tech sectiontech section
Citizens Band radio, commonly called CB radio, can provide a means of critical communication during road emergencies. Due to their low prices, CB radios offer a great alternative communication method for those on a budget. You can find one of these radios for well under $50 at various retail stores. When cellular phones fail in remote areas and during emergency road conditions, having the right type of CB radio can keep you informed and may even save your life.
When mounting a CB antenna to a car or house, few people stop to think about what effect those radio waves may have on the people around them. According to the FCC, a CB radio doesn't generate a strong enough signal to cause much harm, but there are still some precautions you can take to keep you and everyone around you safe.
For many people, the idea of CB radio brings to mind images of the classic 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit" or any of a host of other movies and shows that picked up on the CB craze of the 1970s. While the cellphone has by and large replaced the CB as a communications staple, there are still some compelling reasons to keep a CB radio in your car.
With an Android tablet connected to a mobile network, you have access to Internet radio wherever you are, even when you’re on the go. Gone are the days where you spin the car radio dial, searching for a radio station with the songs that you want: Internet radio services such as Spotify and Pandora craft music playlists based on your genre and artist interests. Listen to music your way by connecting your Android tablet to your car stereo.
When the FCC created the Citizen’s Band, it originally found use with hobbyists and casual users. As CB radios became smaller and more portable, however, the spectrum became a popular communication hub for interstate travelers, especially truckers. Over the years, CB users developed their own dictionary of slang terms, and listening to a conversation between seasoned truckers can be a bewildering experience for a neophyte.
"What are your numbers?" or "What's your handle?" mean about the same today as they did when the popularity of the CB radio was at its peak in the 1970s. But the dynamics of getting and using a CB handle or call letters have changed since then.
Your Citizens Band radio includes an array of controls for receiving, adjusting and listening to audio from other CB radio users. The radio's delta tune knob, also known as the clarifier control, reduces the amount of static present on the radio when communicating with another person. When turned one way or another, the knob reduces the pitch of the person's voice and makes the voice clearer and less squeaky.
Traffic officers sometimes employ an electronic device which can detect an operating radar detector in your car. The device has a sensitive radio receiver that picks up a tell-tale signal generated by the radar detector. Although most non-commercial drivers need not worry, states prohibit radar detectors in some circumstances.
If your iPad or iPad Mini has already become a constant business companion, there's no reason not to connect it to your car speakers while you're on the road. While early adopters had problems connecting an iPad to some car stereo systems, most of these bugs were worked out by the time the iPad 2 was released. As long as your iPad is running iOS 4.2 or later, it should work with most systems. Having a professional install an iPad Mini into your dashboard can run you over $800, plus the cost of the iPad. For the price of a…
Citizens Band radios are available as handheld walkie-talkies or mountable units. There are several different ways to provide power to a CB radio, and the ideal method depends on the intended use. A handheld radio may use disposable batteries exclusively, while a radio mounted in a vehicle might connect to the vehicle's electrical system. Depending on the application, you can also switch between battery or external power.
Whether it's a road trip, a long commute or just a run to the store, some good tunes can make any car ride more fun, and there are no better tunes than the ones you've put on your MP3 player yourself. Some newer models have auxiliary jacks for connecting audio devices via a 3.5 mm cord, but it's far from standard. Fortunately, there are other ways to play an MP3 player's output over a car radio.
FCC regulations allow CB radio users to broadcast with a power of 4 watts or less. This makes tuning your antenna essential in order to make sure that maximum power is being transmitted by your antenna, and to keep your CB radio usage trouble-free for years to come.
Communication is key when life's normal, and it's even more important in times of emergency. Earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters can wipe out or at least severely interrupt landline and mobile phone systems. Depending on the circumstances, there's a decent chance that in such moments a CB radio will get you connected to the outside world.
Communicating over radio waves is either a hobby or a job for many people, and the citizens band, or CB, frequencies cater to both. The Federal Communications Commission doesn't require any special license to use the citizens band, so anyone with a CB radio has free access to these frequencies, making the citizens band a captivating melting pot of communication. Listening in to all the CB activity in your community with your radio scanner isn't a complicated process -- it's simply a matter of tuning in to the right frequencies.
CB radios are used by hobbyists and professionals the world over to communicate with other nearby CB users. A CB has a maximum legal broadcast strength of around four miles, though the signal is subject to interference based on obstacles and the lay of the land. If you have a CB antenna but are not receiving much of a signal, there are several methods for increasing the range at which you can communicate.
