Is it possible to rig up a vehicle C.B. antenna on my shop, either inside or out, for the purpose of testing/tinkering with some of the multitude of C.B.s I have accumulated from swap-meets, truck-swaps, dog-trades, etc.

I keep a spare GROUP-31s in the shop for 12-volt power.


I just need something rigged up so that I can bench-test a C.B., in order to determine if I want to simply install it in a truck, maybe send it to the shop, or cull it to the parts pile.

Can the antenna work as a stand-alone, with maybe a ground-wire from antenna-base to C.B.-housing to NEG-post on the battery ??

Or maybe the antenna mounted in the center of a grounded sheet of metal ??

Ideas please.


Thanks.



And NO, I do not want, nor can I afford, a fancy base-station antenna outside on a tower.

 

my grandpa's garage has a normal magnetic base antenna the hooks to the CB then the CB gets power from the batt.

 

I had a Radio Shack mag mount on a metal cabinet in my garage.
The cb was powerd by a converter.
Seemed to work fairly good.
Didnt get a whole lot of range with it but it was nice if the DW had to contact me for any reason.

 

Thanks for the replies.

The roof is metal; I guess if I get a long enough co-ax, I can just stick a magnetic base up there; if the cord is too short, then I will just stick one on the filing cabinet.


Will it be beneficial to also run a ground-wire from whatever metal surface the antenna sticks to to the negative post on the battery ??

 

I believe that if you put a mag mount on a cabinet in the shop, it will suffice for grounding purposes.