In vehicle radios.

ukoffroad

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Jan 13, 2010
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Lynchburg, Va

pdxrovermech

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Jul 3, 2009
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Portland, OR
I use a Cobra 75WXST. Great little radio. Ive installed several. Beats mounting a standard CB. My only complaint is the speaker isnt very loud. Its fine in Discos and Rangies, but I wouldnt want one in a Defender.
 

p m

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Seems few folks have CBs anymore, and most folks do not use HAM. Everyone has hand held FRS GMRS etc
It is quite a bit of a blanket statement :)

Jeep guys still use CB extensively. There's nothing wrong with CB, except for pretty low power limits and short antennas with low gain.
Most Land Rover guys I met and wheeled with in the last few years use ham radios (and most of them are licensed).
Very few people I met use FRS - keep in mind that GMRS requires a license and it is not free.

FRS walkie-talkies are common as dirt in hikers/bikers/skiers hands, and I stopped caring for these when I discovered just how crowded these few channels can get.
 
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logan_gibson

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Dec 20, 2016
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Alabama
I use a Cobra 75WXST. Great little radio. Ive installed several. Beats mounting a standard CB. My only complaint is the speaker isnt very loud. Its fine in Discos and Rangies, but I wouldnt want one in a Defender.
External speaker in the drivers door. The small speakers from a D2 work great for this and look pretty factory.
 
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K-rover

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Jan 15, 2010
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Raleigh, NC
Seems few folks have CBs anymore, and most folks do not use HAM. Everyone has hand held FRS GMRS etc, but I want something a little better. Who has installed something like this, thoughts, was it worth the trouble?
I have this unit in my D2. I opted for the 5-db ghost antenna. All my wheeling buddies moved to Gmrs or FRS. I got rid of my cb because no one took the time to install theirs correctly, so even though my radio was transmitting clearly. I couldn't understand most of the guys when they talked.
I tested my Gmrs with another friend who has a Rugged Radios hand held. We were able to get close to 3 miles of usable range through the forest. CB was basically limited to line of sight.
The midlands gmrs is nice unit and highly recommended it. It comes with a small magnetic antenna, but everyone says to upgrade the antenna.
 

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bri

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Apr 20, 2004
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It is quite a bit of a blanket statement :)

Jeep guys still use CB extensively. There's nothing wrong with CB, except for pretty low power limits and short antennas with low gain.
Most Land Rover guys I met and wheeled with in the last few years use ham radios (and most of them are licensed).
Very few people I met use FRS - keep in mind that GMRS requires a license and it is not free.

FRS walkie-talkies are common as dirt in hikers/bikers/skiers hands, and I stopped caring for these when I discovered just how crowded these few channels can get.

" keep in mind that GMRS requires a license " depends on channel and watts/frequency no? Not that I really know for sure, but that was my understanding.
 
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ukoffroad

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Jan 13, 2010
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Lynchburg, Va
I have that same Cobra, and will be installing that as well. Thanks K-rover, that is what I was looking for. At Uwharrie last year I saw maybe 20% of the trucks had CBs, but most folks had FRS handhelds or similar. I sued a BRG visor mount to hold my handhelds over my head for ease of use, but even the decent ones just do not pick up that well.
 

p m

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" keep in mind that GMRS requires a license " depends on channel and watts/frequency no? Not that I really know for sure, but that was my understanding.
Here's an answer from an Amazon customer from Chuck's link:
ten year, for all members of your family GMRS license fee will be dropping from $75 to $35 on April 19, 2021. That is pretty cheap. There is not test, you just pay on FCC website. That said, I would say, from having GMRS for nearly a decade, that 95% of users do no have a license, and probably most of the remaining 5% do not use their call sign as required. I find this is mostly not because of fee cost, but because of privacy, as your name, address etc are publicly available on FCC website associated with your call sign, and private companies also vacuum up data from the FCC site. you never know what might take as an affront something at a campsite, on an offroad trail, or if they hear you using your GMRS while hunting, could be a hunting hater and start stalking you, impersonating you (and they can just say your call sign claiming to be you) etc. So 99% of GMRS traffic does NOT use call signs as required. There is NO enforcement of this. FCC enforcement database of every enforcement they do is public, and there is not a single fine for any individual for not using a call GMRS call sign.
BTW here are the definitions of "family" able to share a single license:
§ 95.179 Individuals who may be station operators.
(a) An individual GMRS system licensee may permit immediate family members to be station operators in his or her GMRS system. Immediate family members are the:
(1) Licensee;
(2) Licensee's spouse;
(3) Licensee's children, grandchildren, stepchildren;
(4) Licensee's parents, grandparents, stepparents;
(5) Licensee's brothers, sisters;
(6) Licensee's aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews; and
(7) Licensee's in-laws.
You can see if you are married and have brothers in law, have aunts and uncles, nieces, grand kids you could have 25 to 100 people using the single license see less
By Amazing_Customer on April 10, 2021
Essentially, FRS/GMRS today is CB of the 70s.
 
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bri

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Apr 20, 2004
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Here's an answer from an Amazon customer from Chuck's link:

Essentially, FRS/GMRS today is CB of the 70s.

Huh. I guess I should just bone up on how to use and go for it then. LOL.
 

p m

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I guess the preferences in comms reflect the terrain. It is not uncommon for a group of 8-10 vehicles to stretch over 10 miles in the desert.
We've tested the 2m ham radio performance during the last trip to Death Valley - between two vehicles with mobile radios and permanently installed and SWR-tuned antennas, we could hear each other up to 13 miles, even being on opposite slopes of a shallow pass. In the past, I heard comms on VHF up to 20 miles, also mobile units with proper antennas.
In this respect, 30-mile claims of the FRS walkie-talkies crack me up.
CB, technically, has unlimited range, depending on ionospheric conditions. Practically, 4W on AM with a short stick is only good for a few miles. 12W PEP on SSB buys you a lot farther range, but I only know of a single person besides me who owns an SSB-capable CB unit.

Use whatever convenient in your neck of the woods - but, as I recently realized in DV, comms can be a vital safety tool.
 
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jgdisco2

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Feb 24, 2006
888
21
Goldsboro, NC
I have this unit in my D2. I opted for the 5-db ghost antenna. All my wheeling buddies moved to Gmrs or FRS. I got rid of my cb because no one took the time to install theirs correctly, so even though my radio was transmitting clearly. I couldn't understand most of the guys when they talked.
I tested my Gmrs with another friend who has a Rugged Radios hand held. We were able to get close to 3 miles of usable range through the forest. CB was basically limited to line of sight.
The midlands gmrs is nice unit and highly recommended it. It comes with a small magnetic antenna, but everyone says to upgrade the antenna.
What did you use to mount the radio on the top like that?
 

K-rover

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Jan 15, 2010
2,163
62
Raleigh, NC
What did you use to mount the radio on the top like that?
Just a couple short bolts through the radio mount into the plastic. Fender washers and nuts to secure it.

*Side note*

The radio and handset both have speakers so wind noise usually isnt an issue. The radio base has a 12v usb port so I use it to charge my flashlights and old cell phone thats shows coolant and gps speed.
 
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ukoffroad

Well-known member
Jan 13, 2010
2,125
168
Lynchburg, Va
Let me clarify, when I say most I am referring to rides around my area, I get that Ham and other stuff is more useful in other places. I am rarely in a group spread out that far. Even local Jeeps here rarely have a CB from the folks I know. maybe 30%? Anyway, I will put this CB in the truck and look at the FRS stuff.