While Citizen’s Band radios are intended for communications over short distances, from time to time, the band will “open." Instead of talking with a fellow CB’er over a few miles, communications over a much farther distance are possible when conditions and propagation are right. This is called "skip," which means a portion of the atmosphere called the ionosphere is reflecting signals back to earth -- sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles away.
The SanDisk Sansa Clip series of personal music players offers a lot of versatility when compared to some other units in its price range. Like most other player devices, Sansa Clip music players play digital music files over headphones. While SanDisk Sansa Clip music players offer no direct interface for connecting them to a car stereo, there are a number of adapters and cables you can use to play music from the device inside your automobile.
The Automatic Noise Limiter button on your CB radio reduces the amount of noise and audio interference coming from your automobile's engine and transmitted through your CB's speaker. The feature also filters out noise coming from power lines, atmospheric sound waves, cellular phones, heavy equipment and machines in the area you are using your CB radio. The ANL feature only reduces background noise and doesn't totally eliminate it.
CB radio was a very popular method of communicating while on the road before the cell phone took over as the mobile communication method of choice. While its popularity since the heydays of the 1970s has waned, it still sees a good deal of use among truckers and those on the road frequently.
If radio communications interest you, try Citizen’s Band radio. While the range of these radios with the proper antenna is generally on the order of a few miles, in the right conditions you can reach other stations that are hundreds -- if not thousands -- of miles away.
You can hook up an iPhone to a car stereo in a few different ways depending on the stereo in question. Hook up an iPhone to a car stereo with help from an Apple retail expert in this free video clip.
Plugging an iPad into the speakers of your car requires the use of a very specific type of cable. Plug an iPad into the speakers in your car with help from an Apple retail professional in this free video clip.
What is the Acura MDX? Is it an SUV with third-row seating, or is it a four-wheel drive minivan with a lift kit? Well, it started as an Acura TL, and grew from there into the Odyssey minivan. From the minivan, Honda added its VTM four-wheel-drive system and a few inches of ground clearance -- which makes it an SUV. But this SUV has third-row seating, which kind of makes it a station wagon. But, whatever you want to call it, the MDX was an upgrade over the Honda Pilot, and came with several amenities that the Pilot didn't, including…
Somewhere in Germany, there is a white-bearded man tying his shoes. He grasps the lace-ends using grasping pliers number 48759, and pulls them outward at a precise 45-degree angle. He uses a set of dial calipers to perfect the inner loop, and enlists Mechanical Chest Harness 941-F to complete it. Securing tool number 7467-A holds the knot 7.2 mm above the first dorsal interossecus bone, and the torque-limiting spring in Harness 941-F ensures the knot is tightened to the Prussian-traditional 4.1 newton-meters. Five hours later, at exactly 4:58 AM, Hans clocks into Volkswagen's speaker-retention design studio in Hamburg, where he…
The Eldorado nameplate has a long and storied history. Introduced in 1953 as a "personal luxury car," the Eldo was perhaps the definition of 1950s glorious excess. Massive by coupe standards, luxurious by any standards and with seating provisions for two, the Eldorado offered perhaps the highest vehicle-to-occupant weight ratio of any vehicle on this side of Yuri Gagarin's Vostok rocket assembly. But big weight is just a part of living big -- and in the 1990s, living big meant big sound as well. The Eldorado's rear speakers aren't difficult to replace. All the more reason to do it while…
Wiring the original-equipment stereo for your 2001 GMC Jimmy in a correct fashion is a critical part of the overall installation process. The vehicle's stereo wiring consists of several key elements, which give the unit's constant and switched power, the electrical ground, speaker wires, dimmer signal and radio antenna. Although the unit itself requires many wiring connections to operate properly, all of the needed wires, with exception of the antenna, are conveniently assembled into a single proprietary connector.
Hey, there, Burt -- maybe it's time to hop in the old Trans Am, head down to your local super-center and pick up a cell phone like the rest of the world. Prepaid phones: about twenty bucks, all day long. Of course, those phones only work in certain areas, have a battery that won't outlast a case of malted beverage, and will cost you $60 a month to use. Much as it might gall the pocket-protector crowd, the good, old-school civilian band radio still has a place on modern trucks; maybe someone should mention that to the people who design…
Similar to the process of breaking-in a new engine to obtain maximum performance and proper initial wear or “seating” for certain mechanical components, the question of how to break-in an aftermarket audio system is up for contentious debate among many audio enthusiasts. While breaking-in an audio system is not as critical as that of a performance engine, special considerations should be taken into account before pressing your new speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers to the max.
