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Thread: Getting CB and Ham to come through the stereo 96 3rd gen 4runner

  1. #1

    Getting CB and Ham to come through the stereo 96 3rd gen 4runner

    This is a two part project. I cant hear my CB or Ham radio (yes I have loud ext speakers) very well when the air conditioning is on or the windows are down on the interstate. I researched fixes and nothing seemed very good or very cheap. I think I have found something that will work good for me and thats to pipe them into the car stereo. I'm going to have to figure out two different things to make this work.

    radio.JPG


    1. I need to add a AUX input to my stock radio or buy a cheap head unit. There are a few solutions that add a AUX jack but they are more money then a new head unit.

    -This radio used to have a 3 CD disk changer(model L4200) so there is a audio input pathway for that on the head unit. The CD path does not sound like it will work without figuring out how to fool the radio into thinking there is still a CD changer plugged in. I would have better luck connecting a Ipod I think.

    -It also has a tape player(model 51706) and that also has a audio input pathway. The tape player sounds like a easy target and has been used before on other Toyota radios. The audio lines from the tape deck are disconnected but the tape motor drive is still working so that allows it to think everything is normal.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRIswrodoM8



    2. I learned on expo that I need to make a passive mixer that can deal with speaker level outputs(Ham, CD) and line level outputs(tablet, phone). As long as I am piping coms into the stereo then the phone and tablet should be piped in too. That way I can get rid of the two ext speakers and the bluetooth-FM transmitter. The mixer will take all of these input sources and combine them into the one AUX input.

    -A passive mixer will isolate the outputs from one another so that they are protected from each other and damage. It does this with just resisters but will attenuate the signal some depending on resister value. Knowing nothing about the signals I guessed some resister values based on others projects.

    -Normal speakers are not ideal for Ham or CB. Dedicated coms speakers lack performance on freqs outside the human voice range. I expect to have a bit more static coming through then I have now and hope the overall set up dosnt induce too much noise.

    -I'm going to try and use variable resisters to bring the Ham and CB to a slightly higher volume at a given car radio volume.

  2. #2
    I've got an aux output on my stereo that I've tried this with.

    On my dual band radio I run an aux speaker, Midland 30 watt, because the radio is in the dash and it's hard to hear on the road if the windows are down. I built a cord that goes from the back of the radio, through the console and under my seat where I have the speaker. The end of the cord is a female audio port that I plug my Midland speaker into. I also have an extension cord to plug in so that I can move the speaker outside of the cab if need be. At times when I'm driving and my passengers (wife and kids) have no interest in what I'm listening to I can plug head phones into the cord and listen peacefully.

    My ipod is wired to the stereo via USB port which leaves the stereo aux audio port open. In the past I've used it to connect to my phone for Pandora and stored songs. Audio quality was pretty poor and not worth it. Since I had that cord already run, hidden to the dash I tried plugging my Yaseu into it.

    The audio quality through the factory speakers was weird. Kind of a whirly sound with an echo. I tried moving the fade front to back and it remained the same. I'm not sure if it was the speakers, interference or something else but it wasn't easy to listen to. The volume was there but not the quality. Perhaps the Expo write up has more information.

  3. #3
    I found this pretty interesting. I found it poking around one day. I doubt you'd find one of these for cheap, just to pull components out of, but maybe it has some of what you're after.

    http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series...formation.html

  4. #4
    Sound quality will be really up in the air. My stock system dosnt have too much base and its the 6 speaker set up so I assume it has some sort of band pass to make the tweeters work. I think it will be ok.

    The research I've done shows its about a 50/50 split with people and if this works well enough for them. Cb people tend to be almost always happy with it, so I wonder how critical hams are being or if the FM does not do well. For the ham reviews it always comes back to superiority of a dedicated com speaker and that's 100% true so long as you can hear it.

    That CB is cool, but the methods of getting the audio through the speakers are already available through a few solutions. Cheaply is always my preferred way lol. The aux mod to the stock radio (providing it works) should be a ~$4 mod.

    heres the first circuit idea I have based on what I have seen. I'm looking to see if caps are necessary or not.
    mixer.JPG

    wish list for project.
    -(medium)Auto ducking of all other inputs when activity on either of the CB or ham lines
    - (easy)push button switch to kill all other inputs but the Ham/CB IE turn off the music with one button not fumble with a bunch of separate touch screen volume sliders.
    -(easy) ground loop isolator. Just a transformer, but not even sure its needed. Similar designs seem to used them on the Ham/cb I think since they share a ground with the car radio.
    Last edited by troyboy162; 11-01-2013 at 03:22 AM.

  5. #5
    this guy makes a really nice mixer with channel priority (ducking). For $70 its tempting to contact him for something custom.
    http://jeffmccracken0.tripod.com/AudioBox/audiobox.html

    learning about VOX circuits that could be used to auto duck the other inputs. I think this is worth looking into. Not too many componets here. Possibly the circuit could be broken into two seperat mixers. One for the CB/Ham and one for the music. The the Vox circuit could control a normaly closed switch to swap to CB ham when present.

    http://circuit-diagram.hqew.net/Basi...-PTT_4656.html
    Last edited by troyboy162; 11-01-2013 at 04:55 AM.

  6. #6
    Theoretical circuit..... Not sure about the vox working right or the mono to stereo conversion being correct. This will keep the music off for 10-20 seconds after the ham/cb transmission ends so its plenty of time for me to reply.


    for web.JPG
    Last edited by troyboy162; 11-02-2013 at 04:21 AM.

  7. #7
    the circuit dosnt simulate worth a crap lol. I have asked for help on the QRZ forums.

  8. #8
    Going back to your first post. Why not move the aux speakers? It seems like you'll be in some money and time to build something you'll need to find space for. What about building an aux speaker housing, with the speakers you'll need, and placing that closer to your ears.

    In the headrests




    Or near the head rest.




    Or the headliner


    Or in the B pillar.
    Or near it like this.

  9. #9
    I went down this road since a resister mixer could do the same job as relocated speakers. If my CB/HAM have to fight to be heard over my truck stereo then I can do that through the stereo. Adding the vox circuit should be easy, but its being a pain in the butt.

  10. #10
    The qrz guys got me straighten out. Its still along way from soldered in hand but its lookin up!

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