Haha, yah I've seen that, IMHO it looks weird, lol. On the other hand - a 102" stainless whip from the front bumper, tied back to the front top corner of the camper - that should look semi-decent and work alright? Actually can a regular CB antenna be used for FM radio too? Cause if it can, then I'll just get a second one - one for the CB and one for the radio...

 

you could always mount it to your front fender

 

That was pretty much what i was sugesting...

 

trucks keep the antennas forward to keep from trees ripping them off. they sell a spring to keep the antenna from breaking. catv, and phone are the bottom, power is above them. if your antena hits a line, it will glance off it, and no harm is done. lines better be above 14", law says so. I use a wilson 2000, steel will bend before it breaks. fire stick is a good antenna.if you get 2 miles out of a dx 19, I am impressed. dx 19 is basicly a walky talky.go try a conex, you will be pleased. 5-10 mile range, and very little static.

 

almost forgot, yes, fm works great on cb antenna. most of the new big trucks are set up like that, right antenna radio, left cb. sometimes they even put the satilite tracker in the mix as well

 

Alright, I went to RadioShack today and looked at the Firestick antennas - it seems they are fiberglass core with a wire wound around it in a spiral? This would be a problem with low bridges, as my camper will clear them but the antenna will not - I am concerned that when the antenna hits the concrete beam while the spring-mount bends to preserve the overall structural integrity of the antenna the rough concrete will scrape the protective coating off the antenna's spiral-wound wire. Also, I'm not sure how fiberglass will handle a 20-30mph impact with said concrete beam, it may shatter or crack - I'd hate to find that out the hard way. So this leads me in the direction of stainless steel whips, cause as DustyBumpers and several others said they are very flexible and will not break even if they kiss a bridge.

Also, since Dusty mentioned the law, I looked up power line height codes and such, and it seems that where lines cross over roads and streets they must be at least 15ft off the ground, as apparently the max legal truck height is 14'6" - so I guess hitting lines will not be an issue for me, just the darn bridges - steel whip antennas will handle bridges just fine methinks.

Which brings me to the last question - I am now choosing between Encho's and CJM8515's suggestion for a pair of 102" whips (left CB, right FM) from the front bumper corners up and bent slightly towards the back where they're tied to the camper's top front corners, and a pair of 3ft whips straight up from the camper rear top corners. The big advantage of the bumper mount setup (other than the height) is that in the rare occasions when there is no camper in the bed I till still have the CB and the radio, but I have a concern about the camper actually blocking the signal coming from behind the truck - in other words, with the bumper-mount setup, will I still be able to talk to people that are behind me?

I apologize if these questions seem quite a bit retarded, it's just that my knowledge of electronics ends with wiring up aftermarket radios, everything that is higher-level is a mystery to me, lol.

 

I agree a bumper mount is probably your best bet. The camper being on or off shouldn't affect your ability to talk to people behind you too bad. Again, there will probably be some interference, but not enough to completely cut off the signal.

A note on tying down a whip antenna- what I've seen a lot of people do is tie off the tip of the antenna a few inches off the body. Basically, by tying off at the very tip, the spring resistance of the antenna keeps the tip from touching the body, but prevents the antenna from coming loose.

 

The max legal height is 13.5 feet, atleast around here. I am not sure if that includes antennas though but it would make sense.

They do have clips that you can place the little ball into that is on top of the whip to hold it down. That is what I used back in the 80s on my 102" whip for parking in the garage. If I left it clipped down I did lose some range but nothing significant.

 

Well that's good to know about the signal blockage or the lack thereof, thanks! And for to tie the antennas that's just what I was thinking of doing, use the antenna's spring rate to kee it away from the body.

On the legal height, IIRC it's 13'6" on one coast and 14'6" on the other, but I don't recall which is which. And thanks for the info on the antenna tip clips, the redneck in me would do something with zip-ties but that may end up a much cleaner solution.

Now, next question - can I just drill a hole in a flat horizontal surface of my bumper (got plenty of those), and bolt the antenna up to that? Should provide a good grounding plane, right?

 

the antenna mount goes to the bumper, and makes the ground through the mount.if the antenna is mounted directly to the bumper, there is a nylon washer that has to go in between to keep it from grounding out, your antenna picks up the ground it needs from the coax. I would use the wilson 2ooo, as it is 4', but with the coil it is really 10' that way there is no need to tie it down.they are a little pricy at $80 though. if you go with a tie down antenna, use a tennis ball on it any where it will hit the body, or camper, as if it touches, it will ground out. another thing to concider, not busting on your radio, but it may not have the power to drive a whip. you can take it to the cb shop and have it turned up though.

 

That's a bit confusing - how is the aluminum angle bracket mount thing bolted to a steel bumper any different from the antenna bolted directly to said steel bumper?

 

if you look at the bracket, there is a nylon washer inbetween the bracket, and the antenna. this keeps the antenna from grounding out.

 

Oh, gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks!

 

no such thing as a cb antenna grounding out, you actually want it grounded as much as possible to achieve a low swr

 

true to a point, but there is +. and - there is a nylon washer in he bracket to keep the two apart.