Diver Deuce
New member
That's Adio3x his build can be found in the build stickies on the main 5th gen page.
lets see them CB Antenna Mounts
- Thread starter jam23r1
- Start date
That's Adio3x his build can be found in the build stickies on the main 5th gen page.
adio3x
New member
Thanks! It's a HeftyFab single sided swingout steel bumper. Was one of the first, I think the overall design is slightly different now. It's a great bumper, Chris does an awesome job!
MeefZah
New member
Not sure why a simple trunk-lip NMO mount doesn't get more love on here.
Easy to install - slips over the edge of the hood with no drilling. Two allen bolts snug it up to the underside of the hood and provide the ground. Add a ground strap to get the best SWR, though you can run it without. Coax slides right through existing firewall grommets.
Cheap - around $20 including the coax and PL259.
Various antenna options - I use a Browning 1/4 wave base loaded model that is also fairly cheap at around $30, offers good tx / rx, and is nice and flexible for hitting brush and so forth. SWR is not superb because this is a very length specific antenna, so tuning it to get 1.1 on channel 1 gets me about 2.0 on channel 40.
Tram trunk lip black NMO mount (shown with a VHF antenna)
Browning BR-140-B CB antenna
Easy to install - slips over the edge of the hood with no drilling. Two allen bolts snug it up to the underside of the hood and provide the ground. Add a ground strap to get the best SWR, though you can run it without. Coax slides right through existing firewall grommets.
Cheap - around $20 including the coax and PL259.
Various antenna options - I use a Browning 1/4 wave base loaded model that is also fairly cheap at around $30, offers good tx / rx, and is nice and flexible for hitting brush and so forth. SWR is not superb because this is a very length specific antenna, so tuning it to get 1.1 on channel 1 gets me about 2.0 on channel 40.
Tram trunk lip black NMO mount (shown with a VHF antenna)
Browning BR-140-B CB antenna
ScarfaceT4R
New member
IslandJim
New member
Both are diamond K400 mounts. CB is a 3ft tuned Firestik, and the other is a Diamond dual band antenna for HAM.
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Have seen several posts on here where the antennae is mounted to the rear door. Seeing as the rear door is fiberglass, are you running a separate ground wire or something?
tom.webster.372
New member
I was originally going to go that way but have been thinking of locating the antenna on the back of the rack when I install my mobile radio.Not sure why a simple trunk-lip NMO mount doesn't get more love on here.
Easy to install - slips over the edge of the hood with no drilling. Two allen bolts snug it up to the underside of the hood and provide the ground. Add a ground strap to get the best SWR, though you can run it without. Coax slides right through existing firewall grommets.
Cheap - around $20 including the coax and PL259.
Various antenna options - I use a Browning 1/4 wave base loaded model that is also fairly cheap at around $30, offers good tx / rx, and is nice and flexible for hitting brush and so forth. SWR is not superb because this is a very length specific antenna, so tuning it to get 1.1 on channel 1 gets me about 2.0 on channel 40.
Tram trunk lip black NMO mount (shown with a VHF antenna)
Browning BR-140-B CB antenna
Why? Because with a lip mount on the hood, the antenna will be within about 3' of the passenger, with the windshield providing little to no RF protection. Crank the power up to 50 watts in the 2 meter band (144MHz - 148MHz) and that's inside the safe distance if you are transmitting for very long.
Am I being overcautious? Possibly, but moving the antenna to the back end of the rack increases the distance from passengers, moves the antenna up out of the same plane as the passengers, and clears it from interference from the cabin.
I haven't heard of anyone having problems locating their antenna on the back hatch or on the back of their rack causing problems with being too close to the unity (shark fin) antenna. (Anyone?)
Of course, there will be more worry about banging the antenna into low roofs.
AARL resources of RF exposure: http://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure
(Note: CB shouldn't be as much of a concern as HAM)
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garface
New member
That looks awesome, where did you feed your coax cable through? I've been debating doing the same one but want to plan before I start drilling holes
Who said the rear door is fiberglass?
It’s sheet metal for sure. Stick a magnet to it. I run a grounding strap to my mount from the hatch shock bolt and I get great swr. If needed you can run another ground with the wire to the chassis if you don’t ewng to be on the hinge side for a ground
MeefZah
New member
Eh, ya gotta die of something.
BettysNephew
New member
Originally Posted by IslandJim
"Have seen several posts on here where the antennae is mounted to the rear door. Seeing as the rear door is fiberglass, are you running a separate ground wire or something?"
The reason I ran a ground strap was because hinges are notoriously poor at carrying RF ground to the rear hatch.
"Have seen several posts on here where the antennae is mounted to the rear door. Seeing as the rear door is fiberglass, are you running a separate ground wire or something?"
The reason I ran a ground strap was because hinges are notoriously poor at carrying RF ground to the rear hatch.
e60ral
Banned
unless you are constantly broadcasting your duty cycle will be sufficient for safe operation. in my setup with a unity 2m antenna (let's make a conservative assumption of 2.1 dBi), at 3' I'm under 2mW/cm^2 so as long as I'm transmitting for less than 3 minutes every 6 minutes the passenger is fine.
(and does our windshield really not have any IR/UV filtering? if so that will attenuate the RF energy)
IslandJim
New member
My bad. Only tapped on the door a couple of times and it sounded quite different from the sound of the quarter panel.
My old Bronco II's rear hatch was fiberglass and figured this was the same.
ScarfaceT4R
New member
Thanks! So far, coax is zip tied back up through the bottom of the mount & into the bottom of the hatch & under the carpet. I was worried about water getting in but after a wash it's still bone dry back there.
I plan on feeding the coax through the tail light in the future & seeing how that may work out.
I did have to drill another hole for my ground wire, as I ended up running a wire directly from my mount itself to the frame down below. Just used a dremel to take off some of the powder coating in the rear of the mount & ran a wire through the bumper to the frame.
I wouldn't see any reason to drill another hole for the coax itself though.
chiefdancinglizard
New member
these on the rear tire swing outs seem like perfect candidates for ground plane adapters, the little things with the wires sticking out or discs under the antenna
example:
even if you grind away powder coating, i can't imagine a rear bumper making a very good ground plane.
That looks like that would hurt at eye level...
e60ral
Banned
You could get a solid disk then, a ground plane will improve your performance assuming that's not an ngp antenna
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