CB Radio / Ham Radio?

MickeyByrd · June 19, 2022

Has anyone put their radio up on the roof/ceiling liner? When I was driving truck in an earlier life I got use to having it up their. I have a 2020 Silverado 3500 with a center console which used up an Extrodinare amount of space, and left little room for my radio.

Railroad_Jim · July 18, 2022

On 3/1/2022 at 2:53 AM, Transient said:

Finally getting the cb antenna sorted out. Going with the President Electronics Mississippi. Mounting it on top of the GM Accessories sport bar via a low profile mount. We'll see how this works out.

I'm curious if you finished up mount the CB Antenna onto the GM Accessories Sport Bar? I'd love to see some pictures if you did, as I also have the Sport Bar and was thinking that would be a pretty cool place to mount a CB antenna.

On my 2000 Silverado, I fabricated a custom mount for the front stake hole (since like this truck, I had a tonneau cover which left the stake holes open) and it worked well, but was difficult to access when building/installing.

Ravenkeeper · July 19, 2022

@Transient, I'm with @Railroad_Jim, I would like to see your completed mount.

slj2008 · July 19, 2022

Need Photos of installed . Thanks

Slvrado · July 20, 2022

This is where my radio system is mounted. Motorola XTL2500 UHF p25 system. The main radio “brick is mounted under the rear passengers seat.

MilwPaul · July 24, 2022

Hey guys, I recommend getting an AM/FM CB radio. FM is WAY better and is now legal and available. Having both lets you talk to all the old AM CBs and also the much better new FM ones. President has a couple of them. They also have an AM FM CB handheld.

I decided to put a GMRS into my 2017 Silverado. I bought a Bullet Proof Diesel third brake light antenna mount and could take some pictures when I install that this week. I was hoping to find some info here about sneaking the cable past the rear curtain air bags. But I've seen a few youtube videos about them so at least I know where they are, so I can watch out for them.

MilwPaul · August 7, 2022

Hello, I installed my NMO antenna mount to my 2017 Silverado third brake light. It went well. With an NMO mount you can change antennas quickly if you change to Ham or CB inside the cab. and a small rain cap if you want to take the antenna off for any reason.

First, I removed the one screw from the top of the C pillar, 8mm, and took the two screws out from the pass rear grab handle, 7mm. Then I pulled down the weather stripping, just from the rear top corner and that let the headliner and top of the trim come down just a little. see pics

Outside, put a rag over the gap between the bed and the cab in case you drop a screw it wont go far. Take the third brake light out, T15 torx. The instructions say to route the coax along with the light harness. but there is a more direct path immediately to the side of the light that runs horizontally from one side of the cab to the other, door to door. see pics

You can see directly from the door to the third brake light, it's less than two feet. I ran a fish tape through and taped my coax on and pulled it through.

The original brake light screws are used to hold the NMO antenna mount in place and they give you two new screws that hold the brake light to the antenna mount. There is an additional clamp that is already attached to the mount that pulls the top of the mount center to the top of the cab.

Everything seems secure and tight and even though there are gaskets on both sides of the mount, I put a bead of black latex caulk around the top edge where the cab meets the mount just to be sure no water gets to the gasket.

After installing my NMO antenna mount I realized that I didn't like the polished aluminum finish on the base of the mount so I painted that gloss black. Right now I'm using 50 watt mobile GMRS radio and the 462 MHz band only needs a short antenna. Unless you're looking for it, it's hard to see. I'm not looking to get a lot of range with this, it's only from truck to truck communication.

Transient · October 8, 2022

On 7/18/2022 at 6:45 PM, Ravenkeeper said:

@Transient, I'm with @Railroad_Jim, I would like to see your completed mount.

On 7/18/2022 at 9:49 AM, Railroad_Jim said:

I'm curious if you finished up mount the CB Antenna onto the GM Accessories Sport Bar? I'd love to see some pictures if you did, as I also have the Sport Bar and was thinking that would be a pretty cool place to mount a CB antenna.

On my 2000 Silverado, I fabricated a custom mount for the front stake hole (since like this truck, I had a tonneau cover which left the stake holes open) and it worked well, but was difficult to access when building/installing.

