CB radio on iia with soft top

Some noob CB- Radio questions.

I'm planning on converting my iia 88" to a soft top and want to install a walkie talkie / cb-radio. From what I understand one needs a good ground plane unless one decides to go for an antenna with ground plane built in. I have also come to understand that aluminium is a poor ground plane, that a ground plane should be atleadt 3x3 ft, that ideally the antenna should be centered in the ground plane or it will affect direction of bothbreception and broadcast, also that the ground plane should be directly underneth the antenna, that atleast 50% of the antenna should be above the vehicle (ideally as high as possible), and the longer the antenna the better... Which makes for quite the predicament for me.

I am conscidering attaching a removable metal plate accross the two back sticks/poles/bars underneath the hood and attach an antenna on top... maybe make a nice opening in the fabric for a regular antenna or the antenna cable and use a magnetic antenna instead (ugly but practical). But if i ever remove the sticks to ride completely open, i loose the radio unless I have a second mounting place for a second antenna, maybe one with built in ground. However, all of this sounds like a great length to go for something that for me is just a toy.

Then there is the issue with height. The car allready rides tall, and an antenna up high would make driving into a normal garge or public parking building an impossibility without climbing out and remove the antenna first. It sounds like one of those cases where once it comes off, it doesn't come on again except for the very rear occasion where I plan to use it a lot, like on a 4x4 event of some sort. So, if I don't want an antenna that significantly increases the height of the car, what would be a good location? Rear cross member or side of the tub? Or, will even these locations pose heigt problems? What about reception and broadcast issues?

Now, I seem to find a lot of contradicting information when it comes to ground planes. Some are saying that cars with for instance fiberglass roofs can use a normal antenna without built in ground plane if i simply ground the antenna to thenchassis with some thick wire. Is this true? Will the chassis of a 88" series iia offer a good enough ground plane and be better than an antenna with a built in ground plane? Some say that a square fott of ground plane will do, others say not to bother trying a regular antenna unless it is less thqn 3x3 ft. As such, experience from land rover owners, good or bad, is golden... Please share.

Now, for the final questions which are related to interferance and power. Originally the landy did not use spark plugs or cables with resistqnce built in to supress radio interferance. Will this pose a problem or will i need to swap either or both for something with more resistance built in? With too much resistance ignition power should be affected... in theory. Question is wether this should pose any real problems in real life on my car?

Are there other sources of interferance that I need to deal with? I assume that the original dc dynamo causes less radio problems than an ac alternator. Is this correct, or does it even matter?

Typically a cb is rated 12v 3a (36w). I don't have any unoriginal power consumers in the car. Will I have enough juice to power something like this or will I see my battery drain? If so, slow or quick? What if i use high beems, the heater and the windshield vipers atbthe same time? In the last case I can live with a slow drain. I know how the car acts up when power runs low and have the wits to turn off the radio to give the battery a chance to recharge enough to power the sparks and fuel pump...

Any input that will help me steer towards or away from a particular setup is very welcome. Please take me to school

Crikey....

I'm no expert, but if CB radio works with little rubber antennae, then I expect it will work ok with an antenna bolted to a random bit of panel.
Middle of front wing over front wheel like the military mob do it?

RF antenna stuff is shrouded in mystique - RF signals don't necessarily behave as you might expect......

You'll be fine for the power take off the fuse might be 3A but it should draw a lot less than that, after all any more than 4W out is illegal.

Alluminium makes a fine ground plane - it conducts nearly as well as copper and far better than iron or steel.

If you want a good ground plane you could mount it on the bonnet. Personally I have a side-mount on the rear drivers side wing. This has several advantages:
- it doesn't whip pedestrians when you drive past them (except in France where they deserve it)
- it doesn't get torn off by branches as much
- the rear wing you can wire it inside the vehicle - I had it on the front originally but salt water got into everything an corroded it to buggery after one winter
- when not in use you can tuck the aerial into the front window gutter and stop it smashing lights in multi-storey car parks.

The main disadvantage is that there are also roof poles in parallel to the aerial these will tend to distort the radiation pattern but I've not noticed it in practice I just positioned it mid way between two.

It works well enough and I can get the SWR down to about 1:1.2 which is ok. Unless you're looking to transmit over very long distances I'd not get too worked up - just buy a SWR meter and set it up and it should be ok.

Sounds good, I think that's what I will do, or on the rear fender...

This singenious et up could solve all height problems, though probably better for those with LWB..https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuTA1TnhXo

A quarte turn 12v actuator or an inline actuator with a link/arm??. Maybe even something simple like a viper motor

Ha, looks cool but if it's anything like my other electrics it would pop up at the wrong moment causing embarrassment!

I got something like this CB Radio Antenna Kit - Moulded Side Body Mount Kit with Large Springer Aerial | eBay

It's bendy enough and work well enough but like I say make sure all the terminals are inside the car or they'll rot...