway?

 

Uh, are you serious?

Aside from the campy cultural icon of the 70s and 80s, a CB, or Citizens Band Radio is a 2 way radio for short (ish) distance. It has waned in its peak of popularity in the early 80s, but is still widely popular among truckers, long distance drivers (particularly the solo type), off roaders, and electronics hobbyists.

CB is useful for allowing say, a 4x4 club to coordinate a trail run, and keep tabs on all of the rigs whereabouts on a trail, where to stop for lunch, call for help when you break a driveshaft, whatever.

CB is also very useful for communications about traffic conditions on a particular roadway. For example, on Tuesday evening, when the Rush concert got over at Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavillion on I-45, news went out over CB Channel 19 to avoid the area for at least an hour and a half. I can guarantee there were truckers plotting alternate routes or stopping for dinner to avoid the traffic jam at 11:00 P.M.

And lastly, there is a hobbyist element to CB, where tech types want to eke the slightest technical edge out of their equipment, and make contacts with folks from all over. (This is called DXing).

And to top it all off, it's an excuse for mounting a giant antenna on your truck. What more do you want?

 

Nice... thanks.