Sorry I haven't been around for awhile. Been very busy. Wife was deployed May through September. I've worked on this project whenever I could, but it's been very slow going. One of the first things I installed was the antennas, and I've been driving around with them installed for months. I have CB in the middle, GMRS on the left, and HAM in the right. All antennas 40 inches max height. CB and GMRS radios installed under passenger seat. Haven't done the HAM radio yet, but I think it's going under the driver seat. Instead of installing an external speaker for each radio I chose to run a 3 male to 1 female 3.5mm auxiliary cable, which is then picked by a male to 90° make auxiliary cable. The 90° end plugs into the aux port in the center console. When I want to use the radios I can just switch the input in the truck radio screen to hear the 2-way radio comms. As for the mics, they are run from under the seat to under the center console, ran up the back side between air duct tubing and storage bin. I then drilled a hole into the storage bin, used a grommet. Mics are in storage bin and can be pulled out when used. CB is the Uniden CMX760 Bearcat with a President Electronics Mississippi antenna. However, I'm swapping that antenna out with a President Electronics Iowa antenna. I've been having issues with the Mississippi blowing over at freeway speed. The Iowa won't blow over because it doesn't have a hinge. GMRS setup is a Midland MXT575 with the M8dland 6db gain antenna. HAM will be a Yaesu FTM-400XDR with face and mic mounted via seat bolt bracket. HAM antenna is a Comet CA-2X4SR. I've attached a pic of the antennas mounted on the sportbar. Overall height is just under 9 feet, so still good at most fat food drive thrus. As I said, that's with antenna maximum height at 40 inches on top of the sportbar. Ran cables into the same hole in the bar GM ran the brake light wiring, and routed the same direction down the passenger side tubing, into the bed fender and under the truck. I accessed the cab via a rubber plug under the rear seat (likely under the storage bin for many people, just like it was for me). Antenna cables were then run under the carpet towards the front passenger seat where there is already a factory created opening in the carpet for the antenna cables to be run to the back of the radios. I just need to run the power cable I created through the firewall and everything will be fully functional. Hopefully this helps you guys. If you're in Southern California, my GMRS handle is WRUL474. Still working on HAM radio license. I will be moving to the Florida panhandle in the summer.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Transient

Transient · October 10, 2022

CB and GMRS radios now have power, and work through the truck stereo speakers! Complete stealth install inside the cab. Just need to clean a few things up, such as run some loom over the power wires under the cab from the battery, rubber sealant, tuning antennas, location to hang mic when in use, etc. Nothing major. Even the wife is impressed and she doesn't normally care for the things I do.

slj2008 · October 10, 2022

Any photo's of the inside ??

Matthew Lieblong · November 29, 2022

I second the request for your interior install pics. New to GMRS but used HT's non-stop on a recent work trip and am eyeing either the MXT575 or KG-1000G Plus, both have remote install/control via handset type features. I toy with 3d printing and CAD design and am tempted to make my own 3rd light spacer/antenna mount since Bulletproof hasn't gotten around to making one for the 19-22 Sierra yet. Where did you install the MXT575? After seeing numerous car stereo amps installed behind the rear seat that is my current thought to use that completely unused space and not lose console/glovebox space, but if not there then under a front seat.

MilwPaul · December 20, 2022

Hey, how you guys doin? I have been working on my 2017 Silverado GMRS and CB install when I get a chance and I've got most of it done. I have shown above how I mounted the third brake light antenna mount. I have about 50 pictures of the install including running the battery power under the truck and up into the rear seat area, modifying the back of the back seat to fold down, the fabrication of a steel panel to mount the radios, fuse block, relays and wiring for strobe lights, all going behind the rear seats. The two radios I picked, (Midland 575 and Uniden CB) both use cat6 wiring to control the radios from the microphones. I have removed the two 12v power ports in the center console and replaced them with cat6 jacks. So when the radios are not in use, nothing is showing.

I work in an area where if there is something to steal in your truck, it WILL get stolen. So I have to keep my stuff out if site. The sound goes through the factory radio speakers, and I still get turn by turn navigation on top f the radio sounds.

Here are some pictures of my finished interior and I'll work on more posts showing how I did it all.

Paul.

MilwPaul · December 21, 2022

The 2017 Silverado rear seat back doesn't fold down from the factory so when I took it out for the radio install I cut the brackets so it would fold down to give me access to the radios and fuses.

I cut out a section of the rear insulation which gave me about 3 1/2" deep area 32" x18" to mount everything. I put in some DynaMat on the back wall. And measured cut and bent a piece of black iron to fit in the space to get bolted down using the existing seat mount bolt and seat belt bolts. The radios are positioned so I can slide them out if I need/want. I have the power coming in from the passenger side and the antenna wires coming in from the drivers side to keep them separate. I bought a four -relay board from airdout.com. It has a six position fuse block on it and four relays. I have ignition power tripping one relay to power the radios only when the truck is on.

I also have a relay for outside lights and I use the Homelink system on the roof console to send an RF signal to a small 315mHz receiver on the board to turn on my strobe lights. No drilling and no non factory switches for anything. That Homelink system is the three buttons on the roof section, I use one to open my garage door and the other two can be programmed to do almost anything you can think of inside the truck or something in your house or whatever you want.

MilwPaul · December 21, 2022

more soon.

Power routing and console wiring

[email protected]

WVHick · December 21, 2022

Anyone mounted a radio in a 2022+ with the refreshed interior? Looking to mount a Yaesu FTM-400 in my LT Trailboss, and cant decide whether to put the FTM display in the storage space above/behind the infotainment display or in the cubby in the console. I see ICS designs makes this now:

2022+Silverado/Sierra Dash Mount (ics-fab.com)

Edited December 21, 2022 by WVHick