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gm Delco factory cb radio option

wazzabie

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Did the K5 Blazer come from the factory with an option for the GM Delco CB radio? Where was the CB antenna mounted for these? Was the windshield antenna ever used for the CB?
 
Not sure if the trucks came with them optional,but I had 2 of those AM-FM-CB's and one was from a late 70's Caddy,the other from a similar year Olds Toronado...

One of them had a seperate "box" under the dash for the CB portion that was coupled to the dash unit with cables--I sold the dash radio part to a guy at a swap meet who only wanted that part alone,despite me telling him to "take everything"...
The other radio is "all in one unit" ,I still have it,and it works ok,but one channel doesn't play,so its no longer "stereo"--probably just needs an output transistor...

Both units I had,used a "splitter" to allow the CB to use the same antenna as the Am-FM radio..

I was tempted to put it in one of my trucks,but decided I'd rather have a CD player--I have some CB's still collecting dust in my garage I could put in them too..(and police scanners!)..heck,I even have a Am-Fm-8 track thats brand new--I kept several dozen old radios when one parts store I worked at moved to a new location,they let me take the entire "display wall" with the radios and speakers..sold most of them off,kept a few..
 

Interesting. One of those options available that you pretty much never see. Expensive option at $351 back in 1980! That is the only one I looked at, but it specifies no windshield antenna with that option.

I've got a few of those things, when the cars were still in the 'yards I'd grab every one I could get my hands on, that had the digital display. Almost all of the early digital radio's (no idea if Delco got better later) need someone to go through them and fix all the bad soldering in them. The current one in the truck doesn't have the CB hooked up, but the display is somewhat screwed up, and the volume control doesn't work unless you turn the radio off, then to the lowest setting, then turn it up. And the cassette deck stopped working, so no tape adapter.

BTW, for anyone sticking with the old radios, they now (new to me anyway) make bluetooth tape adapters. I'd really rather do an aux. input and eliminate the potential failure of the cassette mechanism, but a bluetooth adapter would certainly be the easiest solution.
 
There were some GM accessory antennas available.

chevyaccessory12.jpg
 
I have two delco radios. One with am/fm and the other am/fm cassette with stereo. I would like to install bluetooth in the radio.
 
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Not sure if the trucks came with them optional,but I had 2 of those AM-FM-CB's and one was from a late 70's Caddy,the other from a similar year Olds Toronado...

One of them had a seperate "box" under the dash for the CB portion that was coupled to the dash unit with cables--I sold the dash radio part to a guy at a swap meet who only wanted that part alone,despite me telling him to "take everything"...
The other radio is "all in one unit" ,I still have it,and it works ok,but one channel doesn't play,so its no longer "stereo"--probably just needs an output transistor...

Both units I had,used a "splitter" to allow the CB to use the same antenna as the Am-FM radio..

I was tempted to put it in one of my trucks,but decided I'd rather have a CD player--I have some CB's still collecting dust in my garage I could put in them too..(and police scanners!)..heck,I even have a Am-Fm-8 track thats brand new--I kept several dozen old radios when one parts store I worked at moved to a new location,they let me take the entire "display wall" with the radios and speakers..sold most of them off,kept a few..
Are you interested in selling your all in one delco cb radio?
 
Could the cb be run thru a window antenna?

I doubt it. At least not effectively: http://www.wearecb.com/how-to-tune-cb-antenna.html

You really want the antenna unshielded from every angle if possible, even if the windshield antenna worked, you'd need to turn the truck towards the signal to get best reception. As weak as CB signals (stock) are that would be a huge handicap.
 
The two cars I got the CB/AM/FM radios from had a factory splitter thing that let the CB use the same antenna ,and I think one of them was hooked to the "in the windshield" antenna too,though I bet the CB performance was less than stellar with that antenna..

I'd sell all of what I have left as far as the radios go,cheep too,because they have sat in my house garage many years since the last time I wired the "all in one" unit up and tried it...still worked ok then other than the dead channel,should still be ok,but who knows.....doubt I'd ever use it ...
 
