lets see them CB Antenna Mounts

[CatskillsRunner]

Antenna mounted to Gobi Ladder

OK, so I originally had this mounted to the back of the liftgate, but the bracket my husband made started flexing backward, and so did the antenna.

This is his next idea. Will need a longer antenna, but I'm really happy with how clean it looks. He picked up the bracket at a truck stop. I climbed the ladder and it was fine; on the way down it does help to have the antenna on the left side of the ladder.

Next up: [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] cb surgery to lower the housing an inch!!!

 

[Ryan1975]

With all the long term bad rust report of the Diamond K400 trunk/lift mount, I think a motorized roof rack mount is probably the best solution. Diamond K9000LRM is probably what I will go for. I think harper7 has done it right - http://www.toyota-4runner.org/gallery/58037-june-2010-t4rotm-harper7-24.html#post1375562

Afterall, you can get it for only like $100.

Disguised undercover covert license plate antenna,fender,cowel,bumper antennas

 

[marshal]

i don't know how half of you guy get a decent ground. you must not be using your CB to communicate further than the line of sight

 

[mtomaro]

i don't know how half of you guy get a decent ground. you must not be using your CB to communicate further than the line of sight

No ground antennas?

 

[marshal]

No ground antennas?

my experience (albeit limited) with no ground antennas has never been good as far as distance is concerned. a well tuned one by someone who knew what they were doing netted at best 1/4 the distance of a traditional grounded one

 

[Ryan1975]

i don't know how half of you guy get a decent ground. you must not be using your CB to communicate further than the line of sight

I would never rely on CB for anything more than local area chatting.

 

[mtomaro]

my experience (albeit limited) with no ground antennas has never been good as far as distance is concerned. a well tuned one by someone who knew what they were doing netted at best 1/4 the distance of a traditional grounded one

My experience is limited as well but I opted to try a 3' no ground Firestik on the 4Runner and have confirmed loud and clear signal at 65 miles. I was quite shocked.

 

[Antman]

my experience (albeit limited) with no ground antennas has never been good as far as distance is concerned. a well tuned one by someone who knew what they were doing netted at best 1/4 the distance of a traditional grounded one

I had a NGP antenna before the setup I'm running now and I agree. NGP (No Ground Plane) setups work OK but it's very hard to match the performance of a grounded setup. You cannot alter the length of the cable on a NGP antenna either or it will not work properly- very sensitive.

 

[jwkilgore]

My experience is limited as well but I opted to try a 3' no ground Firestik on the 4Runner and have confirmed loud and clear signal at 65 miles. I was quite shocked.

I grew up with CB because my dad was a trucker. We had a CB in every vehicle and a (probably illegal) jacked-up base station at home. I even had a CB in my Camaro back in the day. He was all about maximizing range. When atmospheric conditions are perfect any CB setup can transmit phenomenal distances, just like HAM. Can you duplicate your 65-mile feat, or was it a one-time thing?

A well-grounded (center of metal roof) quarter-wave (102", or 8.5') whip can routinely get out 7- to maybe 10-miles under decent conditions. This is without any hills, dense trees, or HV power lines in the way.

Any shorter length of antenna, even with loaded coils, and you sacrifice distance.

Move your antenna off the center of the ground plane and you sacrifice distance in some directions. That's what [MENTION=49845]marshall[/MENTION] is talking about.

Place something (say, the metal body of the vehicle) between the antenna and the target and you severely sacrifice distance in that direction.

All this said, most 4x4 types only use CBs for close-in talking. A few miles at most, usually a few hundred yards in-convoy. Under those conditions pretty much any decent antenna mount will be adequate. Even a hand-held will work.

 

[TK-422]

Wow! All this CB talk reminds me of T-Hunting. From 15 to 21 I did it almost every weekend. I did a quick Google search and it looks like they are still doing it. T-Hunting, or transmit hunting is basically hide-and-seek with CB radios. One person hides and locks his mike so there is a constant transmission. Then the seekers do a kind of low jack triangulation of the signal to find them.

JWKILGORE’s post reminds me of all the fun of setting up a ground plane and getting a directional signal. What fun times.

Sorry to hijack, it just brought back memories.

The best antenna I ever used was a K40 with a magnet mount. It has a quick twist off connector and gets a great signal. I still have it if I ever decide to mount my Cobra 148GTL in the 4Runner.

 

[mtomaro]

Can you duplicate your 65-mile feat, or was it a one-time thing?

Under the same conditions, sure.

We usually get ~25 miles out of our grounded CB's. We run Business Band radios in most of our equipment, however, and they've stretched out to almost 150 miles before.

I'll blame it on the Oklahoma landscape and ideal atmospheric conditions.

 

[jwkilgore]

Ok, Oklahoma should give great distances. I was from hilly/tree-y Mississippi with a 500kV powerline a few miles away.

Incidentally, if I ever get back into CB, I plan on installing a Cobra 75WXST, and putting the antenna where the shark-fin XM antenna is now, unless I go with a magnetic mount. Or I may decide to go HAM instead.

 

[itskrystaaaal]

Diamond k400 + 2ft firestik + fire ring

This 4Runner is seriously my goal. Anyways, this was the nicest CB antenna mount I found and got it installed today (thanks hubby). At first, I was hesitant to get a 3ft Firestik but I ended up loving the look. Now just waiting for him to finish the install of the actual radio tomorrow.

 

[e60ral]

got mine mounted up
Firestik Door Jam mount

what kind of SWR do you get there? NGP antenna or regular?

I tried a NMO adapter for where I have my dual band antenna on the front fender but the SWR was way too high for CB (works fine on 70cm and 2m though). I'd try a braided cable but the cb antenna was a little bit heavy for that mount.

I want to try this location but I feel like the SWR has to be really high

 

[cjacob316]

CBI antenna mount. Had to bend it a bit to get the antenna straight, but it works nicely.

 

[Jono.ful]

what kind of SWR do you get there? NGP antenna or regular?

I tried a NMO adapter for where I have my dual band antenna on the front fender but the SWR was way too high for CB (works fine on 70cm and 2m though). I'd try a braided cable but the cb antenna was a little bit heavy for that mount.

I want to try this location but I feel like the SWR has to be really high

horrible. was a regular antenna, but I've since changed the mount and location. save yourself the headaches and mount it to something metal so you have good ground plane.

 

[e60ral]

Dang. My magnetic K30 is about 1.2 on the roof so it works great, but I wanted to try a permanent mount

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Jhalko]

CBI antenna mount. Had to bend it a bit to get the antenna straight, but it works nicely.

Did you heat it up to bend it straighter? Sometimes I think about doing it, too many other things right now.

 

[cjacob316]

Did you heat it up to bend it straighter? Sometimes I think about doing it, too many other things right now.

I thought I would need to, but I didn't. I just put it in a vise and used vise grip plyers for a firm hold and just pushed/pulled. I bent the rounded tab upward toward the driver side and I angled the first bend down a little.

Just fyi, the antenna is now turned a little inward from a front view, but I don't have enough clearance to bend the round tab back down any as it almost touches the body when the hood is open

 

[MinecraftGriefer]

somebody should do this to Quicksand TRD Pro