ptm600

What are you guys using for CB antenna mounts on you 3rd gens. I dont want a mag, even though they probably get about the best reception. Thank-you. Paul

Big Smoky

I just used a mirror mount on my old truck. You can mount those just about anywhere. I drilled four holes in my toolbox and attached both sides and had no problems.

wegotlabs

I went out and a mount that is between the hood and front left fender. Looks good and is out of the way.

WYODSL

I use the wireless glass mount and it works pretty good, i put it on the back window

gus's 03

102" whip... the gold standard that all mobile antana's are compared to...

06CTDforAU

gus...... where did you get that antenna mount? That's what I have been looking for.

surfram

I use a firestick stainless extended stakehole mount that works with my cap. I run a 5' wilson silverload antenna, firestick "FireRing" coax, and a Uniden PC78LTW. I tuned the SWR to 1.5 with the 5' antenna. A 4' antenna cannot be tuned to an acceptable SWR with this setup because too much of the antenna is below the roof line. http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

CD in NM

I had been using a magnetic mount on my previous truck. I decided to do a more permanent install this time. I have a Wilson 1000 now. Drilled the hole just above the center dome light, ran the coax to the B pillar and down, then under the carpet to the radio. It requires a pretty big hole. Probably the best way to do an antenna for good groundplaning and omni-directional transmission/reception. The antenna does screw off, comes with a cover cap, so being able to remove it for places like the car wash or with low overhead is easy to deal with. I considered a tool box mount, fender mount, etc - would have still had to drill a hole and would have had structural stuff that would have affected the SWR match.

CD

D45

Firestik's hood mount is a very nice setup.

AH64ID

I have a NGP (no ground plane) kit from firestick I will be mounting on my tool box.. IME the tool box doesn't get the best ground plane.. so I went with a 3' NGP kit.

gus's 03

i had originaly orderd it as a fender mount, but they sent the wrong one, i just improvised.....



ngp, and glas mount anntannas suck, tool boxes can work exelent. if your worryed about ground plane, use the wide braided grond strap to conect the tool box to the bed, then replace the factory grond strap from bed to cab with a wide one as well.
rf energy travels on the outside of wires, not thru the core like dc does.

heck i was hill toping the other night talking with a base up in cannada, ive had a few contacts in alaska, normal day to day use i have no problem comunicating with base stations 30-40 miles out, mobles can usualy hear me an easy 20-30 mils but i usualy cant hear them due to most mobles not wetting out verry well.

wyocat

hey gus where did you run your antenna cable from inside the cab to back there? did you just go through one of the rubber plugs out the back or what

Dodgetracker

PTM600, I guess it depends on how you want to use it as to what kind of mount. If you want to talk around the world then set up like Gus. Bed stake mounts work well also.

DGraham1023

I have a cobra 29 nightwatch and 4 foot firestix antenna. I think I need to tune it a little more because the reception is not the greatest in the world. I can hear/talk to people, but I have to right up on them. What kind of range should I be getting? I tuned the cb with the SWR gauge on the cb, and everything seems correct on that side, is there something that I am missing? Antenna is mounted on inside of bed, right behind cab on driver's side.

Ronby

DGraham1023, Hey man the cobra 29 isn't known for it's ears......though they do transmit very well. As far as using the internal SWR meter I wouldn't rely on it too much. If you can find someone with say a MFJ antenalizer you will get a much better reading as to your standing wave. I see you are in Spring Hill so I would try one of the cb shops down in Columbia......at least there use to be a couple down there, that is if you don't know someone with a SWR meter who can check and tune your antenna system for you. Oh! Does your firestix have the tunable tip with the screw on the top? That should make things much easier to tune. One last thing. Make sure you have everything grounded well. That is one of the biggest problems with tuning an antenna system. Good luck man.