CB radio mount - where?

ok having looked into a cb antenna radio mount and possible places to put it, a few options have been given. side mounts, mirror mounts, body mounts etc.

my question is what is most suitable for off roading. my thoughts initially were the best position for the antenna would be on the bonnet. is it possible to do that?

failing that what would people suggest?

oh the vehicle in question is a 110 CSW

cb radios work on line f sight as they are FM,therefoere the higher you mount it the better your range.....if you look at my foto then you can just see mine upon the light bar,great reception blah blah blah....having said all that then in the real world i rarely find that friends etc when out are actually that far away.....indeed a few timesfed up of bashing branches etc ive taken the actuall'whip'bit out just leaving the base part and no one noticed any difference in performance.....so all in all id say mount it as high as poss but dont go mad with a massive aerial if your just wanting to use it when playing out with your mates as they just get tangled up,and remember that the better quality the aerial then the better the reception

just found a gutter mount which seems like it could be the best option - dead easy to install and all that!

im going to go for a kit - a hell of alot cheaper that way. intec m790, plus mini orbiter antenna and mount - plus wiring and all that. together it works out a grand old 7 squids more expensive than just buying the radio

but before that i may take a ganders at ebay!

brill.......and at the risk of showing you how to suck eggs remember that youve a aluminium roof so a mag mounts out lol

haa yep. had some decent magnets i got from SA which friends had on one of their 4x4's out there. they sent me some when they found out i was getting one - no luck!

ahh well im thinking gutter mount will work easiest

I've used a mirror mount to stick mine on the top rung of my roofrack ladder.

I've used a side mount on the top rear left side of my 90 county. Right side has a work light. This way there's no cabling trailing on the outside and I can take my radio and speaker out if I'm parking in a dodgy area. I seem to get around 30-40 mile range if up a hill and not too many trees. All purchased from Knights. I got an Albrecht 6890, which has a remote head so you can put it pretty well anywhere. Excellent quality, you can get cheaper but I want to use mine across Europe. Watch the cabling on the Thunderpole antenna, it's crap. luckily I had to put a longer than standard cable and so found it.

I have made a bracket that sits behind the spare wheel on the back door. I found that I just ripped the other mounts off.

The bottom half of the ariel is protected and the top whip is above body level.

Daz

Wormey said:

I have made a bracket that sits behind the spare wheel on the back door. I found that I just ripped the other mounts off.

The bottom half of the ariel is protected and the top whip is above body level.

Daz

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mine is too

I cut a hole internally in the roof central rib and then drilled through roof. Very secure, very central (better for reception) great reception.

MAG mount on the front bumper with a short taxi ariel from Maplin. Doesn't get ripped off the gutter when driving through bushes on green lanes now.

yu bin out laning? :cry:

Not since New Year. Hoping to get some time soon though, wanna come?

oh yuz - not quite wot in tho - but please keep me in the loop.

Patman1200 said:

Not since New Year. Hoping to get some time soon though, wanna come?

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FFS. We'd just broken his dribbling habit. Now ya've gone and started him off again.

Carpy, you can pretty much mount it where you like but the higher up the better.

You need to remember to make sure you have a good ground and that you tune the antenna with a SWR Meter or you will run the risk of cooking your radio. With an aluminium roof you can still get a good mount but you will need to make a ground plate (takes 2 min) then run a wire to a good ground, works quite well - ask Spyderman.

why do you need the ground plate - ally is still metal and also electrically a good ground?

mine is fixed to the flat back face of the roof, so the mount is protected, and i got a nice bendy aerial, so its all good.


some thieving bastid still nicked it though

boydy1989 said:

some thieving bastid still nicked it though

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Should have wired the Ariel up, so that when you turn the engine off the Ariel becomes electrified

boydy1989 said:

why do you need the ground plate - ally is still metal and also electrically a good ground?

mine is fixed to the flat back face of the roof, so the mount is protected, and i got a nice bendy aerial, so its all good.


some thieving bastid still nicked it though

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Need a good ground plate because aluminium oxides so quickly and the oxide will not conduct

CB performance what matters is the ground plane. The ground plane is the flat, metal surface needed to reflect your antenna's signal out. Essentially, the antenna transmits the signal downward, it strikes the ground plane, and is reflected out. The bigger your ground plane is, the better. Consequentially, the best place for your antenna is the center of the roof of your vehicle, IF it is metal and there is no sun roof. Some newer vehicles have fiberglass bodies that will not reflect the signal as metal would. The front or back fenders will give you good results as well. You must remember, though, that the signal will be weaker in the direction with no ground plane. For instance, if you mount your antenna on the front drivers side fender, you will have a weaker signal to the front-left of the vehicle.

Extract from google.


Thats why you should mount your aeriel on the landy roof. But nobody does do they? well ClassicKev has with great results. Mine is mounted on my front bumper but it is most certainly directional but will have a decent ground plane soon. I bet yours is too Boydy and many others but somtimes practicality comes before performance. I think if you add another seperate ground plane I was told that you can get some serious range but its been so long since I studied Radio. Jai