any reason not to mount a cb antenna to the front bumper?

[sross]

I'm going to be installing a cb (I know, I should have gone ham, etc) but is there any reason not to mount it to the front bumper? I will take the antenna off for dd duty and it seems like it would be a whole lot easier to mount to the front bumper and I figured it would get better reception since more of the antenna would be above the hood, 2 1/2 feet, vs the 6 inches or so that would be above the roof if it was mounted on the rear bumper. So, other than drilling a hole in my bumper any reason not to do it up front?

 

[gary in ohio]

its going to low on the vehicle. Most of your signal will go forward.. you will have a blind spot towards the rear.

 

[UK4X4]

never had a problem with signal while using antenna on the front of trucks

also helps with entering parking garages and under trees !

Front

double front

front- yep my wedding night was spent in the RTT

and double front again

 

[ObGobOobaleeney]

Being a ham I should joke "Aw, ain't that nice? Puttin the wittle ol' CB antenna on the front, make it feel special! Bless it's little heart!" But I wont. Besides, I also have a CB.

Joking aside, no the front (or rear) bumper ain't ideal, but any proper antenna mounted outside the vehicle is going to work well enough for most of us on the trail. The extra inch or two or three you gain in antenna height won't make squat difference, and the person behind you will hear you just fine, unless they're WAAAy behind you. I have my ham ant. on the rear of my truck facing a "blind spot" to the front. No problems worth worrying about.

If really you want to improve reception, use the biggest CB antenna you can stand to put on your truck. Resonant size does matter for longer distance comm, and CB frequencies (27mhz) inherently require pretty danged big antennas -- ideally over 20 feet! (just ask the DX cb'ers who talk cross country... using BIG antennas)

So the small ones we all use are choking off quite a bit of signal. But who wants to look like a 1970's CB geek with the monster fiberglass whip CB antenna looped over the entire car, with the tennis ball protector on the base, and the tip tied off to the opposite bumper?

 

[4x4x4doors]

Yep. I ran on the front of a couple of the Blazers and it worked fine.

 

[Mashurst]

102" stainless whip (or something less) on top of the bull bar in front is a great setup. Down on the bumper I think it would be whackin' into the truck all the time.
I hate fiberglass for off road. They snap too easily. Steel is real!

 

[hakalugi]

its going to low on the vehicle. Most of your signal will go forward.. you will have a blind spot towards the rear.

you sure?

based on my reading of information here: http://www.k0bg.com/ the body of the car (it's skin too) will have more radio energy going along the longer axis/plane.

so an antenna mounted at the back edge of the roof (near the back window/tailgate on an suv) will radiate more to the front.

i know this is cb and not ham, just curious why you say the RF energy would behave differently.

also, i'm not seeing it as the body blocking it. to me a bumper mount, like mine, and like those pictured, has the bottom of the antenna at hood height if not a few inches higher...

 

[hakalugi]

102" stainless whip (or something less) on top of the bull bar in front is a great setup. Down on the bumper I think it would be whackin' into the truck all the time.
I hate fiberglass for off road. They snap too easily. Steel is real!

some offroad parks won't let you run the long ones, b/c they... whip when released from branches on the trail

i run a firestick and this keeps mine from snapping:

doesn't wobble at all when driving, but when i pull under some trees to park, etc, it bends back just fine.

 

[Mashurst]

some offroad parks won't let you run the long ones, b/c they... whip when released from branches on the trail

i run a firestick and this keeps mine from snapping:

doesn't wobble at all when driving, but when i pull under some trees to park, etc, it bends back just fine.

That is a good point about them whipping around and it can be a problem with spotters and such. I would recommend a way of tying it back when people are around. Also a spring is basically mandatory for any 10/11 meter size antenna in an off road situation. I've never spent any time in an off-road park but it sounds like a good rule.
I have been through perhaps dozens of fiberglass types but still have and use the first and only steel whip I ever bought. Perhaps the bigger reason I like the steel ones is that each fiber glass one that has broken represents a trip where I lost the use of the associated radio for the duration or the trip. I have a fiber glass one as a spare that has been under the seat for years. To address the OP I think the front bumper represents the best place for them because you can see it and help keep it out of trouble.

 

[KA5IVR]

its going to low on the vehicle. Most of your signal will go forward.. you will have a blind spot towards the rear.

I think Gary means the other way around, but running CB in a group, it will not matter much for the signal strength differences. Same thing as running it on the very back, just a backwards pattern.

It actually makes more sense to mount the antenna in the front. You have less metal blocking the antenna, since the hood does not raise as much as the rear part of the vehicle.

 

[Backroad Explorer]

I've been runnin 102" SS Whips for years on the front of My trucks. Perfect ant. match everytime.

In he middle between driving lights

Driver's side corner

 

[Mashurst]

Nice rigs. I have always wondered with the branch lifters about how they seem to aim right at the rack lights or in the case of the zuk your snorkel filter. I once lost a rain gutter cover on my XJ to a branch out in the Owahee.

 

[ObGobOobaleeney]

never had a problem with signal while using antenna on the front of trucks

Friggin great photos, but gotta ask about the rig in the rut; how did it end up there with so much flat terrain as an option? :Wow1:

 

[UK4X4]

Playing in the ditch - and F##ked up !

Broke the side step off and dented the front quarter panel

to get it out with no more damage we winched a strap to the roll cage to pull the side off the dirt then drove slowly out with some friendly weight on the bumper

 

[ObGobOobaleeney]

Playing in the ditch - and F##ked up !

Well, at least you were playing! I've almost done worse-- almost. :Wow1: