CB Antenna Location
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Valdosta, GA
CB Antenna Location
Hey guys I'm getting my CB tomorrow with an eight foot antenna with a K40 tunable tip antenna. I was most likely going to put it where the PO had his, which is on the drivers side of the rear bumper. Its already drilled for it. But I was wondering where yall had yours mounted. Any Suggestions?
--Sayer
--Sayer
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From: Waterloo IL
When my dad bought his 79 F250 in 1983 it had a Cobra am/fm radio with built in CB. Slick set up. The antenna was only about 6 inches tall and was on top of the cab, still works great. It was pretty cool as a kid. But just wondering, do you really have much use for it these days? Are CB's still being made? My truck has a CB antenna when I bought it. It bolted to one of the front fender bolts under the hood and the bracket came out between the hood and fender. Like I said, I thought the CB was great as a kid but I pulled the antenna out. I was just wondering your thoughts on it?
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Valdosta, GA
Well around here they are pretty popular. And yes they still do make them I'm getting a Uniden but, Cobra and Midland are to other popular brands. They're nice when you don't have cell phone coverage. They are also pretty fun running them with friends when you've got a group of them riding down the highway.
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Joined: Feb 2009
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From: Seattle & Surprise, AZ
The best place is on the cab top if it is short base loaded type, not a whip. For the best location the antenna needs a good ground (metal) plane for both send and receive. Years ago I installed antennas and check the field strength in a 360 degree circle. By taking carefull readings you could define the shape of the car/truck. The problem with the cab mount is the mounting HOLE. Who wants the hole? That is way the mag-mounts are good. I have one on my van for traveling then remove it when not needed. Be carefull about routing the cable from the inside to the antenna. Make sure it does not rub any place. The same can be said about the whip. Do not crimp or cause any sharp bends in or on the cable. If the center conductor is moved from the center of the of the cable to the shield will cause signal problems. Keep the antenna cable phased to 1/4 or 1/2 wave lenght so the RF signal is in phase at the antenna. Most cables that come from a CB mfr are phased and are approx 8 or 16 foot long depending on the cable make-up. Get the best quality terminated cable you can and seal the antenna end if it is open.
Postmaster
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Southern Oregon Coast
The PO of my truck had wired-in a CB but the antenna he used was like nothing I'd seen before. It looked like a small box on the end of the cable and was mounted inside the cab under the driver's-side sun visor - it was held in place by one of the headliner trim screws... Apparently, the theory was that it was able to use the truck body itself as an antenna somehow... The PO told me it didn't work as well as a regular antenna but he didn't want to go drilling holes to mount one...
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Valdosta, GA
well i got it in and mounted it on the bumper. looks pretty good. I need to either get a ball or a spring for the base because mine is kind of rigged on there now.
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When I get my 76 on the road I will be mounting my CB antenna dead center on the headache rack of the flatbed. On my Z-71 Chevy I have a dual antenna set up mounted on the tool box using Fire stick fiberglass antennas with springs to keep them from getting busted. On my Dads 2500 the antenna is mounted on the center of his tool box. Both of our set ups seem to reach out pretty good.
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if you got enough for it the cobra 25 ltd is a nice one they run about 80 to 90 bucks and they have a few more opions but as long as you go with cobra or uniden you cant really go wrong