[ S O L V E D ]Compact radios

I personally don’t recommend the cobra 19DXIV radio. It has pretty nice sounding transmit audio, but the receive is really crappy and noisy. At least the one I own isn’t very good.

 

I forgot to mention that I’ve heard that the uniden 510 or 520 radios are good. I don’t have any experience with those radios though.

 

Uniden 680 in my Tacoma...


Uniden 520xl in my Suburban...

Both are good radios (for what they are) IMO the 520 has a better receive to it, but both make nice in-dash installs since they have small cabinets...And if you run a Amp behind them no one is going to know on the receiving-end you have a "ettie-bittie-radio!"

...and I agree, the Cobra DXIV is a "POS"...

 

Wow, that’s probably the nicest cb installs I’ve seen in awhile. That 680 looks like it was factory designed for your Tacoma, very nice looking.

 

I recently had a Smart CB installed in the 09 Sonata I inherited from my stepfather. Running it into a Browning 27 MHz NMO mount on rear fender and it is performing well. Downside is this radio needs some de-soldering of SMT circuit board components to operate on USA CB frequencies. Another downside, is that bank has the 40 USA channels plus another 40 of I-don't-know-what, above them, which can be problematic when scanning. Otherwise, seems like a good radio for just under $60 on Amazon.

 

Jessejamesdallas, that is a good looking install you have there! Point of curiosity, what year is your Tacoma? I know each year, the manufacturers (all of them) find new ways to engineer out any conceivable space where one might wish to put a CB, ham, GMRS, or like radio. Even Jeeps and F-150's have fallen victim to this nonsense. You did good in getting around it!

 

It's a 2001 Tacoma pre-runner. Another thing about that install, is I painted the face of the radio so it would match the interior color on the dash. (trim-black, which is sort of a eggshell black...not glossy and not flat either) The 680 measures 6x6x2", so it fit perfect where the little plastic tray was...I did have to use a elbow coax adapter on the back of the radio so I could connect the coax because there's a AC duct thing running behind the radio which also limits how long the radio can be to get it to fit...The external speaker fit perfect also where the ashtray was at...Just took out the ashtray, and the speakers bracket fit perfect in the space without having to do any cutting...so if I decide to get rid of the truck, I can put the ashtray back, and the plastic glove box thing and no one will be able to tell a radio was ever installed.


Here's what it looks like at night.

 

I have the same truck (actually a 2004 4X4 model) and I had the same issue. Anytone Smart is what I use. Originally had it mounted where the ashtray was, now I have it in the cubby pocket.