I adding a CB in my 2001 Screw. I have been looking at it all day trying to find a place to mount the antenna and the only place I can really find is my rear bumper. Reason being I have a low profile tool box that opens toward the back window. I need to have the room in my bed. And stuff is always put in my truck that pokes out over my bed rails. And I have read that one of the best places is on the cab roof, but I dont like that and dont want a magnet. I just need to know if the SWR when mounted on the rear bump isnt going to be so high it mess up my CB. I plan on installing dual Firesticks. I can buy and install whatever hieght of antenna it takes. I am not looking to transmitt and recieve from very far away. I just want it clear and loud when I am out 4 wheeling talking to my friends. Tops maybe 5 miles. But if that is not possible I will take what I can get. Any thoughts or advice. Thanks

 

i think your going to have better results and a much easier time going about it if you go with a single longer whip instead of the dual firesticks...getting them properly tuned is going to be a pain and i doubt if you would actually benefit from it

 

I love my whip...8 ft, but they definately make shorter ones than that. I also drilled holes in my truck-box with eylits in them in order to bend it over and bend it a little bit so that I could drive through low places when needed. They call it a tree-killer lol here it is!
~Phil
Bent...


Unbent...

 

How well does the whip work? Is the best I can do in my situation? And zambonimaxx thanks your truck looks good.

 

Thanks! I love the whip, I get pretty darn good reception out of it when its extended...not so much when its bent down however. I have the whip bent slightly to the right so in the wind it will either compensate to the middle, or while doing highway speeds it bends a bit back, and to the right (since its planted on the left.) Therefore it won't be whackin' against any other cars or trucks passing me. Its also a lot of fun to go through McDonalds and hear it scrape against the roof (I think its funny the cashier etc. get freeked out). IF you don't want that, however, mount it on the right side. Just make sure its what you want to do...there is now a hole in my bumper, but I do not regret it!
~Phil

 

Supercruzzzer
i used a mirror mount and installed it inside the back driver side bed stake hole. The only thing that sticks up when the antenna isnt installed is the threaded adapter for the antenna. Had to fandangle it when i installed it , cause it is a pretty tight fit. had to screw the connecter on while the mount was installed in the hole. pretty sweet setup. clean. but it may not work with your bed rails though. maybee you could run the antenna mount to inside the bed. on the post. that hole in the post is just big enough for a pl-259 connector.

 

To the OP.

It looks like you really need two bits of info.

#1. What kind of antenna system to use.
#2. Where to mount the antenna system.

The most reliable, best sounding, and durable antenna system I know of is a length of high quality coax, good quality PL-259s (connectors), solid mount, spring, and a 102" Stainless Steel whip. (Pretty much Radio Shack has all that except for the high quality coax, their coax is junk). The Dual Firestiks are generally speaking a bad idea. The Co-Phased antenna system does NOT work well without proper distance between radiating elements (antennas). That distance is 102" (1/4 wave), which is why you see dual whips on semis so often. It is easy to get that distance on those, but not so easy on a pickup truck...

IF you can afford to have 1.5" protrusion from the front of the toolbox into the bed, follow the instructions I posted on another board. It requires a little drilling into the toolbox, soldering, and use of grommets. But if you are tech skilled at all it is a decent afternoon job. Or you could mount the mirror mount inside one of the stake pockets.

Before I dive into the post, you can also use one of those HD stake pocket mounts from Geotool http://www.geotool.com/antmount.htm. They cost more, but you don't have to drill anything.

And lastly, you COULD install your mirror bracket inside the stake pocket.

Okay, now to my write up....

You will want the following...

http://www.www.premiere-electronics.net/store/ss64.html
Standard 3 way mirror mount.

Amphenol PL-259 connectors for the coax.
http://www.www.premiere-electronics....ore/pl259.html (PL-259s)

http://www.www.premiere-electronics....ore/ug176.html
Reducer for mini RG8-x

http://www.www.premiere-electronics....rg8xcbulk.html
18 feet RG8x coax. The pic of of clear jacket coax. This stuff is claimed to be 100% double shielded.

CONTINUED...

 

...CONTINUED -



http://www.www.premiere-electronics.net/store/ss3h.html
HD antenna spring to take the stress of the antenna off of the toolbox as much as possible.

