Fender Mount CB Antenna, Which Bolt?

[Shelby Griggs]

Mounting up my CB and VHF antennas, and I have a question. I was going to use the fender bolt closest to the windshield, but that puts the right side antenna very close to the AM/FM antenna. Was at a CB shop today and the owner said he usually goes to the next bolt out, he claimed I would get a lot of reflected signal off of the "A" pillar and the AM/FM antenna on the right side. I will be mounting the VHF on the right side and the CB antenna on the left. They are both Firestiks, although not identical, they match fairly well.



I think it looks better closer in, and is also out of the line of vision, but will listen to your expert advice.



Shelby

 

[Shovelhead]

Mine's mounted on the driver's side , bolt closest to the windshield. It seems to keep the antenna out of my line-of-sight while getting it as far as possible from the AM/FM antenna.

Also kinda looks like dual trucker-type set-up

 

[Oasis-3]

I just moved my CB antenna from the bed rail to the drivers side fender I also used the bolt closest to the windshield and SWR meter is telling me I made the right move my CB works much better



Cliff

 

[GFoley]

I tool am using the bolt closest to the windshield. I went to get it tuned and could only get the SWRs down to 1. 9 and 2. 0. After swapping out a couple of antennas it finally got to 1. 6 & 1. 7 with a 4' K40 fg antenna.

Since I wanted to still be able to get into a garage and underground parking areas I took stayede with my 3' Firestik.

In discussion with the CB shop employee I mentioned I also had a K40 SS whip on a mag base. He said to get it out immediately. I put it up to amd got dead flat readings of 1. 0 & 1. 0. When I run the road thats the oneI'll put up but for running around town the 3' fender mounted antenna gets the nod.



Glenn

 

[OILBRNR]

Shelby,



You might want to try and eliminate the AM/FM ant. , by using an adapter made by Firestik. It lets a CB ant. capture AM/FM signals without effecting performance. Least thats what they claim. That way you can get both stiks up close to the cab where they look best IMHO.



Note: This is not the same as those adapters that use an AM/FM ant. for CB.

 

[John]

Hey Shelby, Big Bob tried mounting his dual CB antennas to the rear most fender bolts on his Ram but later changed to the next ones forward as he experienced too much interference. He too liked the looks of having the antennas mounted closer to the A-pillars although function before form. I have a single 3' Firestik antenna I have mounted on the driver side fender bolt nearest the A-pillar... the system works really well although, I must admit I'm by no means a hard core CBer.

 

[Shelby Griggs]

Thanks For Your Help

Thanks for all of the responses. I moved to the 2nd bolt out, doesn't look too bad, so I will try it and see what happens. The CB guy claims I will see much lower SWR out away from the A pillar. Hopefully will get the radios all in today and then to the shop for antenna tuning.



Shelby