Miata?

[Ian]

Has anybody mounted a radio in a Miata before?  Any advice on antenna mounting?  

 

I'm planning to mount both a GMRS and a CB.  GMRS is probably a Midland MXT-275 or 575, and the CB is probably going to be a Cobra 75.  That way the radios can be stashed away in the trunk next to the battery, and a simple USB or Ethernet extension cord run to a convenient spot in the cab.  I'm hard-over on the remote-control-head style radio, and I want it to be something that I can set up and tell a less-technical user "here's how you turn it on.  Put it on channel four, and leave it there".  Or in the case of the Midland, get the handpiece with the volume knob,  set it,  lock the buttons, and the only controls they have to think about are "talk" and "volume".   

 

Anyway, I've agreed that I can't drill for antenna mounting, so I'm looking for alternatives.  I'm leaning towards clamp-on trunk-lip mounts at the moment, but I'm eager to see what others have done so far!  

 

On one of the Miata forums, some dude is selling an antenna tuner that allows the factory power antenna to work for both the stereo and CB at the same time, so that's a strong contender for the CB antenna.  There are also third-party power antennas designed to work for both at once from the factory, though they're all looking pretty "new old stock" at the moment.

[BoxCar]

10 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

Wow. Ok well I always hate when some one says they are going midland radios.  

And has been stated, you are entitled to your views on radios, but those of us who are regulars on this forum are very tired of your rant and claims of hitting repeaters 200 miles away with your handheld. 

[tweiss3]

I guess it depends on which year Miata, but GMRS could be as simple as a 6" whip middle of the trunk lid with an NMO mount. The CB will be harder. I'm not sure how effective the stock power antenna is, or how well it will resonate for CB, even with a matching coil or tuner. Ideally, you would be looking at something with length, like the Larsen NMO27B (49") on the trunk lid. There are other options for CB, but the real trick to CB is getting a good long antenna that resonates.

For radio choice, I can understand wanting a handheld control head for space reasons. You may have to mount external speakers for each under the seats you can hear them, wind noise at highway speeds can really drown out the radios.

[OffRoaderX]

1 hour ago, WRXP381 said:

I always hate when some one says they are going midland radios.  Sooooo many better cheaper options but you want “simple”.  To me any radio is simple to use if it’s programmed correctly.  I mean if a 5year old can turn on a ham radio, select a pre save and talk then any one can.

I always hate when someone is completely incapable of grasping the concept that different people have different wants, needs, and priorities than themselves.  The only thing more perplexing than that, is how willing 'some people' are to demonstrate to everyone how they are totally devoid of these basic mental abilities.

But.. that's just me...

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, OffRoaderX said:

But.. that's just me...

Nope, there are a lot of us here who feel exactly the same way. You just got to your keyboard first and you said it very well. 

[WRYZ926]

Nothing wrong with Midland radios for their simplicity and ease of use.

A lip mount  or a magnet mount in the middle of the trunk lid should work fine on the Miata. 

I have used those devices that will allow the stock antenna to work for CB years ago. They never did work as well as a dedicated CB antenna. So you might want to look at two separate antennas for CB and GMRS.

[amaff]

I run a KG-905G in my race car with a Midland 'ghost' antenna (and a helmet 'headset' setup using semi-custom ear buds and a mic on the chin bar).

...I'm not sure that's what you're going for. For testing, I reached out on a couple local repeaters at 20 and 50 miles. It works at the track pretty well too

 

In the past I ran a Nagoya UT-72G mag-mount on the strip of body work between the rear of the top and the trunk lid, and that worked well too.
 

[WRXP381]

Wow. Ok well I always hate when some one says they are going midland radios.  Sooooo many better cheaper options but you want “simple”.  To me any radio is simple to use if it’s programmed correctly.  I mean if a 5year old can turn on a ham radio, select a pre save and talk then any one can.   As for the mount a lip mount with an mxt26 will get you many fars. It won’t have the best ground plane but the Miata is so low it’s not going to see over anything anyway.     As for cb? I haven’t played with cb since I was 9 so I don’t know what’s out there.   Maybe a lip mount for one and a mag mount for the other.