well, i got tired of not knowing what these are, so im determined to know. in the following picture theres 3 connectors all coming out of the trim in the rear of my bronco. now the bottom two have been identified as going to a CB of sorts, but what is the long, flat black one? many have said something OBD-II, which is farfetched(both because my bronco is a 93 AND the OBD-II connector only has 16 pins, this one has 35ish). any ideas?

http://img147.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img1...ict00414ut.jpg

 

I'll almost bet you had a commercial radio and cell phone stuffed behind the seat and those are the antenna connector for the cell (minnie U?) and cable for the remote control head. If you pull up the kick plate, (next to the seat and under the door when closed), you can probably trace it to a wad of wires zip-tied under the dash.

Edit: I think it's from a Motorola commercial radio. They use antenna connectors like that. They should have went Kenwood...

 

I know its not one but it looks but the D shaped one looks like an old fashioned printer cable! Maybe you had a carputer in there and a printer in the trunk! LOL Sorry - I'm not being muck help am I???

The two smaller ones are BNC antenna and a power or mike connector for a CB.

 

Black 4 pin round connector is probably radio power, coax (BNC or TNC, hard to tell from angle in picture) is antenna, and the big rectangular one is data from the main part of the radio to the control head, probably located on the dash or console. You should also have about a 1" threaded brass or stainless disk on the roof, that's where the other end of the coax goes and where the antenna was formerly mounted. The radio tech where your Bronco lived formerly was either lazy or in a hurry, and didn't remove the cables when he pulled the commercial radio.

 

That one could be a TNC, (the screw on version of the BNCs' push and twist), but Motorola had kind of a propriatary one that was just a little smaller. The pic's kind of fuzzy, but the center pin tip looks a little more rounded than the BNC/TNC.

The 4 conductor connector looks like a mike connector, but I'm thinking it's the power cable for some kind radio around 25-50 Watts. 100 Watt radio would have a bigger power cable. The data cable looks like it has a lot of connectors, but before they micro electronics you needed a wad of cables. Think of the detachable faceplate of the HU of your truck. There's a little cpu and all sorts of surface mount components, right there in the faceplate. Think of all the wires you would need if you had the same radio using 1970s' technology...

It was worse years earlier. Commercial radios right around the tube/transistor transition era, (say that fast three times), might have had a control cable 5/8" thick. Talk about a fun install.

Probably, not all those connections are used. They went with a off the shelf connector when they did the manufactoring.

Yep, they did a quickie uninstall when they pulled the radio.

Edit: If there is a hole in the roof it's probably 3/4" for an NMO style mount. You can use this for a CB antenna if you want.

 

The connector types are (from left to right in the photo) The first is a CPC circular high-density plastic four-pin female. The second is a 50 or 75 ohm (depending upon the original application) BNC connector (most commonly coax cable connector for RF signal). Finally a 37 pin "D" connector HD-20 type male(similar to printers and other microelectronic devices). AMP/Tyco Electronics among others manufacture all of these connector types. Amphenol, SPC Technology, Souriau, ITT/Cannon, Cinch, are just a few of the connector manufacturers that also make these types of connectors. If you can find a part number on them, you can determine the exact manufacturer.

Thats the long answer. The short answer has already been given...commercial radio connection most likely.

 

they look just like the ones in my old work van. they were from an old and i mean old cell phone setup. motorola used to put the cell thins in the trunk or under the front seat and the hand set had a cord and hung on a bracket within easy reach of the driver.

 

What you have is the setup for a Motorola professional radio (also used in emergency vehicles). The control head was mounted up front and the 25W transceiver was mounted in the cargo area. I have installed many of these in Fire Department vehicles as well as in the personal vehicles of department senior officers (including my own). The only remaining question is...What was your vehicle used for and will it come back to haunt you later?
Typically when emergency apparatus is "retired" the cabling is left behind. Not really worth it to save old cables when stripping them. Many times auto wholesalers will buy a "retired" emergency vehicle at auction for next to nothing, slap a paint job on it, and sell it for book value. They are often relatively low mileage, but those are some seriously hard miles.