CB's and entennas

[DarrellB]

I now there are alot of you guys running with CB's in your trucks. So I have a couple of questions for y'all.



1. I'm wanting to put a CB in my truck and was wanting to know were is the best place to buy one and get entennas for them. I was wanting to go with a compact model with about 2 3 foot fiberglass entennas off of the tool box in the bed.



2. Can I mount the CB in the hole in the dash ubove the shifter and can I run the cable for the entennas down threw the shifter boot.



Any advice or pictures of your installs would help tramendously, I don't want to screw this one up.



Thanks

Big D

 

[Randy J]

Mine's an auto, so I have the cupholders where you have the hole in the dash. I had a friend help me shape a piece of sheet steel to match the transmission hump. The plate goes from the front inside corner of each seat, using the front bolts to secure it, and then rises in front of the center seat. The end product looks kinda like a Michael Brolin CB mount. I think this would clear a 5 speed. The antenna I mounted with a Firestik fender mount, on the last fender bolt drivers side. Looks real good. Even had a trucker call me on the radio to ask me about it once. I have seen people fit the CB in the dash pocket you're talking about though.

 

[Ragin Ram]

Darrell.



1. I use a k-40 3ft. tunable antenna. I fabricated a mount and placed it on the passenger side on the front of the bed. When I had it tuned, the best we could get the SWR meter to read was 1. 5. Not bad considering The location I mounted it. I would doubt a 2 ft. antenna would work considering the location you want it mounted. The back of the cab causes signal problems. The longer the antenna the better! Check the Firestick web site and do searches on this site for all you need to know. Sorry I don't have any links.





2. I installed my Cobra CB in the area you mentioned. The plastic pocket in front of the shifter is easy to remove. Carefully pop off the dash bevel and remove two screws. I machined the pocket to fit my radio. It wasn't easy but it turned out real nice. I also had to drill a hole in a metal horizontal brace to run the antenna wire through. I ran the wire to the passenger side under the door sill plates to the back and through the floorboard. Take a look at the Brolin mount if you can sacrifice middle passenger space.



Todd.

 

[jandtjil]

CB & Ant

DB

I saw a post elsewhere on TDR suggesting a Cobra radio that features the controls on the mic it is a real killer idea, as long as you're not looking for a sideband unit.

The cobra unit could be mounted under drivers seat, talk about convenient! Mount mic to dash, shift console, or even velcro to seat.



For mounting in bed (tool Box) the shifter boot makes sense.



As for the ant, I went with a fender mount from Kens (http://www.kenselectronics.com). I got lucky and managed to line it up (on the left without using a tape measure) directly with the stock AM/FM ant on the right side, pretty cool lookin IMO.



Remove the grommet where the hood release passes thru the firewall, ran coax thru grommet, reinstall grommet, route coax alongside underhood light wires to point where fender mount is attached.

I too ended up with a 1. 5 SWR reading (using 3ft K-40).



JJ

 

[Jetson]

My antenna is mounted in the bed. I took off the driver's kick panel and ran the coax through a rubber plug into the fender cavity and then down under the truck.

 

[SOLER]

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=23207



The above link will show you some CB's mounted where you suggested.



I ran my antenna down thru the shifter boot. I have the 6 speed. Take the shifter console apart, and you will find you have two shift boots. The one above the shift console, and the one beneath that actually screws to the floor. I cut a small hole thru the bottom boot, and ran the cable forward and up thru the console.



My antanna mounts are on the fenders (dual 48" Firesticks), but will be putting them on my headache rack. I am going to ainstall a hinged rod across the rack, and have an electric motor attached that will fold the antennae back for parking garages.

 

[EricBu12]

Antenna mount

Here is the real pic of the fender mount that you can see where it will be

http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

 

[EricBu12]

Pic of mount

 

[BK]

Mounted mine from the underside of the rear fender. Used a pieced of heavy flat stock a bit over a foot long or so. Bolted it using the existing bumper bolts and added one or two... been awhile... Then drilled the hole and mounted a pl259 mount from Radio Crap , that has a threaded end for the wips. I used on of their right angle pl259 connectors to clean up the coax going to the antenna, but it fell apart.



I must say that for around town and on the road it's fine. But off road that wip gets going and it's scuffed my the fender area above the the tail light. The pictures don't show it so well, but there is distance between the wip and the sheetmetal. The wip is mounted even with the back edge of the bumper.



I made a bracket that mounted between the frames of the drivers and passenger seat, under the center seat.

I made a bracket that mounted to that , to which the my radios are mounted.

I don't smoke and found that the ash try made a nice spot to mount the brake controller and mikes. The ash try light lights up the mikes at night.





http://www.tdr4x4.com/rigs/cb/



is where some pictures are



Bob