At the moment I have a Cobra magnet mount on the roof with the coax run towards the driver's side jamb, down the jamb to the dash, under the dash to the back of the unit. I'd like to move over to a Firestik or Wilson but not sure the best place to mount it. I thought about running the coax through the third brake light rather than hanging the middle of the rear window and along the chassis, but...any opinions?

 

i ran mine thru the back of the cab. behind the rear passenger seat there is a rectangular flap that you can run it thru and into the bed

 

Roof mount is best antenna, run wire down back window and somewheres under you sill plate on either side of the truck should be a rubber grommet (drain plug) and you can get the cable in the truck that way, run along under sill plate, up under dash and into radio

 

do you have a toolbox???

 

Yes I do, containing Matco, Klein, and few Snap-On. Most of which is used for work but not home. But what's your point? Mine was a simple question to see what others have done to avoid the issue of drilling into the cab.

 

Well what I did, is when mounting my CB radio, I ran all of my antenna wire through the firewall, and under the cab to the box of my truck. On both sides, I have an area with plastic inserts. I drilled through those, and ran up the pickup box from the inside. Seeing you have a tool box, i'd mount your antennas to the side. And if you want them to ground out nicely run a wire from the tool box, to the cab somewhere. Loosen a bolt that is hooked directly to the truck, and place the other end of the wire there. So that your tool box is grounded out for the antennas. If it isint held down by some type of brace, that touches the truck on bare metal to start with. The tool ox will save you from drilling into the cab. People have went with magnetic antennas, and so have I. But I have a peaked and tuned 600W radio. And it needed more than just a stupid little magnet antenna. If it wasnt hurting my radio, it was frying the antenna. So I put duel antennas on the back (wilson 2000) and I get great reception, and better range. In conclusion. if you want better range and reception, mount to the side of your toolbox. Then I guess number of antennas depends on the output of your radio.

 

I just received a new Cobra 29 WX NW ST and 4' Firestik to replace the Cobra 19 DX and magnet mount. Going through the firewall sounds like a good option since I decided not to fab a roof mount radio holder. Tool box side mounts would work better due to the swing of the toolbox lid. It sure is nice having family that are long haulers. Get new radios, I get new toys! Thanks.

 

What kind of radio do you have? Where did you get it "peaked and tuned" at? Also, the number of antennas does not depend on your radios output. Single antennas will handle the same amount of power as a dual setup. Dual antennas need a 9' seperation to work properly. They will be directional if they do not have the seperation.

 

Ok dumb question but i have a box on the back of my truck, I have the antenna mounted on the hood. My question is how do you ground the box? I have a 07 FX4 with the plastic bed liner so im not grounded.

 

I have an 07 FX4 Also. Did you mount the box to the bed my means of drilling holes and bolting it down? If so, its grounded. I checked its ground after I mounted it, and its sufficient enough for my Galaxy CB Radio. If you didnt do it that way, you should have tie downs in your bed. Take a wire and run it from that to your box. It'll ground it also. Thats how I grounded my antennas without the box.

 

So even though it is on a plastic bed rail because of the screws and bolts it is grounded?

 

Yes. You can wire a ground in to it. It'll be just fine. I had that same question before. I took it to a radio shop and they gave me cable to do it with. As for Duel antennas, I had a Cheap-O antenna on it before. I couldnt recieve worth a S*#@ and my out put was under par. So dueling it up made everything that much better. I needed the man at the radio shop to justify such a thing for me. He said the distance between them would affect it, so not to turn the power up. But being stupid, I did anyway. Now im using a 29LTD until My galaxy gets fixed. I went to a CB shop in Loveland Coloardo, right next to a Johnsons Corner. They had everything. But when Im not around that area, I visit a Bosselman tuck stop In Nebraska which has a pretty decent shop.

 

Ok one more question I just bought the Firering, does it have its own ground cause it didn't come with one?

 

The ground is usually provided by the antennae mount via the bolts that go through some part of the grounded truck frame. If your antennae mount isn't getting a good ground, though, you'll need to run a piece of wire to a better part of the frame to ground it at.

I didn't need to run a ground wire from my fender mount because the bolt that I used had a good enough ground connection to remove any noise buildup. I attached my antennae to the front driver side fender bolt under the hood.

 

Ok one more question i was thinking about getting these http://www.amazon.com/Solarcon-Loade...7042763&sr=8-2

or should i stick with my 5' Firestik?