Ive been wanting to add one to my truck for a while now. Originally I was looking at a Cobra 25 NW radio because of its size. I haven't purchased it yet because I do not believe it will work properly, only place I could mount the radio would be behind the seat and that would make it hard to access the controls. I cant mount it under the dash as it would be in the way of me or my passengers, I also thought about mounting on the ceiling but I didn't care for drilling holes in the cab roof to mount let alone trying to get the old trim off to run the wires and cables.

So that is where this comes in, I wanted to ask if anyone used the Cobra C75 WX ST radio before?

https://www.cobra.com/products/recreational/c-75-wx-st

Ive seen mixed reviews on this some claiming it provided no problems and its 15 years old on the one they have, then Ive seen others claim that they didn't last but a few months. Ive also seen some claim they over heated on them and started smoking. Last but not least I seen some claiming they are not as good performance wise as the larger box units which I really don't see how as the antenna determines broadcast range as they are limited to a max wattage.

So I would like to hear from people that have owned this radio and what they thought of it.

 

I have one in my truck and it works fine. I've had it about 4 years now. I have it hooked up to a Firestik 2 antenna Model FS-4 CATALOG Main Page (Frame Setup) that I mounted to the front left fender using this mount Ford CB Antenna Hood Mount 2011 - 2012 | Right Channel Radios I have no complaints about the radio at all, the range seems no different than other radios I've had in the past, the important thing as you probably know is tuning the antenna properly with a SWR meter. I like the convenience of having all the controls on the mic and I like you couldn't figure out where to you mount a conventional CB where it would look good, that's why I went with the Cobra. You might also look at the reviews here where the radio is rated 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. http://www.rightchannelradios.com/co...mpact-cb-radio

 

Thanks for the reply. This is going in a '82 F150 single cab, which means quite limited on space. I could mount under the dash but I already have my KC Hiliter driving light switch mounted under the dash to the left of my pull down ashtray. If I moved things around the 8 1/4" depth of the radio I am afraid would interfere with my throttle pedal in this position. If I tried a floor mount like I saw a real nice hump hugger mount that would work but I have three passengers quite a bit so that means I would have to remove the mount and the radio every time I had a third passenger. Just not something I want to do.

That leaves me with mount on the ceiling or mount behind the seat. mounting on the ceiling is fine but the hanging cord can obscure view and Ive heard some people mounting like this taking a turn a bit too fast resulting in the mic coming un hooked and hitting them in the head. That leaves behind the seat, which I don't like as how is one supposed to adjust the radio, let alone the lack of air flow for ventilation.

So that brings me to the Cobra 75 model. I could get the smaller Cobra 25 NW but it doesn't have the weather watch and I like to have that feature.

What I had planned on doing which I still am in the planning stages is if I can get a headphone jack and create my own pigtail to power my own external speaker, my dash has a place for a 5x9 speaker which was used with mono radios. I would like to have my CB speaker located here if it was possible to wire it up via a head phone jack.

The other thing I had planned on was as of now I have a camper but I will be when the truck is finished making the switch to a roll bar/bed bar to mount four spot lights, I was going to use this bar to mount two antennas preferably firestik's. Down side is if I do that, that means I have two antennas sitting a good 3ft above my cab which I am not too crazy about when it comes to clearance. I might have to change my plan and mount the 3ft antennas off the side header tube and put the antenna about 2ft above the cab to get the 50%+ ratio.

As of now how ever, I would like to get this squared away and mounted now, especially with my tax return I should be getting. Thing is I have a camper with a ladder style rack on top and it has theses side legs along the side at the front and rear. I would like to find a bracket to mount the dual antennas off this using a couple of the screws that are already there. Just don't care to drill holes if I don't have to.

But any case, thanks for the reply Ive been doing some review reading and ive been reading mainly the negative reviews to see if there are any patterns and it seems most of them are talking about the radios failing. I cant trust the lack of range as that could just be junky antenna or even a antenna that wasn't even calibrated. Which honestly I guess the premature failiures of the radios could also be due to the lack of calibrating the antenna.

 

I have a slide in camper that I use on my truck also which is why I mounted the antenna where I did which involved using an existing bolt so I didn't have to drill any holes, but of course theres a big difference in the age or our trucks. I also agree that most the negative reviews are probably from people who don't know what they're doing when it comes to hooking up and tuning CB radios.

 

Probably is. I can pick this radio up fairly cheap, the dual antenna kit from Firestik in 3ft length also isn't too bad priced. What I figured was I could leave the power junction for the radio behind the seat run a hot and a ground, run the antenna up under the cab through one of the rubber cab drain plugs that I replaced to the box then just have the radio/mic assembly come up between the seats.

 

The box is small enough that I bet you could find a place to mount it under your dash, I myself have a center console and that's where I mounted mine.

 

I don't think it would be a good idea to mount your antenna to the rack of your camper. Antenna's need a good ground plane to work properly and I don't think you'd get that off your rack like you would mounting them to your chassis. http://www.wearecb.com/cb-antenna-ground-plane.html

 

That was one of the things I was thinking of. But on Firestiks website it says the use of dual antennas is used where you have a bad ground plane such as mouting it on fiberglass or aluminum. If need be I thought of running a ground wire from each mount to battery ground just to be safe.

But as of now I am still flipping back and forth. Ive been convinced to go with a traditional style radio vs the all in one as they can be tuned and provide better performance for what I am wanting.

