i was wondering how the reception would work if i were to mount antenna(s) under the bed rails of my truck. would it be the same as if they were pointing toward the sky? the reason i ask is...i wanna get stacks and i don't wanna mount antennas anywhere but the box...but i would deffinetly rather have stacks that whips. but, i do still want my CB but i don't want all that stuff visible on my truck. besides, stacks+whips=tacky IMO

soooo, what ya'll think. will i work or is it a try it and find out kind of deal.

if i did do it i was thinking of mounting them using 3M double sided tape or something of that nature.

 

I mounted my whips inside of my stacks the other day. It actually doesn't look to bad. Gotten a couple of compliments of it as a matter of fact. I'll get a couple of pics tomorrow. I don't think mounting the antennas under the rails would work because of the way the antenna broadcasts it's signal. Not to mention that CB's are line of sight. I could be wrong though. I know nothing about cb's.

 

hey that'd be great to get some pics of that. i'd like to see how it looks. first thing i thought of when you said that though is i thought you meant you put them like inside inside of the stack itself...but i assume that's not what you meant right .

and what do you mean "CB's are line of sight"?

 

I installed my CB yesterday! it was really easy to install in these trucks! I just put it in the little compartment in the middle under the radio and routed the wires out the top of the compartment where the little light fixture goes. Didnt even have to drill any holes! For my antenna, I just used a single (2ft?) whip antenna i got from radio shack and mounted it in the middle on the tool box. I think it looks pretty good. I can post some pictures if anyone wants...

 

i wish i had a 5spd too cause then i could use that little compartment dang it...oh well. if i did though i would mount it the same as you.

and what the hey and what the who and the pics...we're always down for pics so ya i'd like to see 'em.

but still, can anyone answer my origianal question?

 

Oh yeah..your question...It would work, but the signal wouldnt be good at all...like blue said, the CB works on line of sight which basically means that if you "hide" the whips in the bed, no other CB radio's antenna's would be able to "see" them and your CB wouldnt pick up any signal (the metal of the truck bed would block all the other signals)...I tried this with my old 47 ****** I had a few years back and tried to hide the antenna in the wheel well and it didnt work good at all so i finally put the antenna out in the open on the front bumper and it worked great!

Ill get some pics of my setup taken tomorrow!

 

Actually NO on the line of sight question. CB bounces and curves all over the place. It skips off the ionasphere and you get signals from hundreds of miles sometimes. However the best signal is always line of sight so the higher the antenna the better until you get into diminishing returns from coax losses.

Edwin

 

One time several years ago I put a cb in wife's car. I bought a replacement antenna that had dual leads. 1 went to car radio, the other to cb. Could'nt even tell there was a cb in there. Range was not the best, but did ok. Think I bought it at Radio Shack or a truck stop, don't remember.

 

Aight I've got the photo in my gallery. Just waiting on approval.

 

here are the pics of my setup...




Note the cheap man's CD player setup

I mounted the antenna to the box the cheap way...magnets...the box is aluminum so i used another strong magnet on the inside of the box to hold it on. Then i routed the antenna wire down to the chassis, and then back up into the cab through the hole for the gear shift lever above the transmission and sealed it up real good...then i routed the power wires through an extra hole in the firewall directly to the battery..this was the easiest way to do it and there are no wires visible! I also routed some wires to a speaker under the tool box in the back because my CB came with a PA function so now I can gripe out anyone who tailgates me!

 

 

I'm still convinced that you need a telescopic whip that fits between your bed and cab and you can pull up whenever you're out of town and need it.

Preferreably an electrically controlled telescopic antenna.

Is a 10 inch CB antenna on a 90 inch pole as good as a 100 inch CB antenna?

 

That looks really good Blue!! I saw a P-Stroker 350 today that had a sticker that read Edit

 

Thanks ratat98!!

 

I get it now. For a while there I couldn't figure out how or why you mounted your CB antenna inside of your stack.