Sounds like you got a plan. Also remember that the antenna makes the radio. Crackerjack radio on a good antenna will out perform a high dollar radio on a crappy antenna.

 

A good antenna and a radio some cb shop hack job tweeker hasn't monkied with are the two best things to have. If you don't see an osciliscope on the bench, run! Ray in W Memphis (Ray's CB by the Petro) or Bob in Hagerstown, MD (electronics Unlimited at the AmBest) won't screw your stuff up.

For the antenna, there isn't room on a pickup for duals. Yes you can physically mount them, but they cannot be spaced far enough apart. They need to be 8-10 feet apart or they will absorb up to 50% of each others output. Say you're putting out a legal 4 watts, by splitting the signal, each antenna is putting out 2 watts. You splut your power in half already. Now your antennas are too close, so they are absorbing half of each others output. Your 4 watt radio is now putting out 1 watt per antenna. Congratulations!

The dual antennas also make your signal very directional. They are side by side, so they block each other in that direction, and only transmit front and back. This is great for an 18 wheeler with a big box trailer on the highway. Also note that the dual antennas on his mirrors are 10 feet apart. Not so great on your pickup.

Also, if your antenna is mounted on the bumper, bed rail, tool box, etc. do not use a bottom loaded antenna unless you can get the coil above the roof. Bottom loaded antennas are the ones with the big coil near the mount (wilson 500 and 1000, any others with the big "coil spring"). This will limit your antenna's ability. Use a top loaded fiberglass whip.

Your antenna also needs a ground plane. This is why a roof mount is best. Not a mag mount, but a hard mount to the sheet metal. It will also help get your SWRs down if you run a ground wire from your antenna mount directly to your frame rail. Check this wire with an ohm meter to make sure resistance is 0 from your coax shield to the frame rail. Grounding your radio's chassis will also help.

A 102" whip on the rear bumper will also work as good as anything else on a pickup. Tie the end to the front bumper when overhead clearance is needed, leave it up for best transmit and receive.

With a real good antenna setup, your 4 watt radio will out perform a lot of those high dollar splattering hack jobs that "bench at 75 watts!"

 

Thanks guys for that informative lesson! Well, mounting duals on my truck isn't a problem. CCLB F350(see sig pic) the bed itself is 8ft end to end. Honestly, one good 100$ antenna is enough for me! But roof mounted would be what I'm looking at, short and sweet coax through the roof, Waterproof seals in the headliner for a permanent install. Nice big ground plane. Top mount the CB in the center console I planned on building, not a lot of bends or coiled coax floating around, clean install.

Well, that's why I have 2 radios. One for the hack job benching 80watts radio, for fun, and the other just peaked and tuned. Then honestly have a "side by side" comparison of which performs better.

Holy crap! a 8.5' antenna?! I'm not sure I need all of that, a 4' on top will do just fine, my truck is already pretty tall as it is!

 

I popped the cover off my radio last night and turned the modulation thing all the way up. I was gonna turn up the output power as well but I couldn't find my watt meter. So I just left it alone.

Tip of my antenna on top of my truck is at about 11'8".

 

You have a picture? Also, did you use coax to ring terminals for the interior roof hookup for the antenna, or the 259 connection? Also, I saw LMR coax was great for higher power and lower SWR's. Expensive stuff, but only needed about 3-1/2' if I was roof mounted for about 40$. What kind of radio are you running?

 

I'm using a mag mount so I just ran the coax through a hole in the roof with a rubber grommet. Using the factory Wilson RG-58-A/U coax.

 

I haven't had much luck with mag mounts. If I was going to drill a hole in the roof anyway, I might as well make it a permanent fixture.

 

The way my truck is, I can't put in a roof mount in the right location due to the cab structure. Not only that, but I mag mount is very easy to move/remove in a low clearance situation.

 

I could have sworn I read an article somewhere about mag mounts having a false ground plane. I know in my car, my SWR's are never under 1:4, and I run a pretty powerful mag mount there. I'm thinking of doing a trunk mount though.

Even if you ran coax ring terminals? I plan on installing an overhead console in the truck, so the install will look a lot cleaner than it was before sitting on the dash.

 

The ground plane just reflects signal. It is not essential to operating. My SWR are almost perfect. Almost 1:1.

 

That's really good, I was doing a little bit more reading, and I think my problem was the SWR calibrate on the newer 29 LX can be a little misleading. I think once the antenna is permanently mounted, and has a good ground, I'll invest in an analog SWR meter, and calibrate it that way next time. Then see what the tolerance between the 2 methods are.

 

If you just need or want a fairly simple CB install, and limited space such as the van interiors, a Cobra 75 works well.

No, its not a powerhouse, and the only thing you can really do to it is slightly increase the transmit modulation, but again, if you only need a few miles of range and just dont have room for a normal CB under the dash, take a look at the 75.

The controls are all in the microphone, and there is a small connector box that attaches the power, antenna, and external speaker. The little box can mount under the seat or up under the dash next to the firewall.

I just needed a low-cost radio to monitor traffic conditions locally and when traveling, and local weather broadcasts, so this fits the bill. Amazon sells them for about $80.



https://www.cobra.com/products/recre...duct_support=2

https://www.cobra.com/sites/default/...5WXST_SPEC.pdf


http://s62.photobucket.com/user/tx2s...-in-Van?sort=2

 

Those are nice radios.

On another note, what's your handle? I go by The Bull or Brown Bull cuz the truck is brown. But I'm looking for something better. Something like "Rusty Nail" haha.

 

I haven't really thought of a good permanent handle. I'm somewhere between 6wheeler, because I drive a dually, or busted knuckle.

 

6 wheeler is cool, but it describes the truck. Better to have something that can follow you no matter what you drive.