Mounting both CB and Ham antennae on hood lip mounts.

[britz]

I'm hooking up both my CB and Yaesu 8900 in my new rig, A Jeep JKU. From everything I've read, the spare tire mount is one of the worst areas for SWR readings.

I have one KM400 on the hood lip, driver's side, and am wondering if I can run a second mount/antenna on the passenger's side or even both on the same side, maybe the A pillar, separated about 18". If I understood various Ham forums, as long as it's not 150Mhz, an antenna near the radio antenna shouldn't be a problem?

I'm installing limb risers because just getting out of my driveway and down the fire road to the pavement usually requires limbs slapping my rigs if not the chainsaw coming out. For this reason, I don't use a firestick, since many get snapped off around here.

The other option I was looking at was keeping the 2/70 on the hood lip and running the CB antenna in the back with a lip mount vertically off the hinge side of the tailgate, that'd be about 8" clear of the spare tire.

The Ham antenna is the priority, as the CB is only for close proximity trail rides and to check when the logging trucks rollout and if they're about to run me over.

Any input would be appreciated.

Britzy

 

[Prerunner1982]

correct, spare tire mounts aren't the best option. People can get them to "work", but to what extent they work I don't know. This typically involves running a ground strap from the tailgate to the body.

I would put the dual band antenna on the driver side at least, CB antenna can on either side. I usually don't listen to the am/fm radio while talking on the ham radio but when my APRS beacons it will desensitize the fm radio and I have the APRS antenna mounted on the rear passenger corner of my Cherokee running about 30 watts.

Now the limb risers may cause an issue with metal wire running that close to the antenna, try it and see what happens... may be fine or you may have to reevaluate.

Cooltech makes a CB antenna mount that goes inside of the license plate mount (http://www.cooltechllc.com/wrangler-parts-accessories/47-ultramount-cb-antenna-system.html) you could probably make something like that.

 

[britz]

Thanks for the input! If the risers cause a problem, they're coming off. I'll follow up when I get things hooked up in the coming weeks.

 

[TerryD]

Common convention is to keep about 4ft between antennas, but its not a must as I know several people who have them closer. I would personally mount one on either side of the vehicle, with cb on am/fm radio antenna side. I've yet to see that mount behind the license plate bracket work since no one grinds all the paint off to get good electrical contact. Use copper antiseize between that mount and the body with the paint removed where there's contact and you might do OK with it.

 

[britz]

The install has taken WAY more time than I thought, but more due to acquiring parts. Apparently the Idaho mtns are two weeks from anywhere and the comm shop an hour away closed down for a three week vacation.

But I finally have the antennas, mounts and Cobra 75 installed and the Yaesu 8900 hooked up. I am waiting for a longer cable to remote mount the faceplate.

After mounting the hardware, I ran an extra antenna cable roughly where I wanted to install it in the Jeep to test SWR's, but am using new antenna cables for the install as I fished them through the 3/4" holes running on sides of the dash and installing the connectors after fishing; CB on the passenger, and the 2/70 on the drivers side. My boyfriend apparently has done this many times, I have no clue.

The 2/70 cable is then routed up through the visor area and down the passenger side then through the dash. I opted for this route as I have a ton of lights and electronics running all around the dash, and figured I'd have less interference. So far I'm getting an SWR of 1:1 on the 2/70 and 1:2 on the CB and not noticing interference, hopefully that will stay the same when I test the installed cables.

I'm not sure if I got the wrong part or missed an adapter, but I had to modify my Diamond mount to accept the Larsen cable and mount the antenna by filing the mount a bit. Still looks good, but I haven't read of anyone else having to do this.

Hopefully I can get some pics uploaded today, my sat internet is slower than molasses right now.

 

[britz]

2/70 install (driver's side up and over to dash.

Cable through firewall and up around windshield CB control box mounted in dash under glove compartment. Yaesu 8900 temporarily mounted on side of console. It will be permanently mounted under passengers seat with remote faceplate in front of shifter. CB antenna on passengers side Passengers side CB cable through firewall and both antenna cables fed through dash.

 

[TOMB]

Honestly I had the same setup and after getting both antenna mounts bent from brush along side of trail I moved them to the back on my swing out tire mount. Checked both with swr meter and all is good. Used many times since with no issues of poor transmit or receive.


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[britz]

The setup has taken the abuse of a few hundred miles of Idaho and Montana wilderness, as well as the less than manicured miles of double track around my cabin. No damage, but my buddies who insist on firesticks around here buy them in 6 packs. Winter is usually more brutal with the heavy snags while road clearing, that'll be the true test.

 

[Chiefmac]

View attachment 28714 View attachment 28715 View attachment 28716 View attachment 28717 View attachment 28718 View attachment 28714 2/70 install (driver's side up and over to dash.

View attachment 28714 View attachment 28715 Cable through firewall and up around windshield View attachment 28716 CB control box mounted in dash under glove compartment. Yaesu 8900 temporarily mounted on side of console. It will be permanently mounted under passengers seat with remote faceplate in front of shifter.View attachment 28717 CB antenna on passengers side View attachment 28718 Passengers side CB cable through firewall and both antenna cables fed through dash.

 

[Downs]

On my last XJ I ran HAM and CB and mounted my CB antenna on the Driver's side and HAM antenna on the passenger side. Wasn't a big deal for me since I rarely used the AM/FM radio in the Jeep and simply removed that antenna and stuck it next to the passenger seat for the few times I felt like using it.