Hyundai's 2005 Elantra was equipped with a four-speaker entertainment system, which placed a single speaker in both front doors with the remaining speakers concealed under the rear package shelf below the rear windshield. While these speakers were not the most powerful models on the market, they performed well enough for most Elantra owners. Replacing the rear speakers calls for the removal of the rear seat and several trim panels, including the package shelf. Although it may appear difficult at first, the job can be completed by most Elantra owners armed with a basic mechanic's tool set.
When installing car speakers, you should look at your mounting points and remove any electrical connections before taking out the factory speakers. Learn about mounting new car speakers with help from a car audio specialist in this free video on installing car speakers.
Cars and phones don't mix, or do they? Ride with our tech guru, Emily, as she explores ways for you to connect to the world through your smartphone, while keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.
The front door speakers on a 1992 Volkswagen Jetta are set inside the lower-left corner of each front door panel. Unlike many other vehicles, the entire door panel does not need to be removed to access the speaker; Volkswagen engineered a removable speaker grill that allows access to the speaker assembly. Each speaker is held in place with four steel screws and has a two-wire electrical connector attached to the rear side of the speaker that provides the electrical signal from the stereo.
The 1998 Volkswagen Passat relied on an eight-speaker audio system mated to a combination AM-FM radio and cassette player. Pairs of domed speakers mounted behind both front door rearview mirrors and inset into the rear door panels provided high-range audio response, while a woofer-type was fitted to the bottom of each door to fill in the mid-range and bass responses. The front woofer speakers are riveted into place and can be accessed by removing the front door panel. The tweeters, however, are permanently affixed to their triangular trim panels, making it necessary to replace the entire panel should a tweeter…
The Chevrolet Malibu began production in the 1964 model year and ran consecutively until 1983 before falling prey to the fuel economy trend. Nearly a decade and a half later, Chevrolet reintroduced the famous nameplate for the 1997 model year. By 2002, the Malibu had once again become a staple of the Chevrolet lineup. Due to the economical pricing needs of the Malibu's target audience, the 2002 Malibu was not equipped with premium stereo speakers. However, you can remove the factory speakers and install upgraded ones in less than an hour.
When the Mustang debuted midway through the 1964 model year, a convertible was one of the two body styles available. From 1971 through 1982, there was no convertible option for the Mustang. The drop-top sort of returned in the 1983 model year, but it was a conversion that an outside company performed, not a factory option. In 1994, the convertible returned as a factory-installed option on the Mustang. The 2005 Mustang convertible was only available with the base 4.0-liter V-6 engine and came with a four-speaker sound system. Ford positioned the rear speakers behind the rear quarter panel on the…
In 1997, Ford closed the door on the aging Bronco and opened a new door by releasing the all-new Expedition. The 2006 Expedition came fitted with a 300-horsepower, 5.4-liter V-8 engine and AM-Fm radio with a cassette and CD player. The 2006 Expedition also had an optional remote CD changer, which Ford mounted in the center console. Replacing the radio and CD changer in the 2006 Expedition is a straightforward task, but the radio requires you to remove a large trim panel to access its mounting hardware.
The front door speakers in a 1996 GMC Suburban are located behind the front door panel. The front door panel must be removed in order to access the speakers. Each speaker is secured to the door frame with two sheet metal screws. As the speakers age, they are subject to malfunctioning. Malfunctioning speakers may hiss, rattle, or emit a buzzing sound. Replacement speakers are available from a number of aftermarket manufacturers and retail stores.
The rear speakers in a 2001 Buick Regal are located underneath the rear window shelf trim panel. In many vehicles, the rear speakers can be accessed by simply opening the trunk and removing screws from underneath the rear window shelf. The procedure for replacing the speakers in a 2001 Buick Regal is more complicated and involves removing the entire back seat including the cushion and seat back in order to access the speakers.
