CB antenna on ARB front bumper OK?

[1911]

So I mounted a 3ft Firestick on my ARB and the AWR was around 4 using a calibrated NanoVNA. I though that a ground strap may help, but that brought it to an SWR around 7.... I am going to run a CB with a footwarmer (way offload only), so I really need to bring that down. Any suggestions other than removing the ground strap?

You need more ground plane; flat sheet metal perpendicular to the antenna like a roof top or a hood are ideal for this. If you're set on keeping it mounted to the bumper, then try a longer antenna that will project above the plane of the hood more.

 

[e9999]

I have had good success with a Ham mag antenna in the middle of the roof metal. And with a shorty one too (when anticipating trees).

 

[AgentOrange]

You need more ground plane; flat sheet metal perpendicular to the antenna like a roof top or a hood are ideal for this. If you're set on keeping it mounted to the bumper, then try a longer antenna that will project above the plane of the hood more.

Definitely this advice. A great place would be the factory radio antenna location as well. Ground plane on a bumper will almost always be less than ideal. On a vehicle, there is always going to be a tradeoff. My antenna is mounted old school on a ball mount on the side of the quarter panel, but it's a 7 foot antenna with plenty above the roof. But for the heater I have with my radio, it performs really well. SWR is around 1.2 on 1 and 40. Factory radio antenna location is probably where my ham antenna will go when I get that all sorted.

 

[Skidoo]

So I mounted a 3ft Firestick on my ARB and the AWR was around 4 using a calibrated NanoVNA. I though that a ground strap may help, but that brought it to an SWR around 7.... I am going to run a CB with a footwarmer (way offload only), so I really need to bring that down. Any suggestions other than removing the ground strap?

SWR's that high usually mean something is broken. Have you gone through the steps in this guide? high-swr-troubleshooting-guide

 

[cbbr]

I haven't, but I am starting to suspect that I have a meter issue so I ordered a simple meter to check against. Thanks for the list and that will absolutely be my next step.

 

[1969FJ]

A basic concept on a metal vehicle is here. Not just reception, but, also transmission.

 

[Pskhaat]

I'm a bit surprised I couldn't find this with a basic search - seems an obvious question.

I have a cobra 75wsxt (all-in-the-handset deal with weatherband) after a few recommendations here on mud. I also have a cheapo radio shack mag mount cb/weatherband antenna. So far, it works better than expected on the trail and I seem to get about 15 miles of range on the interstate (based on trucker announcements of speed traps).


I'd like to get a better antenna with a spring mount or whip. I was thinking a permanent mount on the upper PS mounting tab of my ARB front bumper seems logical. Any thoughts on this? Is it a bad location for any reason?

Any suggestions on a mount and antenna that would work well for this location?

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[Mark W]

I mentioned in this thread years ago, that I was running several 9 foot whips with bumper mount locations. They worked well, but that was in spite of the radio performance of a bumper mount. I have long since moved to 2M 5/8 wavelength antennas in the middle of the roof. The improvement in performance is an order of magnitude. Or more. On the '40 I also installed heavy aluminium foil on the underside of the roof, above the headliner and made sure it was grounded. This gave me a good ground plane as well as radio reflective surface below the antenna.

For a while I continued to run a pretty hot CB setup too, but NO ONE uses CB around here anymore so I simplified everything and removed the extra weight.

Mark...