CB Radio Thread

Could've sworn there was a thread on CB's already but I couldn't find nuffin. If there already is one that I missed my bad on that. So I just got a Cobra to install on the rig and have a few questions before I go ahead and get the last few items.

First, I read that flexible fiberglass antennas are best suited for offroad use, opinions? Where is the best place to mount the antenna to minimize the amount of lost clearance while not sacrificing the antenna's propagation too much (I like the way awalsh has installed on the tire carrier but am not sure how well it performs there)? Additionally, if any one has pics of their CB installed, i.e. where the radio, mic, and antenna are installed, would be a great help to myself and others in the future.

Since we don't have a dedicated thread to CB's on this forum yet (which I feel is impossible) then post your helpful tips and info here for all to use.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Thanks to napalmsticks for pushing me over the edge to get a CB :giggle:

P.P.S. Are handles an actual thing? If so what's yours?

I installed mine CB radio where the factory head unit goes, right above an aftermarket HU, and then stuck a mic bracket to the side of the gauge bezel. i think i have a picture somewhere.

my antenna is on the far left corner of the rear bumper. i like it there, but it bends backwards now so I'm going to make a little bracket near the tail light to hold it in place.

i'm interested in everyone else's set up because i want to get a double din radio and move the CB. I don't really want to put it on the dash, but I don't think i have a choice.

I have mine mounted via high strength velcro to the dash ran the power and antenna cable behind the dash, then bought an antenna mount modified it a little bit to fit on the spare tire carrier bolt and boom works great (I think), haven't used it to talk to anyone yet though lol

My radio is mounted temporarily to the top of the dash and I have the antenna mounted to my roofrack. Unless you're going through parking garages and being lazy and going through drive thru's (you know you do it you lazy) then clearance isn't an issue. And then you can just leave the antenna unmounted and throw it on when needed.

Ultimately I want to fabricate a solid fold over mount for my antennas so that I can just flip them up when I need them. I'd really like to make a motorized one so that I don't even have to get out of the truck.

Anything other than mounting on the center of the roof is going to affect propagation a fair bit actually, especially with CB, since you're already making huge compromises with the antenna. The fiberglass antennas are more like the little rubber duck antennas comparitively. But the closer you can get to a roof mounted antenna, the better. Mounting it similar to the FM antenna is a decent compromise, and I'd mount it on the nose of the truck before I put it on the back, personally.

But it is up to you as to what you want to do ultimately.

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Anyone mount a 102 on their rig? With a spring loaded 102 you would get the range/reception you wanted and be able to tie to cross bars on roof when clearance was an issue.

I bought an quad band radio.... the benefit is I can attach the face to my center change tray and put the body of the radio elsewhere.... best of all, I also have a HAM radio and can monitor police frequencies along with race-radio-frequencies all in one package.

if you're set on CB only, I have a Cobra large-body/side band radio in my FJ40 along with a 3' firestick.... it's no ham radio, but it's about as good as it gets for CB.

I'm using a single Firestik and a 980 Bearcat on my Freightliner. The setup works good and can even pick up skip. I can't help on how to mount anything on an H3.

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Has anyone mounted their antenna on the same spot as the regular radio antenna except just on the other side with the same or similar mount? I feel like that would be an ideal spot to mount. Thoughts?

I used a mirror mount similar to this.

Discard the back of the clamp, Cut off just below the upper bolt holes.
There's enough left to mount next to the upper bolt of the spare tire mount. There is also just enough room between the tire mount and the body so the bolts don't mess up the paint.
You'll have to drill two holes in the spare tire mount. which requires removing it from the truck.

I have a mirror mount on the left corner of the brushguard on one of mine, great reception with the 5' firestick. Another one has the antenna side mounted opposite the fm antenna. On that one I used a NGP firefly antenna setup and really don't like it-high SWR and less range, however it is pretty much out of the way. My wife's H3 has the antenna on the spare tire mount. It's a nice location and has good performance with the 3' firestick, but it sits pretty high for wheeling and the shorter length is a compromise on range. (Although roughly equal to my 4' firefly NGP setup, maybe 1/2 mile less range).

As far as mounting it on the rear, where/how am I going to run the coax up to the radio itself? I've never really done electronics on anything so I'm not sure on this kinda stuff

USMC_315 said:

As far as mounting it on the rear, where/how am I going to run the coax up to the radio itself? I've never really done electronics on anything so I'm not sure on this kinda stuff

Click to expand...

You could just go through the breather thing under the spare carrier, there is already room to run the cable through there, through the factory wiring in the rear door, and up to the CB unit. That's how I would do it.

Or, under the truck along the stock wiring, through the firewall. Scot I can send you pics /advice on where to drill through the firewall if you choose this route. Same way I did my rear LEDs.


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Well if anyone can help me out with cb radio SWR tuning that would be great, I have a 3ft fiberglass antenna that I bought at pilot and mounted to my rear tire carrier, I had a old RadioShack CB radio that finally took a crap the last wheeling trip, so I bought a new bearcat 880 and hooked it up and installed it. But now the SWR reading on channel 40 and channel 1 is way to high, it's in the 3's I read that if you have higher on 40 you can cut the antenna down and it will help so I did that but the SWR stays the same now across both channels. But it's still in the 3's i tried grounding the antenna better and that didn't work. Should I buy a new antenna? Any recommendations on fiberglass antennas?


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Well I fixed my problem. I had coiled up extra wire underneath the seat and apparently that's a no no.


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Kyle said:

Well I fixed my problem. I had coiled up extra wire underneath the seat and apparently that's a no no.


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Click to expand...

Are you talking about your coax? A lot of people will try to tell you that you have to keep the coax to 18 feet long or whatever, but really that is a bunch of malarkey. The coax length doesn't matter except for line losses (which are negligible at CB frequencies and the average runs in a mobile installation) and if you don't have the antenna installed correctly. I have mine cut to length (maybe 10-12 feet long of a run) and it tuned up just peachy with my 4 foot Firestick II, if I recall I have a SWR of about 1.5 or so ( maybe a little higher, but not much), which for mobile is pretty darn good.

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JPaul said:

Are you talking about your coax? A lot of people will try to tell you that you have to keep the coax to 18 feet long or whatever, but really that is a bunch of malarkey. The coax length doesn't matter except for line losses (which are negligible at CB frequencies and the average runs in a mobile installation) and if you don't have the antenna installed correctly. I have mine cut to length (maybe 10-12 feet long of a run) and it tuned up just peachy with my 4 foot Firestick II, if I recall I have a SWR of about 1.5 or so ( maybe a little higher, but not much), which for mobile is pretty darn good.

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Click to expand...

yea i had coiled up a couple feet of coax cable and stuffed it under the seat, i un coiled it and just let it flow normally and it dropped the swr down to 1.5 on both channels.

Kyle said:

yea i had coiled up a couple feet of coax cable and stuffed it under the seat, i un coiled it and just let it flow normally and it dropped the swr down to 1.5 on both channels.

Click to expand...

I too will have to do this because I had the same problem...however I tested and try to tune my cb in the city close to power lines and what not, and not in an open field like u suppose to, mine are 10 feet antennas but I'm only using 1 also I did had my coax cable coiled.

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A loose loop in coax acts as a RF choke. You can flatten out the loops and tape them down inline with the coax and it will not affect TX or reflected signal

I just ended up running the cable under the back seat in a u shape


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