Citizens Band? Why yes!

[StillBlue22]

Installed a cb and i live in the mountains so i'm not picking up much but am receiving very clear signals at times. I haven't really been able to make certain that i am transmitting signals properly, any tips? Suggestions?

i bought a basic 3' antennae kit from right channel radios along with the cobra 75wx st cb
basically i drilled holes for the mounting plate and in my impatience to get everything correct i decided to drill a hole where the fitting for the coax cable to fit through and be able to slide under the mounting plate without being kinked *much* might have to do a little more drilling lol:Wow1:

ALSO, I'd love to see everyones gear and antennae including where and how you mounted it!

I'll post pictures of mine tomorrow. :ylsmoke:

 

[JamesW]

This is mine,hella cheap because I bought it in a hurry,but it seems to do the job nicely. I realised if i keep the mounting bracket on the bottom,tilted all the way forward it keeps it nice and snug in the cubby,and the speaker can be heard more clearly. The antenna is just on a magmount on the back of the roof,wedged in place by the spoiler.

Might be cheap,but with the right conditions I can pick up the skip from the states here in the south coast of Ireland,which is really cool

 

[Mrknowitall]

I had a little cobra like that- got it from a friend who felt it wasn't good enough to keep in his truck. I was also very underwhelmed by its performance. I think the big Midland radios are overkill (cost, space). I was probably best served by a little compact unit. They're cheap and reliable.

 

[1911]

CB radios are limited by law to only 4 watts of power, so all the consumer models will give similar performance. The little compact ones will do just as good as a bigger one. Most of them are cheaply made and so there is some variability in quality control. In my experience, I have found that Uniden radios are a little better shielded, that is they do not whine with interference from your alternator as badly as other brands.

Since the radios are all much the same, the key to a successful CB installation is the antenna and where you put it. You need an antenna with a wavelength that is suitable with where you mount it. If you mount it on your roof (best performance) or your hood then almost any wavelength will do because those locations will yield a good ground plane, but if you put it on a bumper you will need a 1/2 wave antenna that is forgiving of a lack of ground plane. Then you really need to tune the length of the antenna with an SWR meter or antenna analyzer. Doing these things will maximize what you can get out of a CB. Failing to do them is a crap shoot, whether you will have any range or not.

 

[StillBlue22]

I am not sure many have just drilled holes right in the middle of their fender like this lol
It looks pretty clean, you can still see the pencil marks i made, tried to get the mount as straight as i could.
I also drilled a hole behind the plate and made a little tear drop for the coax cable to slide through..
I'm wondering if this spot will catch rust? i might have to do something about that.


It was dark and a storm was coming so I temporarily routed the wiring through a gap in the drivers door channel.
Will fix this as soon as the weather bets better.


Please mind the pot leaf sticker lol
"Man i'm just tearing up the interior!"
Is what i thought when trying to get the mic mount to be sturdy..
Ended up using a small drill bit to get some metal and longer screws works great.
The little box in the passenger side foot well is just screwed in to plastic,
Will move this to a better spot later as well.


I think it came out nice, the antennae is only a 3 footer.
Haven't grounded the mount to the frame yet either.
The ground for the radio is between the seat bolt and the body
And the positive is connected directly to the battery.

I don't think the antennae is tunable its a pretty cheap one anyhow.
In the rush of all this i think it turned out pretty well.
Wanting to get a 4' firestick soon.

I got all the stuff from rightchannelradios.com the site has a wealth of info on cb's and something for every type of install you want.
I probably could've had a better mounting spot like in between the hood and fender to avoid all that drilling and crap but HEY i already did it haha

 

[StillBlue22]

If you mount it on your roof (best performance) or your hood then almost any wavelength will do because those locations will yield a good ground plane, but if you put it on a bumper you will need a 1/2 wave antenna that is forgiving of a lack of ground plane. Then you really need to tune the length of the antenna with an SWR meter or antenna analyzer. Doing these things will maximize what you can get out of a CB. Failing to do them is a crap shoot, whether you will have any range or not.

1911, Thank you for the info! So, what about the spot where i put my antenna? What would you suggest? I will buy an SWR meter as soon as i can.

 

[1911]

1911, Thank you for the info! So, what about the spot where i put my antenna? What would you suggest? I will buy an SWR meter as soon as i can.

You will get some ground plane from your hood. Check it with the SWR meter, you want it to be near the same and below 3.0 on both channel 1 and channel 40.

 

[bikerjosh]

2nd on tuning with SWR meter. The one on my 4runner would receive fine, but couldn't transmit worth a darn until I tuned it. Think I paid less than $20 on amazon for the meter

 

[montypower]

View attachment 269898
I am not sure many have just drilled holes right in the middle of their fender like this lol

You must not drive in the trees. Tree / Brush = Ripped out antenna and bend fender. Really bad idea in the NW. I switched to flexible antennas as the fiberglass ones would rarely last more than 1 off road trip. Stay on road and gravel roads.

 

[granitex1]

putting a spring at the bottom helps to keep the damage to a minimum.