Cb radio

[1994xlt]

The more out in the open the better for tuning the antenna. That spot you showed in the photo would be fine though. As long as there's nothing within a foot or 2 of the antenna you should be good.

Okay

 

[sgtsandman]

Generally speaking, as long as you aren't in an alley way or a driveway between two houses fairly close together, you should be fine. Radio waves bouncing off of buildings that are close together can throw readings off.

But you can get a good SWR and tune the antenna just fine while parked on the street in front of your house.

Radio traffic shouldn't make a difference since you are measuring reflectivity while you are transmitting. You won't be receiving any signal while your microphone is keyed. So, as long as you are set to read SWR, you should be good.

 

[1994xlt]

Generally speaking, as long as you aren't in an alley way or a driveway between two houses fairly close together, you should be fine. Radio waves bouncing off of buildings that are close together can throw readings off.

But you can get a good SWR and tune the antenna just fine while parked on the street in front of your house.

Radio traffic shouldn't make a difference since you are measuring reflectivity while you are transmitting. You won't be receiving any signal while your microphone is keyed. So, as long as you are set to read SWR, you should be good.

Ok thank you

 

[4x4junkie]

Mounted on my toolbox

Kindof hard to see much in that pic...

I would agree that spot can work, but the toolbox itself (and its lid if that's what it's mounted to) do need to be grounded well to the truck bed.

I think having it mounted to the back-center of the box (or on top of the box) would be a better spot for it though.

 

[1994xlt]

Kindof hard to see much in that pic...

I would agree that spot can work, but the toolbox itself (and its lid if that's what it's mounted to) do need to be grounded well to the truck bed.

I think having it mounted to the back-center of the box (or on top of the box) would be a better spot for it though.

Why would they need to be grounded? Lightening?

 

[pentode]

Why would they need to be grounded? Lightening?

You need a good ground for the output transistors in the radio to be safe and for the antenna to work at all, and in a perfect world, you need a big "ground plane" under the antenna for it to work well. The ground plane shapes the radiation pattern from the antenna, without getting into the weeds.