---OR---


http://tinyurl.com/25wqu7
Radio Shack Chrome Plated barrel sping. This is the one I am using. I had one in the toolbox. These will rust fairly quickly, but they work so well, the cosmetic issues may be worth overlooking.


http://tinyurl.com/yvhhaq
102" Stainless Steel Whip antenna to get enough antenna above the height of the cab to get decent SWR so you don't fry your finals.

Rubber grommets. Try a marine store for these.
Measuring tape, and grease pencil, sharpie, whatever.

Hammer and center punch.

Drill and 9/32" drill bit, or 1/4" and wallow out the hole a hair.

Soldering iron, solder, stand, and wet sponge to clean iron with.

Dremel with grinding stone, mandrel and large cut off wheel.

SWR meter and jumper, OR better, a friend with them to borrow, you only need it to set up.

Measure your toolbox accross side to side, and divide that # by 2. Measure and mark that center point where you want the top of the bracket to be.

Nylon zip ties.

Measure the bracket side to side, mark the center point at the top.

Line up the marks on the bracket, and toolbox. Level it off, and stuff grease pencil through holes in bracket to mark toobox.

Use center punch and hammer to dimple where marks are. This will help keep your drill bit from walking.

Drill your holes, test the bolts to see if they will pass through, if not, LIGHTLY wallow the holes out with the drill. Use Dremel with griding stone to deburr the hole.

Mount the bracket with the L bracket outside, and the back half inside. Put the heads of the bolts INSIDE the toolbox so you don't gash your hand reaching into the toolbox for something... Tighten as far as you can get them without breaking the bolts.

Use Dremel to cut off excess bolt threads, make sure the ramps on the threads are undamaged.

Drill hole large enough for rubber grommet and cable to penetrate toolbox, preferrably immediately UNDER the bracket, deburr, install grommet. Drill hole in bottom back of toolbox, deburr, install grommet.

Punch hole in drain plug in bed wall From under the truck, fish cable through drain plug, through lower toolbox hole, then through upper hole.

Following instructions from Amphenol, strip back coax shielding on that end of the cable, and solder the PL-259 connector on.

Screw connector onto the male threaded part of the stud mount.

Install spring.

Install whip.

Route excess cable along the frame, allowing at least 6" of slack between cab and bed for the frame twist. Tie wrap every couple of feet to keep it in place. Run cable up into engine compartment, away from exhaust, and up to drivers side firewall plug. Penetrate firewall plug, and mat to route cable into the cab.

Strip coax end and terminate as stated above.

Plug into SWR meter ANT side. Hook jumper up to SWR meter xmtr, trans, transmitter, or radio jack then to the radio. Per meter MFGs instructions calibrate meter, and test SWR.

IF you do not have any grounding problems, and you installed the system right, your SWR should now be at about 1.1 to 1.3. No adjustment is needed. IF you are over 1.5, seek the advice of a local radio shop to get your antenna adjusted for maximum performance.

There are pre made coaxes out there, but there are a couple of reasons I did NOT reccomend them. First off, you would need to drill a MUCH larger hole for the coax with the PL-259, Second, the PL-259 is MUCH harder to pass through a grommet, and Third, the pre built cables out there typically used crimped ends, and high loss coax, which lead to power loss and interference. If you cannot do this yourself, I would STRONGLY reccomend you take your rig to a CB shop and have it done right. Doing it half way is a great way to put unneeded holes in your truck, and making an expensive mess of things...

I wish I had a blow up diagram of a lot of these assembly procedures, but I don't. Hopefully I have given enough information to be useful.

 

Okay, finally, if you look at the photo of Zambonimaxx' truck, you can see his barrel spring is rusty. The chromed ones do that pretty fast. Frys Electronics, and Premiere Electronics both have Stainless Steel straight springs, which don't rust, but allow the antenna to flop around too much. I'd rather have a trace of rust between the spring coils personally...

Note to Zambonimaxx, dude, how do you get the tennis ball to stay on? I have tried that and the ball slides off the antenna all the time. I want to keep my antenna from beating on my thrid brake light too badly...

 

heres a good link, http://www.stu-offroad.com/misc/myth-1.htm yes, its a jeep site, but it is valuable information. I have dual antennas on my tool box on my truck, but they arent co-phase, one is there for spare parts . my 4' Wilson tunable antenna works very good, and i havent tuned it yet. on a clear day, with little chance of shooting skip, i was getting chatter from beyond the range cbs should work at. Also, i have a 12' cable, so it doesnt have the half wavelength thing going for it LOL (read the article)