New CB antenna, not sure I like it.

[CR-Venturer]

I'm looking to get a 4' firestik or similar fibreglass antenna. I was planning to mount it by drilling and screwing metal screws into the metal bodywork of the vehicle, either in the trough for the rear hatch using a hood mount type bracket, or a flat mount stuck under the bottom of the rear tail light assembly, as shown with red arrows:

What do you guys think? Will this work? Also, do I have to do anything more than screwing the bracket into the metal frame of the vehicle, or will that sufficiently ground it to the chassis, you think?

 

[Caddis]

I would look into a bracket that might mount to the rear tail lights, or off of the spare tire carrier. I would only drill into the metal as a last resort. You would still need to ground the the antenna .

 

[CR-Venturer]

I would look into a bracket that might mount to the rear tail lights, or off of the spare tire carrier. I would only drill into the metal as a last resort. You would still need to ground the the antenna .

I was under the impression that the metal screws holding the bracket into the frame would be grounding it, wouldn't they?

 

[Prerunner1982]

Drilling into the body will be better than mounting it to a spare tire carrier.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Update: I'm looking at creating/adapting a bracket to mount it to two of the 4 bolts that hold the tailgate on, with the angled bracket passing out between the gap in the hinge. Bit hard to explain, but I'm going to make a mock up and post pics when I get a chance. Not 100% set on this method, but it's the front runner atm.

 

[CR-Venturer]

The bracket I whipped up:

The electrical ground to the chassis is rock solid. Tested and got a good connection from the end of the bracket to the tailgate latch on the opposite side of the car.

 

[Prerunner1982]

That should work. I would also remove the paint where you mount the antenna so that you have a good metal to metal connection from the base where the coax connects all the way to the body.

Have you decided how you are going to run your coax? Some RG-8x through the rubber grommet would work well. Would have to take the interior panel off to fish the coax out but that would be the best way to keep it from getting pinched.

 

[CR-Venturer]

I was considering that, but the gap above the hinge is really wide, so I may just route it through there and over the upper window seal, as water ingress won't be an issue with the way it overlaps.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Bracket, antenna and cable installed. I just ran the cable into the back of the vehicle for now. I'll route it and hook it up later. Confirmed with my circuit tester that the mount is properly grounded to the chassis. Should function nicely, and I won't have to worry about my antenna falling over anymore lol.

 

[danthman114]

now you need to tune it to the radio. pick up a cheap swr meter and test it. get on youtube and look up how to tune a cb antenna. also, look up a website called right channel radio.

 

[CR-Venturer]

now you need to tune it to the radio. pick up a cheap swr meter and test it. get on youtube and look up how to tune a cb antenna. also, look up a website called right channel radio.

Already have one. I bought it when I installed and tuned my magnet mount antenna.

The effort is going to be taking the dash apart again to run the cable to my radio and hook up the swr for tuning. I'm hoping I can reach in through the side behind the glove box in order to avoid taking too many panels off again. Bit of a pain in this car. Here's my install:

Update: ran the cable today. It was pretty decent SWR right out of the box, but I figured I could get it better. It was less than 1 on channel 1, but a bit lower than 2 on channel 40. Unfortunately, the procomm antennas don't have a tunable tip like a firestik, so instead I screwed an additional nut onto the bottom, thus spacing the antenna higher in the threads of the coupling nut and "lengthening" it by roughly 1/4 inch. Re-tested and got just about 1.2 on ch 1 and 1.4 on channel 40. Good enough for me!

The cable routing isn't perfect aesthetically, but it does the job, and the cable is fully hidden behind trim panels from the B-pillar forward: