CB radio and antenna mount

[texanjeeper]

I posted the link to the CB antenna mount that I purchased. The guy who does the Youtube video sells the mounts and I purchased one. I thought I would document my installation and show any pitfalls that come up and how I got by them. I will put new posts in this thread updating the progress.

I received the mount with the hardware kit yesterday, and I received the coax/antenna adapter today. Me and my son worked on the mount, it took us about 3 hours. Obviously, if you watch the video, this is a lot longer than it took the guy. The reason was twofold. First, the guy explained that the 2020 gladiators have the two mount holes at the front of the bed, but the second hole is semi-plugged and has to be drilled out. I knew that going in, so no biggie. It didn't help, though, that the spray-in bedliner is somewhere between 1/8'' and 1/4'' thick. The mount screws are made to just make it into the mounting bracket without a spray-in bedliner, so I wasn't able to get the bolt into the mounting bracket with a washer and lockwasher on the bolt. I had to toss the lockwasher, but that worked fine. If it becomes a problem, I'll either buy longer bolts, or take them out one at a time, and put Locktite on each one.

Also....the mounting bracket ended up not being as vertical as the one in the video. Mine goes off at a slight angle away from the truck for some reason. Again, this is using the two holes that were shown in the video. The only thing I did was to drill them both to 3/8'' in diameter, because with the bedliner and the issue with the lower hole, it wasn't taking the bolt through the holes at all. So, after drilling out the holes, and finally getting the mount screwed in, it looks like this:

Again, it only slightly angles away from the truck, it's hard to tell just by the picture. If it bothers me, I'll figure out a way to bend it up straighter so that it's more vertical. Shouldn't be a big deal. I'm going to see if I can leave some kind of feedback with the guy who makes it, and tell him that he really should make the bolts about 1/4'' longer to compensate for bedliners. By the way, I had to take the Rough Country tonneau cover off, to get to everything properly for the mount. Taking it off is a snap, and putting it back on almost just as easy. I really love that tonneau cover.

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[texanjeeper]

So, like I mentioned, some of the other hardware came in today. One was the coax/antenna adapter, and the other was the tension spring. I installed the adapter, and I put the spring on just to see what it would look like.

The spring is a Wilson, and so is the 18 foot coaxial cable I bought. My plan is to take the top off in the back, or just loosen it enough to put the wire in through it, and go down through the behind the back seat, under the carpet, all the way to the front and come out somewhere under the dash. I'd be interested to hear any negatives doing it that way, and anybody who has done it another way, or has done it this way and they feel strongly that it's the way to go.

The antenna comes in tomorrow. The CB radio I ordered will not be here until sometime between June 5th and June 11th.

 

[Radio Guy]

For an install I did in the bed I ran the coax down between the bed and cab then into the frame to the front of the vehicle then popped out and went up to an existing gromet on the drivers side firewall. I have also run up into a gromet under the rear seat where I have some remote radio stuff and have run cables under the carpet from under the rear seats to the front. Its all doable.

 

[Max-t]

What kind of performance can you get without a ground plane?

 

[texanjeeper]

What kind of performance can you get without a ground plane?

From what I've read, the truck bed should offer enough ground. If I think it's a problem, I'll just buy a no ground antenna.

 

[Max-t]

Yea ya need what… 6 inch plane for cb? You have like… 2? And it’s one sided. My understanding is that it doesn’t work… but I’m no physicist. When I’ve had a cb I always had a ground plane like a trunk lid. Only done hand held in a jeep. So I have no experience and non jeep owning radio guys telling me it won’t work based on knowledge but not experience.
My idea was to put it on the roof with a trim taped on metal disk grounded to the antenna. Others magnet to the middle of the hood when needed. There’s no great option

 

[Radio Guy]

Yea ya need what… 6 inch plane for cb? You have like… 2? And it’s one sided. My understanding is that it doesn’t work… but I’m no physicist. When I’ve had a cb I always had a ground plane like a trunk lid. Only done hand held in a jeep. So I have no experience and non jeep owning radio guys telling me it won’t work based on knowledge but not experience.
My idea was to put it on the roof with a trim taped on metal disk grounded to the antenna. Others magnet to the middle of the hood when needed. There’s no great option

A CB whip "wants" to see a 1/4 wave ground plane in all directions which is about 9ft radius or 18ft diameter. What we end up giving it on a truck roof, hood or top bed rail is a joke but they will usually tune up and work to some extent. An actual 6" radius ground plane will not work and raising the feedpoint way above the ground plane is also adding losses to the system, making it harder to match and it will reduce performance.

 

[Max-t]

So cb mobile whips have always been a losing game … potential wise… is what I’m hearing. And now I know why there was a giant aerial coming out of my dads workshop. I always assumed they were vhf. Never thought about it. Little antenna…. VHF or higher I figured.
I worked with radio frequencies at work. But not the hardware and not below 115 mhz. The extent of my understanding is largely vocational as it applied to my job.

 

[texanjeeper]

Okay so I got the antenna in today. It may be too long, but I'll know more after I get the cable run through the cabin and hook it up to the SWF meter and see if it needs tuning. Hopefully, it won't be all that much.

I'll try running the cable through the back, between the body and the top, in the next few days. I think I can just loosen up the bolts that hold the top on in the back seat, and lift it straight up enough to fit the coax through and into the back seat. I will then run it under the carpet and up to the front, and all I'll have to do is mount the CB radio and test her out.

 

[Dougstdig]

From what I've read, the truck bed should offer enough ground. If I think it's a problem, I'll just buy a no ground antenna.

I tried many setups…including a no ground. The only place I found comfortable enough to not damage my radio due to poor SWR’s is the front bumper.

 

[Radio Guy]

I tried many setups…including a no ground. The only place I found comfortable enough to not damage my radio due to poor SWR’s is the front bumper.

I've found a few places that work great for a CB antenna, one is the hood using an NMO trunk lid mount near a hinge and on the inside upper bed wall above the rear tire. There are many base loaded NMO mount CB antennas available and they don't put any strain on the mount due to the lightweight SS whips they use.

On the inside bed wall you can use a ball mount or half a mirror mount screwed into the side bed wall. My mount ends just below my factory trail rails and all the Firestiks and 9ft whips and HF amateur antennas I've tried there tune up and work great.

 

[Dougstdig]

I had 102 on my XJ and it worked well…then again it was steel. I have a hard bed cover so inside the bed are a nada. The NMO’s really weren’t an option as I don’t want the grit getting under and whittling away the paint or aluminum. My cowl Nemo for the gmrs works fine though. The front bumper is perfect for me. Doesn’t get in my visual path etc. easy to remove and stow for parking garages or carwashes.

 

[Radio Guy]

I had 102 on my XJ and it worked well…then again it was steel. I have a hard bed cover so inside the bed are a nada. The NMO’s really weren’t an option as I don’t want the grit getting under and whittling away the paint or aluminum. My cowl Nemo for the gmrs works fine though. The front bumper is perfect for me. Doesn’t get in my visual path etc. easy to remove and stow for parking garages or carwashes.

I've had NMO mounts on various vehicles for 10+ years with no paint damage. A good NMO mount should not hurt anything. A top of hood mounted antenna will work much better than a bumper mounted one, all other things equal.

 

[Dougstdig]

I had 102 on my XJ and it worked well…then again it was steel. I have a hard bed cover so inside the bed are a nada. The NMO’s really weren’t an option as I don’t want the grit getting under and whittling away the paint or aluminum. My cowl Nemo for the gmrs works fine though. The front bumper is perfect for me. Doesn’t get in my visual path etc. easy to remove and stow for parking garages or carwashes.

 

[Dougstdig]

I've had NMO mounts on various vehicles for 10+ years with no paint damage. A good NMO mount should not hurt anything. A top of hood mounted antenna will work much better than a bumper mounted one, all other things equal.

What kind of power will a NMO cb antenna handle? I can’t remember what I’m running. I believe it’s 320w. Tuned by a retired warrantee Ranger tech and tested on a Byrd meter.

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