Little advice on a CB

tex

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
I am throwing around the idea of putting a CB in my truck. I have seen a few people install the antena on the bed rail slide and wanted to do the same. Is that a custom mount or can I buy it somewhere?

I have never owned a CB and not real sure what to look for. Also where is the best place to buy everything I need?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
AlienXtx

AlienXtx

Nignog
Yes it's a custom mount ( you might be able to talk a member..I'm sure he will see this post.. Into making you one) Walcott cb has everything you need. Make sure you get good coax 18ft should be long enough, firestick has the best attena , get a good flexible one that you can tune. Hooking them up is easy it just a hot and a ground. The cubby under the radio is a good spot to mount it( see my build page for a pic)
 
yotarob

yotarob

Kiss My IFS
Who makes the "custom" mounts & where can I get one????
 
M

m771401

Active Member

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TKGN1

TKGN1

Straight White Male
For just trail use a hand held worked for me really well. Picked it up at radio shack.
 
drew02a

drew02a

Moderator
Staff member
I had yet another experience where the roof top antenna out performed tuned firesticks. We separated on the trail and I stayed back to work on my truck. The whole time I could pick up radio activity from all of the other trucks who were together in a group. When I tried to transmit back to them, however, only Brian could hear me. He also happened to have a roof mount.

If you have a sliding rear window, the roof mount is convenient to put up and take down. Sometimes it gets knocked off by low hanging branches though.
 
AlienXtx

AlienXtx

Nignog
Could be that the didn't have there RF gain set right, I'm still trying to get mine set right on the new cb.
 
M

m771401

Active Member
The roof is an ideal location in regards to actual performance. The roof of the cab acts as a fairly efficient ground-plane. The next best location for an antenna on a truck is either corner on the truck bed by the tailgate.
 
drew02a

drew02a

Moderator
Staff member
m771401 said:
The roof is an ideal location in regards to actual performance. The roof of the cab acts as a fairly efficient ground-plane. The next best location for an antenna on a truck is either corner on the truck bed by the tailgate.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's just the nature of CB. You will always get the best performance mounting the antenna on top of a horizontal metal surface.
 
AlienXtx

AlienXtx

Nignog
Yeah I'm pissed about my antenna location right behind the cab, came up 6th short on coax. I will get a longer piece later because I am not splicing what I got now.
 
M

m771401

Active Member
AlienXtx said:
Yeah I'm pissed about my antenna location right behind the cab, came up 6th short on coax. I will get a longer piece later because I am not splicing what I got now.
Click to expand...

With that said.. If you have excess cable and don't want to cut and splice, roll and store the excess in a figure 8 pattern. Coiling it up in circle pattern.. well essential turns the cable into a coil.. and you don't want that.
If you do cut and splice with CB you want your cable length in 3ft increments. For example an 8ft cable wouldn't match the wave length of CB (11m) very well.
Your coax for CB almost always comes in 18'. Which is half of 36 or in other words 11m which is the wave length of CB 26/27mhz. So actually you would be better off not splicing that 18' cable.
 
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M

m771401

Active Member
LOL Actually 8ft would be ok.. that would be an effective 1/4 wave... basically you want your antenna and cable length a multiple of your wave length.
I'm an idiot.
 
AlienXtx

AlienXtx

Nignog
18ft is what I'm at now.
 
fsbrain03

fsbrain03

Well-Known Member
In regards to the roof mount. On the way home, I was listening to the trucker chatter. I could pick up guys miles away. Good choice for me. I thought about the firestick, for looks. Glad I went the way I did, for performance.
 
Lrgrnr

Lrgrnr

Well-Known Member
I just mounted mine to one on the bed rail cleat things. Ran a ground to the frame, ran the coax into the cab and into the center console where my cb is mounted. I'll try to dig up a pic
 
TacoXpo

TacoXpo

HOAX DENIER
BearsFan07 said:
I "built" my mount using this Firestik mount as the base.

http://www.walcottcb.com/firestik-m264a-aluminum-mirror-mounting-bracket-p-271.html?cPath=28_353

Ended up with this
15-antenna.jpg
Click to expand...

That's funny! ;)

I have both CB and HAM.

I vote to move everyone to HAM :) - I know I'm being a dick but I am sooo glad when I see peeps with 'race radios' or HAMs! It is so nice to be able to have good - static free - long distance COM when out in EBF! The test (if you want to be legal) would be pretty simple for you if you know Ohms law and a bit about electronics. If anyone is interested, I will get you what you need to study a night or two and get your license. After that you can be truly hooked up for about $150-175.
 
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