So with that in mind and the fact that I want weather stations, this is a big requirement for me as if I ever get to the point of moving I hear the roads easily get covered in water with every rain. I like to be notified of problems like this if they arise. With that in mind I am limited based off Cobras website to the Cobra 18 WX ST II or the Cobra 29 LX radios.

The Cobra 18 has dimensions of 1.875"H x 7"W x 7"D where as the Cobra 29 LX has dimensions of 2.25"H x 7.25" W and 9.25"D. This where I could potentially mount the radio if I can devise a way to mount it would have to be shifted forward to the back of the cab to clear the firewall unless the mount is positioned in such a way it will do this for me.

I am leaning right now towards the 29 LX as it will alert me even if the radio off on the weather, the other thing that is selling me on it right now is the fact that it has a multi color digital display that I can set to blue to match the blue LED dash lights I have.

The only thing is I really need to find out where the CB mount point is if its in the middle that way I can figure out if I can mount it where I want to and provide not only clearance from my firewall but as well as knee clearance for the passenger riding in the middle.



~Update~

Thanks for the link I read it and understand better. So if I use a mount and mount it off the top of my ladder mount on the camper if I position the antenna more forward to where it is sitting above the roof this would in theory provide me a ground plane as if I used a magnetic mount on the cab correct?

 

Here's another option out there Midland 75-822 CB Radio | Right Channel Radios I don't believe your theory is correct when it comes to the ground plane, basically what you want to do is mount the antenna to the vehicle itself, the vehicle body and the antenna grounded to it is what gives you the ground plane. You mentioned running a ground wire to achieve this, however the longer of a ground wire you use, the less efficient the radio will be and higher your potential to not be able to achieve proper SWR calibration. For these reasons you need to keep your ground as short as possible, however it far better to have the antenna directly grounded to the vehicle at the antenna mounting point for these reasons. You mentioned going with a no ground plane antenna however a No Ground Plane antenna installed on a vehicle or boat constructed of metal will not operate correctly. In most cases you will not be able to tune the antenna which will result in a high SWR that could damage your radio. A no ground plane antenna is designed to use the ground or water to transmit horizontally instead of the vehicle body. Also a No Ground Plane antenna will not perform as well as a traditional CB antenna of the same length.

 

I made a dimensional template of the Cobra 29LX radio and found out it will mount fine where i wanted to mount it so i will be using this radio.

I am also looking for a good shop locally that can tune and peak the radio for me.

As far as the antennas goes i need to find out about it and decide. The camper is screwed to the top of the bed rail as this is a flareside truck, only way to mount it but self tappers probably wont provide a good ground. I guess i could check it with a ohm meter between the batter negative and the camper itself to see how good the camper is grounded to the truck.

It also didnt say theses antennas are no geound plane style just said dual mounts work off each other. But i have pieced together my own antenna kit using two white 3ft firestik firefly antennas for their lighter design.

If a magnetic base antenna would perform better then i will need to know this as this would reduce my antenna and cable cost fro. $105- $110 down to around $50.

 

I think my next radio will be a Cobra LX29. Right now I have a Midland 1001. I haven't mounted it in my pickup yet. In the last pickup it was in the overhead console. I ran a 4' Firestik. I have a meter to tune the antenna. I had the antenna mounted to the toolbox. I plan to do the same this time around.

 

Well I ended up changing my mind. I found a site online its a company called Bells CB Radios and they do mods. With this in mind I have changed what I am planning on doing.

So far I am going with a Cobra 29 WX NW ST radio, this vintage style face plate CB radio would feel more proper for my '82 than the digital face plate. I also priced out some upgrades for them to do. I am awaiting on over all dimensions of the radio with one of the mods to see if it would fit under my dash. But as of now I am looking at atleast a Mosfet final upgrade, a Echo Board installation, receiver improvement mods, and a talk back installation.

If the dimensions are small enough for me to still mount it I would like to upgrade to a RFX-85 final over the cheaper Mosfet final.

As far as the antenna goes, I got away from the camper mounts I decided on a Wilson 1000 magnetic mount just doing research on what I can glue to the bottom of the magnetic mount that will not hinder the magnetic mount but would help seal water from getting under the mount to reduce the frequency of the mount having to be removed. This comes with a 62 1/2" whip antenna and I will be purchasing a replacement Wilson 1000 coil to install a shorter 36" center loaded antenna. This will allow me to tune both antennas to my setup but also allow me to swap between a shorter 36" antenna to the taller 62 1/2".

This would allow me to install the radio and the antenna while I am still in the city and use the 36" antenna, the city will already hinder my transmit capability so running a 36" antenna would be a fair compromise in my books. Plus the wreckers I work on at work their CB antennas mounted on the roof are only about 5" tall and they pick up and transmit good. Once I move and I will be out on the highway out of large city limits I will swap over to the 62 1/2" antenna for better transmit capability.

 

Correction, I was looking for the dimensions of the RFX-85 and Ive seen lots of people saying great things about the KL-203 amp that is no bigger than a pack of smokes.

Basically I could save the $120 on the RFX-85 upgrade and the tuning, If I can get the guy to tune the radio for $29 to have a dead key of 2 watts for use with a KL-203 amp, then a dead key of 2 watts would results in a output of around 100 watts. Down side is this amp would be visable as I would mount it to the bottom of the radio to access the switches, but the upside is for $60-$70 I can have 100 watts of transmit vs $120 for just 75 watts of transmit.