Toyota released the front-wheel-drive Sienna minivan in 1998. The 2000 Sienna is powered by a transverse-mounted 3.0-liter V-6 engine with electronic fuel injection. Toyota equipped the Sienna with speakers in the front doors and rear quarter panels. Some models have optional tweeters mounted in the windshield pillars. The rear speakers are hidden behind plastic covers and can be readily accessed. Replacement speakers are available from aftermarket sources that will offer superior sound over stock units.
Toyota completely redesigned the Corolla in the 2009 model year, which launched the 10th generation for the popular compact vehicle. This new body style was far and away the most beautiful to date and bore a striking resemblance to its big brother, the Camry. The 2009 Corolla came standard with an AM-FM audio system that featured a CD-player and four speakers. Replacing the door-mounted speakers on the base level 2009 Corolla is a straightforward task that involves removing the door panel.
The 1990 Toyota Corolla features a four-speaker sound system, as well as a standard AM/FM radio or optional stereo cassette player. Replacing a damaged or blown rear speaker will help restore the audio system's left and right stereo bias. Because of the vehicle's age and original speaker materials used at the time of manufacture, you should replace both rear speakers with a matching modernized set if possible.
Americans spend nearly 20 hours per week in their cars, according to OnEarth Magazine. However, in an increasingly connected world, your smartphone or tablet computer can serve as your in-car technology center, providing you with detailed information about your trip while playing audio and keeping you connected to the Internet. Only some newer cars have built-in dashboard systems that offer Bluetooth networking for your smartphone, but you can set up connections in any car by using smartphone accessories.
The Chrysler Concorde was one of the first of a long line of Chryslers in the early to mid-1990s intended to rebuild a slowly decaying lineup. Specifically, the Concorde’s responsibility was to replace the very much outdated Fifth Avenue. The 1998 Concorde had an optional center speaker, which Chrysler mounted in the middle of the dashboard. Upon first glance, this speaker may seem a lost cause when it fails because of its positioning in the dash. But Chrysler made the upper dashboard panel removable, which greatly reduces the amount of work required to install a center speaker in the 1998…
Citizen's band, or CB, radios offer reliable and consistent performance in the home or mobile environment for communicating through short wave. The operation of a CB radio usually involves pressing the "Talk" button and releasing it when you want to hear the response. Tweaking the CB radio's modulation allows you to increase the performance of the radio, especially in areas of interference.
Linear amplifiers are useful for boosting citizen's band radio above other radio noise. Connecting these amplifiers and integrated drivers to a CB radio is a quick process if you're already competent enough to install your CB. Using these amps is a way to boost signal strength with your existing antenna array, using common coaxial cables.
Nissan's 2008 Altima was offered in several trim levels, ranging from the base 2.5-liter four-cylinder model to the sportier 3.5-liter V-6 Coupe. While the high-end trim levels were equipped with a premium Bose-developed nine-speaker sound system, lower-end Altima models were fitted with a standard six-speaker system mated to a single-disc CD player. This fact isn't enough to stop the true automotive audiophile, as the stock speakers can be replaced with high-quality aftermarket speakers. Removing the front door-mounted speakers can be accomplished by removing the door panel that conceals the speakers' mounting points.
Bose factory car stereos are no different than any other when it comes to dirt and grime accumulating behind the volume knob. This is especially true in a mobile environment, where dust particles, pollen and other contaminants find their way in easily. Bose car stereo owners with this situation report fuzzy and erratic volume operation. Cleaning the contacts behind a Bose volume knob is a relatively straightforward process, using compressed air and contact cleaner.
For visual flash and solid sound quality, Plexiglass is commonly chosen when building car audio subwoofer boxes. Plexiglass' transparency and dense nature allow nearly as much flexibility as the more commonly used medium density fiberboard. Plexiglass can also be bent into curved shapes, added to existing medium density fiberboard enclosures, and polished or made into a satin finish. The effect of Plexiglass on your speaker box is therefore a matter of your construction technique and overall goals.
If you are upgrading the stereo system in your 2002 Chrysler 300M, or you need to replace a damaged speaker, you need to know how to access the old one first. A do-it-yourselfer can remove and replace the speaker with little trouble using a few basic tools you can find in most home toolboxes. Unlike some cars, you do not have to remove the dash to gain access to the speaker.
A Global Positioning System has many of the same characteristics as a standard radio, which acts as a receiver for signals sent by an external source. Jamming is possible with a GPS just like it was with the old-style radios in World War II. Once you understand the basics of these systems, you will be able to define terms like J/S jamming.
