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CB's are invaluable in making your 4wheel outings far more enjoyable. It's just like having an extra 10 – 20 people sitting in your
vehicle while you drive around. You can chat away as you eat up those long miles on the way to Taupo, or have some friendly banter with someone who has failed to make it through a bog hole. There is also the
more serious side where the CB is an invaluable tool in times of emergency. I have just purchased a new GME radio to replace to old Uniden I used to have.
The compact size of the GME is in stark contrast to the massive bulk of the Uniden. Size was my motivation for the new radio as space and a suitable mounting location for the CB is not easy in a Range Rover.
I had the Uniden mounted on the driver's side of the transmission tunnel, just in front of the driver's seat. This is a good location, but it restricted how far forward the seat could move, and as my lovely wife's
legs are relatively short, this made for dangerous driving.When I was looking for a more suitable location for the radio, I spend a good hour holding the radio up in different locations, like the back of the cuddy
box, the passenger side of the transmission tunnel, and even the roof. My preferred location was on the top of the dash. However I wanting to keep things looking neat and tidy, and wasn't too keen on cutting
or drilling holes in the dash. I decided to remove the small parcel tray form the center of the dash (where the radio speaker sits on the older RR models), and see what I could do with the cavity that remained (I
had done this once before when mounting up the Uniden but decided that it wouldn't work). My original thought while I was removing the tray was to make up a radio pod to mount this, and possibly an "A Band" radio
as well. To remove the tray, you have to lift out the rubber mat that sits in the bottom of the tray, and then remove four screws. There are two steel bars under the tray that are mounted to the dash, which
could be loose, so be careful that they don't fall out or you might have to go fishing. Once the tray is removed you will find that the GME radio will fit nicely in the cavity that remains (no need for a
pod). To make things even better, the mounting holes for the radio bracket match exactly with the mounting holes in the two steel plates. I used four gutter bolts, two to bolt the steel bars to the dash closest
to the windscreen, and two to bolt the radio bracket and the other ends of the steel bars to the dash closest to the gear stick.    
When you bolt up the mounting bracket, make sure that you have the slots for the radio mounting screws facing towards the gear stick or you wont be able to fit the radio. The radio can then be mounted in the
bracket, with the power cable and aerial lead run up under the dash and out through the opening which is now under the radio.
Power up and you are on the airways! A quick check on the SWR meter gave me a SWR reading of 1.1 which was excellent.
A neat, tidy and simple installation that required no drilling or cutting of the dash. |
