I wanted to install a CB antenna without drilling the roof and dropping the headliner. I have that huge sunroof, so a roof mount becomes more difficult and I'd lose the advantage of a symmetric ground plane because I can't mount it in the center of the roof. There are two types of alternative mounts that I considered. The first uses the 3rd brake light hole, which looks really slick. But both that I found run over $300, which seems excessive, and I worried about leaks. Again, the ground plane would be heavily biased to the front.

The second alternative is what I chose, a stainless plate that mounts your antenna on the fender just ahead of the driver's side windshield, across from the AM/FM antenna. The ground plane will also be asymmetric, strong only to the right and tapering off towards front and rear. Here it is. Amazon has all this stuff too, but the cost is a wash and BezosBots don't know spit about CBs. This vendor actually answers email and knows their products.
https://www.rightchannelradios.com/c...ood-mount-2017

I also ordered a 4' Firestik FS and their FireRing CB Coax cable with FME (a special PL-259 that unscrews in half to reduce its large diameter). That was a big help getting thru the firewall. See below.
https://www.rightchannelradios.com/c...-coax-with-fme
https://www.rightchannelradios.com/c...-fs-cb-antenna

The antenna mount on the fender is a 5-minute job. Two bolts under the black
foam weather/wind blocker and you're done.




The fit is tight and I would not put in on a steel truck for fear of rust over the years.



I routed the coax down in split loom towards a rubber bulkhead on the firewall.
I'd already used that for an Edge Insight monitor.



Next, it's time to get thru the firewall. Firestik has this cool new special PL-259 that unscrews
so it's thin enough to tape it to the end of a 14/" extension, which is what I did.




Using the 1/4" extension, it was easy to push thru the rubber bulkhead. Here's the engine side.
Make sure you let the coax hang down a bit in a loop, so if any water is dripping down it, the water
will drip off at the bottom of the loop instead of possibly getting into your cab. The hood fits so well
that it would take a hurricane to get water under it, but don't take a chance.



Here's the coax coming out on the inside, left of the brake pedal and high up. Next step was
to tuck it down to the left, behind the foot brake pedal and behind the kick panel.



Next step was to run it under the door sill trim, which pops off easily with a panel tool.



I left the extra coax under the left rear floor mat. I'm still looking for a CB that can
live under my seat, with all controls on the mic and a PA output.



Here's how it turned out. There's a bit more wobble in the mount than I like. I might go
down from a 4' Firestik to a 3' Firestik. If so, I'll update this post.

 

Nice write up. Lots of pics... and annotated too!

 

Excuse my ignorance. Does the coax snake between the hood and fender to get to the antenna? Can you give us a pic with the antenna and coax connected?

thx

 

Yes, it does. The Firestik coax uses a "fire ring" 90° connector that's only 1/4" thick, so you can't see it unless you take a pic from below the level of the stainless mount. It leaves at a 90° angle so neatly slips into the gap between the hood and fender.

I also added the pic here to the initial post. You can also follow this link and see it clearly. https://www.rightchannelradios.com/c...-coax-with-fme

 

Is it possible to mount it on the passenger side so that it's out of the way of the driver's sight lines?

 

Nice write-up.

What radio are you running? Mounting location inside cab?

Was the SWR manageable with amount of close-by aluminum cab?

Thanks!

 

Based on this thread I tried the exact same setup on a 2018 6.2. With both a Uniden 510 and 520XL radios.

if I plug the radio into a cigarette lighter, when I press transmit the truck revs up to 2k rpm and throws traction control and hill descent errors.

if I use an independent power source, route all the antenna cable outside the truck, the truck still revs when pressing transmit. I do not have a SWR meter, but I checked the continuity on the antenna and cable and they seem fine.

it does this with two different radios. I have been in touch with right channel radios and they have been helpful. But I am ready to give up on this idea. I will be curious to see how accommodating Right Channel Radios will me with accepting returns.

 

I don't see it at all. Perhaps if you're 5'1" it might be visible. The bolts on the passenger fender won't line up.

Still just using a battery-powered handheld for now, trying to decide which to mount under my seat.

Alarming. I plan to run a small 20/50/90w footwarmer eventually. You ran your wiring down the left door sill too? Did you speak with the boss at Right Channel?
Right now my power source is 10 nimh batteries in the handheld. I wonder whether it's the RF or 12v that is disturbing your truck.

There's another fellow out here running this same antenna setup with Firestik on a 409 (6.7). I'll find him and put him in this thread later today.

 

@nuctrooper did you have any trouble with your truck acting up when you key the mic? Your truck is a 409 (6.7), right?

I tried whatever I could to get my 4-watt portable CB to make the truck misbehave. No luck. Works great. I can hear truckers that I know are 20+ miles away.
Could be 6.2-specific?

 

Try some ferrite beads on the harness wires that control the throttle body. The snap together beads should be fine, and are useful for testing since they are easily installed/removed.

Mouser, Digi-Key, etc. will have them as will places like Amazon.

 

I chat with my buddy every week on ch5 at 10W. no issues, no noise. No special noise isolators. (‘17 F450 6.7). Lucky maybe? Happy that it works well.

 

I figured out why my truck didn’t play well with the CB radio. It was the Pedal Commander that was picking up interference and causing revving and fault codes when pressing transmit on the radio.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Thanks for closing the loop. I'd say that the coax should be kept as far as possible away from the accelerator pedal. Mine tucks immediately to the left then runs down the left side of the cab.

I'm curious. That sounds more like a ham radio than a foot warmer. Do you have to mod an amateur radio to get onto 11m CB freqs? My old Yaesu won't go there.

 

You are correct. Stryker SR94. Mentioned 10w to say that even at higher transmission power I receive no interference. I understand the legal/regulatory implications. (Great radio, btw)

 

Indeed. Back in the 70s before I got my license I ran a +1kw outlaw rig in a large urban area, wild and woolly days, modding the PLL and getting scolded on 10m by hams, even at 4w. I reckon nowadays the fcc has much more accurate locating tools.