CB antenna mount locations

[delcogod]

I've been using a magnetic mount, (through thr third brake light). My garage door took care of that tonight. Has anyone ever tried a permanent mount on the bed rail top or a mirror mount instead of on the roof? Was there a difference in reception and did the SWR's change for the worse. I have a meter. Thanks for any info.

[merc2dogs]

performance depends a lot on how far you want to talk. I mean do you most often talk to people nearby on the trail, or try to talk long distance?

for trail talk, anyplace that gives a good match will work great.

Mirror mounts are good, but sometimes get annoying if you drive with the windows down.

I prefer a roof mount, or a 102" whip on the rear bumper. That's the best all-around antenna made, and takes abuse without a whimper, I've never lost or broke one on the trail. Plus it's cheap and doesn't attract thieves. Only problem with the 102 is overhead clearance.


Ken.

[IRKillroy]

performance depends a lot on how far you want to talk. I mean do you most often talk to people nearby on the trail, or try to talk long distance?

for trail talk, anyplace that gives a good match will work great.

Mirror mounts are good, but sometimes get annoying if you drive with the windows down.

I prefer a roof mount, or a 102" whip on the rear bumper. That's the best all-around antenna made, and takes abuse without a whimper, I've never lost or broke one on the trail. Plus it's cheap and doesn't attract thieves. Only problem with the 102 is overhead clearance.


Ken.


if it flexes then just tie it off at the front.... the Military uses monster tall whips and we have a rope and clip that when we are driving in garrison (in the US for non speakers) we pull the rear bumper mounted whip to the front and put the clip on.... looks like a giant arc.

[Scrambler82]

Mounting the antenna sets up the transmission pattern for the vehicle.
Mounted in the rear the transmit pattern will go toward the front, if mounted to one side the pattern will be toward to opposite side of the antenna.

Also, mounting in the rear tend to bring in fuel pump noise, toward the front brings in engine noise, everything in a CB system is a compromise so the mounting position needs to be first where you wanted it and second where is matches best without a lot of noise.

there are Quick Disconnects (QD) to remove the antenna before going into areas with low overhead clearance. These QDs do cause some matching problems but most can be overcome.

Mounting the antenna on the bed rails and/or mirrors can cause interference with the body of the vehicle reducing the overall performance or transmitting distance.
Dual Antennas are a thought but you need at least 1/2 wave length between the antennas to get the best performance and distance, i.e. 1/2 wave length for the 11 meter band for CBs is 18 feet. The 6 feet you will get on a pickup will not work well. Also when tuning dual antenna you need a Co-Phased Harness and you will need to tune each antenna using a piece of 50 ohm coax, once tuned you need to add the Co-Phased Coax Harness which attaches the antennas to the CB.

Still the best location for an Antenna is on the roof centered on the vehicle if possible, the higher the better.

Luck,

[mwood1985]

mine is centered on the back wall of the bed directly behind the cab 102 inch whip and 15 feet of coax on a cobra 29 i regularly get out about 10 to 15 miles at night and as far a overhead clearance goes the spring lets in ride nice

[Brandon12]

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n93/beaverill/rangerbuilttough.jpg

Only pic I have of where I mounted my firestick. Its tuned and so is my cb so I get out pretty good. I think it looks good there and its very easy.

[Scrambler82]

The only problem with 102 inch whips is that they whip around and can cause issues as stated above but some off-road parks and some clubs won't let you in with one on the vehicle.
The newer fiberglass antennas and the high performance loaded units are newer designed to reduce incoming noise, which is always a problem with CBs.
A Wilson Magnet or Permanent Mount based loaded antennas or one of their Flex-i-Whip Fiberglass (available from 2 ft to 7) will work really well.

[6cylboy]

I keep messing with mine. I have it on my lumber rack on the passenger side and my SWR reading is telling me the antenna is electrically short. So either it doesn't have enough ground plane to reflect off of, or I need to get a spring to raise it. I am remounting the antenna dead center today, I will let you know how it works out. Good luck

[The Fox]

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n93/beaverill/rangerbuilttough.jpg

Only pic I have of where I mounted my firestick. Its tuned and so is my cb so I get out pretty good. I think it looks good there and its very easy.

Can you post a pic of where you routed the wires and how you mounted the mount? I was thinking of getting that mount, but I would not figure out how to do it.
Nick

[5speedin2.3]

Just get a Wilson magnet mount. You won't be disappointed.

You can remove the mast from the Wilson 1000/5000 antenna, I'm not sure about the Wilson 500 or Little Will.

[85_Ranger4x4]

I used to have a mag mount smack in the middle of the roof on my Ranger... I will never do that again. 6 years later you can still see the spot where it useed to be in the paint.

