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

[Backroad Explorer]

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.

Thank's Mashurst. Never had a problem with branches hitting the lights or snorkel.

 

[sross]

Thanks for the comments guys. Right now the truck is parked on campus, I think the starter has gone, but having it towed to the house tomorrow where I can get some work done on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it running in time for Rousch Creek next weekend. My main reason to mount it on the front was because it would just be easier and with all the other work I need to do I'll probably just do that.

 

[ScoutII]

Gary is right the best place is up high.
The fiberglass antennas are heavy and with a spring can wobble back and forth when off roading.
Base loaded antennas with a steel whip are great for adventure driving as they preform great and you still have a steel antenna.

With all that said, you really need to decide what works for you.
I've have had to move mine from an ideal radio location to a more survivable location. Low limbs were just taking there toll. Plus were are only taking 4 watts (U.S. legal max)

So up front and on the fender or bumper is fine.

Just like so. P.S. Nice sammy

 

[Backroad Explorer]

sross what kind of antenna are you thinking about? What radio are you going to run?

ScoutII love to see some pic's of your scout.

 

[ScoutII]

It's the red one, this is from about 3 weeks ago in the Sierra's

 

[The Rover Shop]

I am setting up my Land Rover camel trophy 110 for a trip around the world and have been agonising over antenna placements for the CB (sideband set) and the HAM radio... I have decided to install a mount on the roof rack in the centre but that will only be used in extreme isolation times...for the most part I will be running fibreglass units installed on the springs on the front corners of the front brushguard...I will have the option to remove them when not using..such as driving in built up areas etc..this also stops idiots from playing with them, breaking or stealing them and of course damaging them in general..may have a cheapo or dummy antenna installed to utilise as a height guage for the roof rack and RTT...that way I can keep my expensive antennas inside where they are safe... I too was under the impression that signals use the surface plane of the vehicle body to "bounce" off, that meaning that if it is mounted to the front bumper maximum reception and transmission would be to the rear of the vehicle....

 

[1911]

... I too was under the impression that signals use the surface plane of the vehicle body to "bounce" off, that meaning that if it is mounted to the front bumper maximum reception and transmission would be to the rear of the vehicle....

In theory a vertical antenna with a perfect and infinite ground plane would have a perfectly circular radiation pattern. The problem is of course that the metal body parts of a car/truck are at best not ideal ground planes (and bumpers/brushguards even worse), and thus will distort the radiation pattern, possibly into an oblong in one direction that may or may not benefit you. But IMO it's pretty moot since the power and range of cb is so limited that it doesn't matter anyway. If you can talk from the front to the back of a modest trail group, you're doing well with cb. You need to be aware of your ground plane however since many off-the-shelf cb antennas won't tune up with a decent SWR unless they have some kind of ground plane. A 1/2-wave antenna is much more forgiving of lack of ground plane, but most cb antenna manufacturers don't tell you if their antenna is designed to be 5/8-wave, 1/2-wave, 1/4-wave or whatever. Thus, it's important to test and tune your antenna before relying on it. In my experience, having more (longer, taller) antenna above the roof line will have a lot more impact on your range than where you place the antenna fore and aft.

 

[Maverick1701]

I ran by cobra 29 through an antenna mounted to the front of my old F350 4x4 (on a ranch hand style winch bumper replacement). It worked dang well. I was usually the last guy in the 4x4 group so reception to my rear wasn't an issue.

I lined it up with my front pumpkin. It helped me remember when 4x4-ing to keep my pumpkin safe.