Good Solution CB Mounting in a Travato

[Gizmoneer]

During a recent trip to Alaska and a crazy adventure to Coldfoot, AK (about 60 miles north of Arctic circle on the Dalton highway) -- I found our CB radio to be invaluable. Previously I had mounted the radio in a customized plastic ammo box along with my UHF/VHF radio. The box was always getting in the way as we moved from the back of the vehicle to the driving position and it was a pain to hook and unhook the antennas/power when we wanted to get the box out of the way.

A few days ago, I think I came up with a pretty good solution for a more permanent solution for the CB as we traverse more and more of the wild west (from Alaska to the Mexican border) in the coming years.

And yes -- a number of truckers still use CBs. During our hundreds of miles up the muddy, pot-hole covered Prudhoe Bay haul road (aka the Dalton highway), I had several long and entertaining conversations with heavy haulers - learning area and personal history plus how to drive the road. (Hint: heavy haulers own the road, anyone else is but a potential splat on their huge bumpers. Tucked in behind a heavy hauler made us a bit safer and the driver knew I was back there - showing me how to drive the road.)

Pictures show the basic solution (mounting the radio to the plastic at the side of the driver's seat). This unfortunately makes the seat not able to rotate easily unless I unhook the antenna and power cables; however, in the 1 1/2 years we've owned our Travato, I have only rotated the driver's seat once. So not a big inconvenience. Plus all cables are hidden and protected by the floor mat.

I'm currently thinking of extending the idea with a bracket to support my much smaller UHF/VHF radio, as well. For now that radio will remain "portable" and only connected to antenna/power on occasion.

BTW -- I love the rubberized cable box on the roof and the predrilled hole through the metal body for antenna cables. It would have been even better if the hole was about 1" larger in diameter and the sharp metal edge protected with a large rubber grommet. Running my CB, UHF/VHF, cell booster, and Starlink (permanently installed on roof) antenna cables were an interesting challenge as they all went in at different times and I only cut myself twice.

Reach out if you have any questions about how I installed all the antennas on roof, built my own custom Starlink power supply (with wireless remotes for the power supply control), where/how I mounted the Starlink antenna or router, and/or how I routed the cables (nearly all unseen) throughout the rig.

Oh -- and that tiny tray to the right of the steering column? A perfect place for a small remote CB speaker.

Its crazy to think that we now have seven antennas on our roof... (the photo only shows three)

Live long to tell a great story!

-Bruce

[Eagle5]

Hi Bruce,
Thank you for the excellent report. A CB certainly fills the gaps for those remote locations, or when traveling with others. How spotty is cell phone service going up to Alaska?
Thanks, Eagle5

[Winterbagoal]

Not great on the Alaska Highway...at least 10 years ago, it was almost non-existent - doesn't look much better today.
https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/...s=a&pid=0&ds=0

CB radios don't fare much better in hilly, wooded, terrain.
https://www.wearecb.com/cb-radio-range.html

[Gizmoneer]

Originally Posted by Eagle5

Hi Bruce,
Thank you for the excellent report. A CB certainly fills the gaps for those remote locations, or when traveling with others. How spotty is cell phone service going up to Alaska?
Thanks, Eagle5

Sorry -- the answer is a classic "it depends" on cellular provider, size of city you are near, quality of your phone, phone's location in vehicle, and so on.

We have T-Mobile. Service in southern BC was not bad, though we were roaming. As we went further north and into Yukon, cell service was really only available near larger cities -- although I was surprised a number of times when out of the blue I started to receive queued text messages. Then almost as quick -- cell reception was gone. I figured had to do with where we were in relation to a mine or governmental facility. I continually forgot to turn on the cell booster -- so I can't give you a good read there. I probably should have left it on all the time.

We encountered essentially the same quality of service in Alaska - again roaming. Both CA and AK roaming means 5G data caps. Since we primarily used Starlink, those were not an issue.

Our best investment for communication with the family and world was installation of a Starlink system. At end of the travel day (and sometimes at a lunch stop), we turned the Starlink power on and suddenly we were connected to the world to check maps and weather plus make calls (VOIP) or send/receive texts. PLUS with Roku, we could watch our favorite YouTubers. Even at 60+ miles above the Arctic circle with a flat mounted Starlink Gen 3 antenna on the roof, we connected to the Internet at over 60Mbps (better than I get at home). We had excellent service in every place we parked with an open sky and the few times we stayed in RV parks -- the request for an open sky location was always met with open arms (everyone else asked for shade though it rained for nearly 4 weeks of our trip. Go figure.)

Hope this helps a tiny bit.

[Gizmoneer]

Originally Posted by Winterbagoal

Not great on the Alaska Highway...at least 10 years ago, it was almost non-existent - doesn't look much better today.
https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/...s=a&pid=0&ds=0

CB radios don't fare much better in hilly, wooded, terrain.
https://www.wearecb.com/cb-radio-range.html

If you really want to reach out and talk to the world consider becoming a ham radio operator -- OR take advantage of not being connected and listen to a good book (satellite radio leaves you mid-BC) or like we did for many thousands of miles -- enjoy the quiet or an occasional good conversation with a travel partner. The scenery and animals will often take your breath away -- so saving it is a good thing.

Personally, I monitored channel 19 for nearly entire trip with squelch turned up so only trucks nearby invaded my peace. They were the only ones that really mattered anyway (animals in road, terrible road sections, accidents, etc.) The truckers in Alaska were downright chatty.

One thing about Canadian heavy haulers I noticed -- many have CBs, few are used, and even fewer respond when an incident occurs. I asked a driver about this -- he said it had to do with who was primarily driving trucks in Canada. When you drive there, you'll figure that out.

Be well,

N7BDC

[Winterbagoal]

I posted a response to Eagle's question about cell service along the AlCan based on personal experience 8 years ago (there ain't much). Appparently the purpose of my response wasn't clear to everyone.
As far as the "reaching out to the world" comment, I have no intention of doing so now or in the future, unless I'm in need of some sort of assistance, and up there, that's also a there ain't much.
Do ham radios come with eggs and toast and coffee?

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by Winterbagoal

Do ham radios come with eggs and toast and coffee?

Yes indeed, that is green eggs and ham radios (ha-ha)
Coffee is a requirement for survival!!!
Thanks, Eagle5