CB antenna location? (1 Viewer)

[jts560]

Wondering where those of you with cb's in your cruiser have mounted their antennas. What locations generally provide a good ground plane and dont mess up the SWR much? Any one have luck with the removable magnetic antenna's? I dont use mine much so the magnet mount's ease of installation and ability to be easily removed are appealing. Also, any thoughts on how to cleanly mount the reciever and run the power/antenna lines?

Thanks, James

 

[IrideLowTide]

The removable magnet antennas DO come off... A good place to mount your antenna is on the front bumper, my 80 has it in the front and Al's 60 does too.

The front bumper/ARB works well, but its really your choice...
when your wheelin it seems to work out good in the front... it doesn't come back and spank your truck (compared to the back).

 

[Timoss]

On your ARB bumper (or similar) if you have one seems to work well, but it does block your view a bit, which some find annoying. The mag mounts will work fine reception/transmission-wise, but if you wheel on heavily wooded trails it can be a big pain because it gets swept off by branches and such. If you use it mainly for the trail (mostly short distances), you can pretty much put it anywhere and have it work well enough if you get a nice tall whip. I have mind mounted on the back on a bracket and even though it extends only a couple feet above the roof, I've never had any problems...

Tim
88 fj62 TLCA

 

[Cabrito]

re: Antenna Location

Mine is mounted on the Driver side behind the rear wheel. I would imagine it being a problem if you like to squeeze through tight places.

Edit: updated picture - I went the ham radio rout and now use the CB mount for my 2 meter radio antenna

 

[mep1811]

CB antenna location

I have my CB antenna mounted on the passenger rear tire carrier. I also have a 6db GMRS UHF antenna mounted to my passenger side hood. That with my 5 watt GMRS radio I can really get out.

Mike El Paso TLCA 8009
1985 FJ-60
1977 FJ-40

 

[89s rule]

I have mine mounted with a fender/hood mount do not knwo the official name for it. Mount goes down btwn the hood and fender I alined it with the radio antenna (opposite side of the hood) It does block some of your view but quickly got over/get used to it.

 

[missyc]

a cool thing I did on my 74 Bronco was get a radio/cb combo antenna, looks cool and works good..

 

[tracksuit hobo]

i've got mine mounted on the roof , but on my con-ferr rack, with a quick disconnect at the base. works well with the ground plane of the rack (and roof). The 18 foot coax cable was just about the right length when i ran it back to the rear hatch, through the side panels and to the unit on my center console.

i second the problem with the magnetic mounts - i've been in my buddy's truck as it falls over, smacks the truck, over and over again......

the quick disconnect is cool for security, but just as stable.

i used a firefly antenna with the tunable tip and setting it up was a snap.

 

[batman]

If it was mine I would create a mount system that I could make a stationay antenna easly removable. Remeber that CB freq's are only line of site and the higher the antenna the better tx/rx. If you mount the antenna on the bumper you will experience higher refelctive pwr. (BAD) Also its possible to have interference with you FM radio
Only reason I know all this is because RF is what I do for a living.

 

[nuclearlemon]

mine's on the arb bar. you get used to staring at it eventually

 

[Tapage]

in my rig ..

 

[andrew7elk]

I attached my CB Antenna to the spare pivot on the Kaymar bumper. It worked pretty good, until my friend thought he would try and bumper shine me by hanging onto the Antenna

 

[Pskhaat]

As high as possible on a through-roof fitting. Anything else is simply a compromise.

 

[lowtideride]

On your ARB bumper (or similar) if you have one seems to work well, but it does block your view a bit, which some find annoying. The mag mounts will work fine reception/transmission-wise, but if you wheel on heavily wooded trails it can be a big pain because it gets swept off by branches and such. If you use it mainly for the trail (mostly short distances), you can pretty much put it anywhere and have it work well enough if you get a nice tall whip. I have mind mounted on the back on a bracket and even though it extends only a couple feet above the roof, I've never had any problems...

Tim
88 fj62 TLCA

Never had a vision problem with it in front of me. Guess I had other things on my while on the trail. Those suck ass mag mounts blow ass, they have a range of about 6 feet ( no not really) but your wheeling with another dude with a mag mount you will have horrible reception. I had the mag on the front bumper when not in use and on the hood on the trail, even with out hitting anything it would bounce off. I switched to a firestick and have not looked back.

 

[peterson]

front or rear bumper always looks good and works well

 

[GLTHFJ60]

What about like the setup that cops have with an antenna on the roof in the center of the back? That might look good. Photoshop anyone?

 

[Tapage]

What about like the setup that cops have with an antenna on the roof in the center of the back? That might look good. Photoshop anyone?

Magnetic antena always is a good option as well but fiber antes get more and better reception .. in my experience ..

it is necessary to have well-taken care of with the branches

 

[tclndcrz]

bringing this thread back up. anyone have pictures of their antennas mounted on arb bull bar? what kind of antenna did you mount on there? How long is the antenna? and do you think a quick disconnect on the antenna is a good idea?

thanks

 

[tracksuit hobo]

I don't have it mounted on my bumper, but the quick disconnect

http://www.bellscb.com/products/antennas/Firestik/new/Firestik_K-1A.htm

is great.....i don't really need it when driving to work and back, so I twist it off easily, and throw it in the cab. also, i don't have to worry bout someone walking off with it....

 

[haryv]

Depends how well you want the rf to propegate from the vehicle.
The most ideal place to place the antenna is smack square on a ground plane like in the middle of the roof but in alot of cases this is not relistic as you may want to drive into underground parking. The antenna can also be mounted on a retracable motor which is mounted on the roof. The idea of having this on the center of the roof is the antenna has a clear path to propegate its signal in a true 360 degree isotrophic fashion. If in the case its mounted on the coner, the rf lobes comming from the antenna will tend to shoot off at that point at a angle and you may have null spots in the signal. You may discover this when listening to a station and watching the swr/watt meter bounce swing up and then down when driving in a circle while in a field.
I intend to use the rear two vents to route my cable into or use the vents openings as the actual antenna mounts and then I wont have to drill openings. There is a flexible plastic insert in it that can if you wish, punch a small hole to route the cable though it and into the interior of the vehicle.

Most UN driven cruisers have there large HF antennas mounted on the right front bumper. This is perhaps what I will do with my HF hamgear if I dont use the vent method.