Mounted CB Antenna

[The Green Lantern]

Link:


http://elcova.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/4871031121/m/6391091241 http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[The Green Lantern]

Link:


http://elcova.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/4871031121/m/6391091241 http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[BigBill]

Is that metal band strong enough to hold the antenna mount? If so, I will go this route and head to the radio and hardware store.

Bill

[Hucky]

big bill

As a metal artist and fabricator, thats one rough looking bracket

go to a metal fab shop and have him fabricate you one out of some stainless flat stock, with a brake you can make that in 10 minutes, then drill your own mounting holes at home.

You can use aluminum too as long as the metal stock is thick enough, easier to drill too.

When drilling stainless, use lots of cutting oil to keep the bits cool and prepare to use more than 1 bit.

Even sheet metal places that do custom HVAC work can do this for you.


Paint it black to match, if your spare mount is black,
I just came from Cerritos Hummer and was checking out all the Service Rigs and alot of people have done some really hoky poky stuff to theyre rides and it shows, The Devils in the Details.

Good Luck

[Steve #1]

I just installed mine last week. The biggest problem with the spare tire mount is the lack of a ground plain. An antenna should be mounted to the larges horizontal surface of a vehicle. Mounting to the roof creates its own problems. I put mine directly on the back bumper so it sits at the edge of the driver side tail lamp. With the antenna off, the mount sticks up about 1/4" above the plastic bumper cap. I ran the antenna cable trough the grommet for the tail lamp which turned out to be a bad move as I get static when I hit the brakes. I will be rerouting it this weekend.

I took pics of the whole install, but didn't get a good one of the antenna, but this will give you an idea.

The CB is mounted above the rear view mirror.

[fw888]

that is a pretty slick mount..:beerchug: , how do you hold it in place and where is the power cable hook up to ?

[BigBill]

After reading many threads on this and deciphering other information as to what to do, I have completed my CB antenna mount and am happy with the outcome. I want to thank The Green Lantern, Sewie, and others who provided me with the information and insight in getting this completed.

So others may learn and not have to hunt all over the place, I am listing and showing what I have done. I mounted my CB antenna to the rear spare tire mount.


Had a local metal fabrication shop create a stainless steel channel bracket to mount to the spare tire mount bolts. The width between the two bolts is 8". I had the protrusion be 2" in order to clear the rear wiper. The span across the spare tire mount is 6". I used 18 gauge, stainless steel.
Mounted the bracket and at first used a Firestik mirror mount (Model M-164A), however I soon found out that the protrusion off of the channel bracket was too great and the antenna bracket was in the wheel well of the mounted spare tire. I had an old Firestik flat mount (Model SS-134A) which I bent into an "L" shape.
Mounted the "L" bracket onto the channel bracket and attached the antenna cable to it.The rear wiper does rub against the spring coil on the antenna but I figure I may remove the coil when not using the antenna off-road where flexibility is a concern.

For the antenna cable, I ran it under the front gear selector plastic, under the carpet near the pedals, and underneath the molding near the door. I then removed the Monsoon subwoofer cover, continued the cable under this cover, and out through the door. I noticed there's a door vent in the middle of the spare tire mount which was very nice as I ran the antenna cable through it and then attached it to the mount.

This took some time, but not an overly difficult job. The majority of the time was spent planning the project, running into hurdles and adjusting the plan, and actually removing molding and other parts (which was pretty easy), and then actually installing everything.

Spare Tire "channel" bracket
43965

Antenna Mount
43966

43967

43968

43969

I went with the Midland Handheld #75822 as the local radio shop recommended it over the Cobra. This unit doesn't require an installed switching box as does the Cobra and there are actually a few more features. Both the Cobra and the Midland are made by Maxon and are pretty equal. I bought this unit from Amazon for a very reasonable $85.

Hope this helps anyone who needs to install a radio in their vehicle.

Bill

[BigBill]

I just installed mine last week. The biggest problem with the spare tire mount is the lack of a ground plain. An antenna should be mounted to the larges horizontal surface of a vehicle. Mounting to the roof creates its own problems. I put mine directly on the back bumper so it sits at the edge of the driver side tail lamp. With the antenna off, the mount sticks up about 1/4" above the plastic bumper cap. I ran the antenna cable trough the grommet for the tail lamp which turned out to be a bad move as I get static when I hit the brakes. I will be rerouting it this weekend.

I took pics of the whole install, but didn't get a good one of the antenna, but this will give you an idea.

The CB is mounted above the rear view mirror.

Couldn't you ground the antenna to the body? I am thinking of doing this by running a ground wire from the antenna mount to the inside of the door.

Bill

[Lezam]

Did you guys have to do any drilling into the H3? Would that void the warranty?

[Big Dad]

Naw...it'd void the warranty on my DeWalt though.

:twak:

[BigBill]

No, I didn't have to drill anything into the body of my H3.

Bill

[Steve #1]

that is a pretty slick mount..:beerchug: , how do you hold it in place and where is the power cable hook up to ?

The mount is screwed in to the support behind the windshield. See the attached pic. I was pleasantly surprised to see such a nice place to mount it. I was expecting to have to use adhesive to attach a mount that I could secure the bracket to.

The power runs down the passenger side pillar and for now to the power point on the dash. I've got some other electronics that will be going in and I will switch it to a distribution block then.

The antenna runs across to the driver side and to the rear under the headliner. then out behind the tail light.

To get the bracket through the headliner I just pressed it in to it and used a razor knife to cut the fabric. I then used a small amount of fabric glue to keep the headliner from fraying.

The only difficult part (other than drilling holes for the bracket with my head crammed between the dash and the windshield) was that in order to mount the CB closer to the windshield I removed the screw connector for the antenna and soldered the cable in on the inside of the radio case.

Mounting the antenna was as easy as drilling a hole in the bumper of a 3 week old $30K vehicle. :)


-----

Bill,
you want to be sure that the antenna mount has a solid (electrical) connection to the vehicle. If not the SWR will be high and the performance of the radio poor. If the SWR is to high, it can damage the radio. Your other option would be to use a "NGP" or no ground plane antenna if you have problems adjusting SWR. If your SWR is good with your setup, then no worries. :)

[The Riddler]

Old thread ...

[The Riddler]

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