[Scrambler82]

Mag mounts can damage the paint but some Duck Tape on the magnet helps a lot, six years later who knows but it could help some.

A quick way to fix the magnet mount problem is to run a piece of 1x3 Tubing on the cab end of the bed up to the cab roof and add a round plate at the top to mount the antenna to. Mount the Tubing to the bed with thru bolts in two or three places, ground one of the mounting bolts to the frame, re-adjust the SWR, problem solved.

Wilson makes one of the better commercially available CB Antennas; there are others out there but none with the technology behind it as with Wilson and there are others manufacturers that are a little more specialized making only one or two antennas but for a quickie, Wilson will do it.

p.s. another thing to consider, buy the "1/2 Wave" version of the antenna.

[85_Ranger4x4]

A quick way to fix the magnet mount problem is to run a piece of 1x3 Tubing on the cab end of the bed up to the cab roof and add a round plate at the top to mount the antenna to. Mount the Tubing to the bed with thru bolts in two or three places, ground one of the mounting bolts to the frame, re-adjust the SWR, problem solved.

Why not just mount it to the bed rather than making a mag mount bracket? I took half of a mirror mount (two peices that are supposed to clamp something) and drilled 4 holes in the side of the bed on the driver's side and mounted the antenea there.

Besides, now that both trucks are kept indoors, I don't have the clearance for anything to be sticking up off of the roof.

[WNY964x4]

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/Blue00Ranger/the%20ranger/181.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/Blue00Ranger/the%20ranger/104_1695.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/Blue00Ranger/the%20ranger/104_1696.jpg

this how i have mine set up , i have always had them like this , either mounted to a backrack or directly to the cab or to the box , never had any major problems , they are currently 44 inches apart , and in the first pic you can barely see the 102'' on my dads bravada

[Scrambler82]

Why not just mount it to the bed rather than making a mag mount bracket? I took half of a mirror mount (two peices that are supposed to clamp something) and drilled 4 holes in the side of the bed on the driver's side and mounted the antenea there.

Besides, now that both trucks are kept indoors, I don't have the clearance for anything to be sticking up off of the roof.

Your right it is a lot of extra work but with the antenna on the bed rail, when you transmit most of the signal doesn't go into the cab.
The best signals are signals from the full length of the antenna.

How did the truck bed mounted antenna tune for SWR ?

WNY964x4,

Did you tune the antenna system and use the Co-Phased Harness to hook up the antennas ?

[WNY964x4]

never got a chance to tune it , was gonna do it when i got back up to ny , but the truck crapped the bed , and now it is off the road for the time being , and i am a little lost on the co-phalse thing

[Scrambler82]

never got a chance to tune it , was gonna do it when i got back up to ny , but the truck crapped the bed , and now it is off the road for the time being , and i am a little lost on the co-phalse thing

Installing and Tuning the Co-Phasing Harness is easy BUT once setup will split up the power of your CB and effectively reduce the output AND the antenna spacing of 9 ft minimum is required between antenna mounting, really should have more, ½ wavelength or 18 ft.
By spacing the antennas less than the minimum effective distance (Ranger is approximately 6 ft wide) you create more of an overlap between the two antennas transmission patterns and that will reduce the distance of output not increase it of make it better.

First - Standard CB Antennas have a resistance of 50 ohms and the standard coax (RG-58U or RG-8X) is designed for this, when you have two 50 ohm antennas and try to connect them together it creates a difference resistance. So what is done to correct this, as far as can be, is to use a co-phased harness made out of 75 ohms coax.
Trucker's overcome the co-phased harness mismatch after tuning with more power and match boxes or CBs that have extra heavy duty finals to handle this situation. These CB are available but they cost big money, $300 - $500, to the trucker that is just another piece of equipment but to us it is too much money or maybe not and they are not type accepted by the FCC.

When tuning the dual antennas, you need to tune each one for low SWR separately, using a separate piece of 50 Ohms Coax (standard CB type coax) approximately the same length as one of the legs of the co-phased harness from CB to antenna; once each antennas has been tuned just plug in the 75 ohm co-phased harness in place.
If and when you want to check the SWR you will need to use a single piece of 50 ohm coax checking each side; the co-phased harness is made up of 2 pieces of 75 ohm coax, this coax is needed to help balance the "out of balance" of the two antenna setup, and will give you a false reading on standard SWR Meters.

As with all communications have a try at it, nothing ventured nothing gained, see how it works out, try your own twist to it and maybe you might come p with something. All antennas work is "theory only" you try what has been done and see how that works or does not work for you and you adjust that theory to fit your situation.

Luck and talk to the world man,
Sorry got carried away AGAIN...