Fitting CB to TD5 Disco

[thermidorthelobster]

I've had a fairly busy morning...

I've mounted my CB in a cutaway in the map pocket.  It seemed a good way to keep things nice and neat.

I was disappointed that in my non-electric-sunroof model, the loom for the sunroof ECU (which has a nice phat 12v 30A fused feed) isn't present at the top end, although the connector comes off the fuse box, so god knows where it disappears to.  I had a rummage through the wiring manuals and behind the roof panel and found an unused connector with green/white and black wires.  It turns out this is for the auto-dipping rear view mirror, and it comes off a 20A fuse, and is live with the ignition (IIRC it's Fuse 15).  So I hijacked this for the 12v feed.

[thermidorthelobster]

As explained elsewhere I wanted the aerial to be mounted on the roof rack, but I didn't want the cabling running through a seal somewhere.  So I drilled a hole in the roof and used a dome mount from 4x4cb.com to take the cable through the roof.  I managed to pull the headlining out the way enough to bolt it down nice and tight, and then ran a cable inside underneath the headlining to the back of the set.  So all the cabling inside the vehicle is totally concealed.

From the top of the dome mount, I've used a screw mount plug on each end of a small patch cable to run the short distance to the actual aerial mount on the roof rack.  There's the added bonus that if I take the roof rack off, I can just unscrew the cable from the dome mount and seal it off with the cap that came with it.

[Jimbo]

Nice & neat install...........but what's with the pink fluffy dice  :shock:

[thermidorthelobster]

Ah, they were a present for my Africa trip and when I sold the 101 I transferred them to the Disco.

You can also see that after my little accident in Norway, I've hedged my bets re religious icons and stuck a Buddha next to my Ganesh.  Hopefully between them they will keep things safe, given I cba to order a devil duck...

[mobi]

so the pink fluffy dice can stay but that screw next to the cb has to go , (sorry i can't stand seeing a screw there like that) at lest put a sleeve around the the thread.     :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[thermidorthelobster]

Yeah, I know what you mean, it'll be replaced in due course but it's the only thing I had at the time.  If it makes you feel better, you can't really see it from the driver's seat.

[L90OOK]

Nice job,  now you can tune into expedition humour too...or at least let us know when the Disco's thrown it's toys out the pram!  :roll:

[thermidorthelobster]

Yeah, we need to sort out another expedition so I can try it out...

[africanpete]

Do you get any signal loss with the patch cable Mr Lobster?

[thermidorthelobster]

Hard to tell, because I didn't try it without, but I don't think so.  The only reason there should be loss is because of the extra 2 plugs either side of the bulkhead fitting, and I made the cables & plugs up carefully to try to avoid any problems.

[Landyrover]

Very nice installation... I've just refitted my CB onto my Td5 Disco. Ariel fixed to a gutter mount above the drivers door. Quite neat but I can't seem to get a decent earth - the SWR meter indicates 2.5, needs to below 1.5 really - any suggestions??

Cheers,

Nick

[thermidorthelobster]

Mine should be earthing through the roof rack and also where the fitting goes through the roof, but I'm still not getting a particularly marvellous SWR.  The normal thing is to make sure you scratch through the paint at the gutter mount.  Bear in mind it's steel, though, so if you do this, it'll also rust.  One solution is to scrape away the paint, do up the nuts, and then dab some petroleum jelly around it;  this'll stop the rust for a while.

[Landyrover]

Yes, good advice, have already done this... wondered about drilling a hole directly through the gutter and using this to bolt the mount to the vehilce, and thereby get a better earth?