Hi!
I am trying to install a 3 foot fiberglass cb antenna on a 2005 Ford F150 pickup truck. I originally was installing on the hood, using the hood channel mount, but in order for me to be able to get in and out of the garage without hitting/damaging the antenna on the garage door, I was going to have to go down to a 2 foot antenna. I don't want to have to go down to a 2 foot unless I just have to, so I am willing to relocate the antenna to another location. The problem is this. I am limited to the places I can relocate. I could simply relocate it and mount to the bed rail, but I have an Undercover tonneau cover that overlaps all the way over the sides. One place that I was thinking about trying was between the cab and the bed, mounting it vertically in the center on the bed side. I could temporarily remove the tonneau cover to make installing the vertical mount easier. What do you suggest, or is there somewhere else I should consider mounting?
Thank you!

 

I'm not sure how moving it from your hood to your bed rail is going to help with your garage situation? It will be sticking up about just as high wouldn't it?

You could do a mount off of your rear bumper to the side allowing your tailgate to still function?

 

From a radio perspective it needs to be above the body to work. For that reason we used to use gutter mounts with fold down brackets. This puts the antenna above the body when in use making it work correctly and you roll down the window and fold it down to get in the garage. http://www.telcoantennas.com.au/site...gutter-bracket this is one I found on a quick search.

 

I run two 3ft fiberglass whips on SS stake pocket mounts and can get my SWR down between 2.0-2.5 so I wouldn't be concerned about mounting them there. You can get quick disconnects so you can remove the antenna with out tools.

 

Not being too picky but I would not run a radio with a 2.0 match nearly half your output is reflected back and build heat in the finals. Which is not good for the radio it is something I know a little bit about since I have had CB's since the early 70's and have been a extra class ham for nearly 10 years. All modern CB radios are the same output unless messed with or a illegal radio so the antenna is all that matters if you actually plan to use the radio. For a antenna to work well the radiator has to be above the ground plane in a car or truck the ground plane is the body of the vehicle. To run co phased antennas (dual) they should both be matched and 108 in apart on a CB if they are in phase they will have a broadside gain and if out of phase the will fire inline for max gain. Nearly all co phased CB antennas use 75 ohm coax and are wired in phase this give u strong forward and rear ward gain if you can get them 108in apart. Note the big dual mirror mounts on many semi trucks and most of them are under 108in apart so they lose some of the gain.

 

Good for you......I know a thing or two about CB's as well. This is the third truck I've run this exact radio and antenna setup with good results my CB is about as bone stock as you can get other than a good noise canceling mic. The antenna's that are on my truck right now are top loaded whips so the coil of the antenna sits about a foot above the roof line of my truck. Yes antenna matters but there are many different types of antennas out there for just about any given mounting situation as long as you know what type and where you're putting the antenna. I agree you have to be ultra fussy with SWR's on anything over stock wattage for a radio especially if you run a HAM radio but for someone running a stock CB wanting to talk around town a 2.0 SWR is perfectly acceptable. The best SWR I've ever achieved was a 1.0 with a Wilson 1000 Mag mount antenna on the roof of a ranger I had many years ago.

The OP has a 2005 F150 the antenna mount you suggested will not work on the 2004 and newer F150 because they don't have a gutter plus the mount you suggested screws right down onto the painted surface of the roof ruining the paint. The only options for a 2005 or newer F150 are to drill a hole in a flat surface on the truck, stake mount, hood mount, mag mount antenna, or no ground plane antenna. I've also destroyed more antennas than I care to think about on low hanging branches, occasional drive through overhang, or garage door so I do have a little experience with the situation the OP is trying to rectify since the roof line of two of the trucks were 7ft tall before I added the CB antennas.

 

To the OP, if you need to add a spring to the base of the antenna so it will fold over on it's own. They've saved more than a few antennas from being bent or broken.

 

Did not consider the lack of Gutter thought the 05 still had them sorry. The SWR is the same 1 watt or 1000 watts a 2 to 1 loses half the rf back to the finals as heat and waste. I sold Wilson antennas when the 1000 came out had several of them still have one in the basement great antenna. Another option would be a 102 whip which could be clipped down for clearance like most of the military radios. All my 4X4's had stainless whips as they were all that would take the punishment and still be a antenna. If your running dual antennas on a pickup truck part of your SWR problem is you most likely have them too close together they need to be 1/4 wavelength apart to work well. My 76 Blazer had a whip on the front and back out of phase for end fire and would talk pretty good. But in the end the Wilson 1000 on the roof would out perform most of them and cost way less than most of my custom dual's . It sounds to me like you are more concerned with looks than performance and you already decided you know more about radios and antennas than me so carry on.