{"id":2699,"date":"2021-12-08T05:03:07","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T21:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectkeira.com\/home\/?p=2699"},"modified":"2023-06-25T03:48:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T19:48:52","slug":"mic-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/mic-check\/","title":{"rendered":"Mic Check: In-Dash GMRS Port"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the features about the Midland MXT275 GMRS radio that caught my eye was that the main control\/handheld speaker mic unit was detachable via a standard CAT-5 connector on the end of the cord. This meant that when not in use, I could easily unplug it and store it out of sight (just like how I could just close the upper glove box to keep the MTX275 radio body out of sight). Of course, as is if I wanted to use the radio I would have to open the glove box each time to plug in the speaker mic. Some may have noticed that during the main MXT275 install I used a 90-degree CAT-5 extension cable, and this is why: I knew that part 2 of the radio install was going to be a custom externally accessible CAT-5 port. I decided that the perfect spot for this external port would be where the OEM 12v cigarette lighter socket was in the lower position of the center console. Of course – I ran into a small problem with this idea immediately: the only CAT-5 extension I could find suitable for this mod that would match my dash USB ports had a squared<\/em> bezel… but the center console dash receptacle openings were round<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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It was time for some DIY. First, using my trusty Dremel I started hacking away at the single USB port extension pictured above; however halfway through I stopped when I realized that the dual USB version of the USB port extension was almost the right “square” shape inside, and I wouldn’t have to file and mod so much plastic to get the CAT-5 socket to fit. So with that in mind, I tossed the single USB extension and restarted with the dual USB instead, removing the two USB port hardware first to get to just the round housing:<\/p>\n

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…then after removing the two metal USB shells, I hand carved the center out of the round receptacle using some side cutters, and X-acto knife, and a lot of patience. After about 20-minutes working on it, I got it to where the square-shaped CAT-5 metal socket fit right in with a very snug yet practically perfect fitment; I was very happy with how this portion of the mod turned out:<\/p>\n

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…however, I could no longer use the mounting rings to attach the socket to my dash, because look at the backside:<\/p>\n

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…but no problem, since the back of the center console panel would be non-visible, I decided to secure the custom CAT-5 plug in place (very secure!) with my handy hot glue gun and a generous amount of glue:<\/p>\n

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After letting the glue cool down and making sure everything was in the right place, here is how it ended up looking in the dash panel – matching with the aux USB port just above it:<\/p>\n

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…and back in the vehicle, all buttoned up. To use the Midland XT275 I just have to plug the microphone’s CAT-5 cable into the socket, and it’s ready to roll! If I’m only using the radio (and not the iPad mount) I don’t have to open the upper glove box door at all, keeping it stealth as a result:<\/p>\n

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The next job to do is also is the final part of this radio upgrade: where to put the antenna. That will be in the next mod post =)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the features about the Midland MXT275 GMRS radio that caught my eye was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,625,24],"tags":[721,719,63,354,599,597,153,720,144,406,607],"class_list":["post-2699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-custom-mods","category-electronicgadgets","category-off-roady-things","tag-cat-5","tag-custom-install","tag-custom-mod","tag-custom-mounting","tag-fcc","tag-gmrs","tag-midland","tag-mxt275","tag-off-road","tag-stealth","tag-usb-c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2699"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3135,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699\/revisions\/3135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectkeira.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}