The two cars I got the CB/AM/FM radios from had a factory splitter thing that let the CB use the same antenna ,and I think one of them was hooked to the "in the windshield" antenna too,though I bet the CB performance was less than stellar with that antenna..

I'd sell all of what I have left as far as the radios go,cheep too,because they have sat in my house garage many years since the last time I wired the "all in one" unit up and tried it...still worked ok then other than the dead channel,should still be ok,but who knows.....doubt I'd ever use it ...


I'm interested. PM sent.
 
I had a late 70's Chrysler antenna splitter, it did work, but not the best, there was no ground and it was just using the small fender mount antenna.

I also have a mid 80's aftermarket splitter that I found in the junkyard, I'd say its just as good, or not good, as the Chrysler factory one.


Go get a 102" and be happy.
 
If you have a good match box, you can couple a CB or Ham rig to just about anything and it will transmit and let the radio see an almost perfect match......
But that does not mean you will get good results.
I was heavily into CB and Ham in the days when the multi use radios and windshield antennas came out. Not sure if I ever saw a factory CB that used the windshield antenna, but I put in a few.
Not great results, and you MUST NOT run any serious power.
Friend of mine tried that, smoked the little splitter/match box, blew the front end out of his AM/FM radio, and put two long continuous bubbles in his windshield.
Those windshield antennas were two thin wires that ran up the center of the windshield and across the top. They were inbetween the two pieces of safety glass in the "jelly".
He boiled the jelly..........
 
The co-worker at the junkyard tried hooking the "in the windshield" antenna to 12V and ground in his truck ,thinking he could use it as a defroster grid,like the rear windows on some vehicles have...he tried this on a cold winter day..

When he turned on the toggle switch he wired it too,everything was great for about a minute--the frost started melting off the window,and he was pleased...then---CRRRRAACKK !...the windshield spiderwebbed in spectacular fashion...:eek:..:blush:..
Good thing there was still a few good windshields in junk trucks in the junkyard..
 
Lincoln did that in a very few limited windshields back in the day. They actually put very fine gold powder between the panes of glass. Then they added a second high voltage alternator just for the defog function.
It put out about 120V, three phase AC.
The gold conducted just enough current to warm up the glass evenly. I never saw one break. I would hate to think what a replacement windshield would cost.
Of course gold was a lot cheaper back then.
 
There actually was a '69 or '70 Lincoln Mark series in the junkyard,that had that rare factory option--the 120V alternator was still intact,and it had "WARNING" stickers on it saying it was "HIGH VOLTAGE" and only authorized personel should service it...if I remember right,it also had hydraulic powered windshield wipers !..

The boss had several old Lincolns in his collection and wanted to put that windshield and alternator setup in one of his cars--but two days after he mentioned doing it,some kids visited the yard after dark and decided to peg rocks at windows--and the Lincoln's windshield had a softball sized rock sticking out of the windshield...that ended that!..

One Lincoln we had there,a 1960,surprised us when we picked it up with the forkloader--the car had a factory stainless steel dual exhaust system,the pipes gleamed like chrome,even after 40+ years...they were sold to a guy with a '65 Tempest GTO clone and he actually used the system on that car,with a few minor modifications..
 
There was a factory setup on some of the early Lincolns that I really liked. I think it was on a 74 if I remember right. The horn button was a rubber ring that ran around the inside of the steering wheel.
It did not stick out, it just felt like a friction ring or something.
But, when you squeezed the wheel anywhere, the horn blew.

I loved it. Not only could you blow the horn without taking your hand off the wheel, but if something bad happened in front of you, you pretty much automatically blew the horn when you grabbed the wheel harder.
 
There was a factory setup on some of the early Lincolns that I really liked. I think it was on a 74 if I remember right. The horn button was a rubber ring that ran around the inside of the steering wheel.
It did not stick out, it just felt like a friction ring or something.
But, when you squeezed the wheel anywhere, the horn blew.

I loved it. Not only could you blow the horn without taking your hand off the wheel, but if something bad happened in front of you, you pretty much automatically blew the horn when you grabbed the wheel harder.

Cool. Kinda like the horn ring on my grandpa's old Mopar:

chappell643.jpg


steering-wheel-dashboard.jpg


(stock photos, our was broken).
 

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