[QUOTE Gr8com I say get rid of that one connector and get the good solder on.[/QUOTE]

I will do that thanks for the advice I don't like how the connector looks.

 

I'll sand/scratch some paint off of the Mount and see how it works.

 

Yeah I will take some paint off of mine as well and see what that does. I am mounting mine on the passenger side because I have a hole that is perfect to run the cable through and and then get it into the cab will be another story...

 

I hammered a bit of the paint off (long story)...I'll let Bryan try it first, then do it myself, lol :)

 

We did really find the problem to mostly be my antenna. I kind of suspected this, but we've confirmed it now. It's the antenna itself, so not the cable run or anything. I'll probably order another one within the next couple of days. 4 feet does hit the ceiling in the garage at work, so I'm sticking with a 4 foot whip.

 

I have some mounts like the Alon mounts with a "5' Firestik" antenna, I tuned it to 19 and had a nice 1.1 to 1.2 match around the dial. I did have some slight problems with the Fire-ring style setup, Improper grounding, I have since removed the Fire-ring and replaced it with a standard 3/8 lug with a PL259 Connector. I will do further testing on my SWR today. I will also be ordering some RG8x or better. But even with my poor Coax I was hitting about 9 miles with my cobra 148 GTL with minor audio mods.


I also dont think you really need a spring on these antennas as some have added to there units. The antenna tunes pretty nice, and 9 miles for a cb is very good. A spring would just add to the the length and you would not be able to drop your SWR as it will be to long.

 

My CB is set up pretty good now. It can always use some fine tuning but it's good enough for me.

Here are the pictures of my truck. Dusty has the same setup except a different antenna.






under the tail light


beside the frame heading towards the cab


into the cab (comes out behind the jump seat in the 2dr super cab)



under the carpet then to the back of the CB









Neat night picture

 

i like where mine is (its the wooden box behind shifter) sorry bad pic its when i did my heater core

 

Ok I have dual 3' Firesticks, one is functional, the other is not as of right now. I was thinking about puting a police scanner on that one, but i dont know how the two would interfere with eachother.

 

I guess that means you couldn't figure out the pics on Photobucket, lol :)

I could be wrong on this one, but I don't believe the two antennas would cause much trouble given they're independent, meaning they don't run into the same circuite. Otherwise, you'd have to get them cophased.

 

I did figure them out Dusty. I wanted to take my own pictures, thanks

 

Alright, i didnt think it would be an issue, but i thought id ask the experts lol. thanks

 

I would not worry about it as everyone else has stated, I have two mounts one will be for CB one Will Be for Ham Radio I will then maybe have a glass mount for my scanner.

If you look at many base stations look how close other antennas are to each other. Some Beam antennas have a omni directional antenna stacked on top. Now you can get an antenna to close and just reflect the signal just like any metal object. Since they are not working together you will be fine.

 

Thanks. I have them mounted to the steak holes in my bed. They have the mounts where they stick to the outside a lil.. I had 4', but for some reason they wouldnt work. The guy at the cb shop told me that the bed didnt have enough metal..

 

I Dont buy the "bed does not have enough metal". I have a 5ft whip and I have a 1.1 match its all in tuning. Now improper ground will have a major impact, Ground meaning metal to metal. You can try running a heavy gauge copper wire to the ground of the mouth to the frame and hide it. For anyone who wants to say a bed of a truck has not enough ground, When I was 15 for kicks I had a cb on a Bike. I had 102" Stainless whip and I had a 1.2 match.

 

Yeah, We couldnt get it to tune with the 4'rs. So we just went down to 3'rs. It works and it looks good.

 

A CB Antenna is tuned for the AM band. Police, Fire and EMS freqs are FM. Hie thee hence to Ye Olde Radio Shack and find yourself an AM/FM/Scanner splitter.

This will let your scanner pick up AM (CB BAND), FM (Police/Fire/EMS, etc) transmissions and allow your stereo to get your favorite stations, all from one AM/FM capable antenna already cleanly mounted on your fender.

I hooked up my BC350C to my old 95 Ranger's antenna, and picked up more signals from farther away than I ever had using the antenna that came with the scanner, and I plan on installing it in my new (to me) 98 4X4 the same way.

Hope this helps...

 

Believe it or not when it comes to receiving a signal our antenna choice is not as picky as broadcasting on one is. You could use a coat hanger and get great results. Just because an antenna is tuned for one band does not mean it will not work. Your car antenna is not truely tuned most of the time for the FM band. Also for those AM listeners, Wow that antenna on your fender is not even close to a quarter wave. Or what about those that have those billet aluminum antennas. Yes a tuned antenna will prove optimum results but to have one tuned for each band you will listetn to will really clutter your car/truck up. The downfall to having a tuned antenna for a scanner thats tuned for say cb if your in close quarters of someone transmitting you may pick up some unwanted interference.

Yes the one on your fender maybe ok for the 100mhz area but most dont just transmit on the 100mhz band fire use 400 in some areas, I know CHP uses the lower end by 30mhz Pretty close to cb's 27mhz than fm 88-108 if you ask me. So antenna length does not always play a critical role for scanners, For the most part i can not recall any scanner antennas that are coil loaded for scanners. so a firestick may have some gain drawbacks. Tuning for reciving is not as required. Unless its a yagi beam but if you have one of those on your trucks, You better be a hamie or you will be a lamie.

 

My CB setup.

 

I like that idea but seems like a pain if you want to switch channel or see what channel you are on.....

 

Very true but it was like $30 to get more CB wireing if i wanted to wire it anywhere else. Besides i normally stay on 19 anyway i just set it up and leave it on when ever i get in the car. The only thing i might wanna get is a thicker antenna i dunno yet. Those were on ebay cheap 30 bucks for a complete 2 antennas and 2 mounts and the wireing so i figured what the hell.

 

Makes sense if you run one channel. Plus it is easy to pull over and switch channels or if you know ahead of time what channel you are going to run on.

 

Well I have personally moved away from the firestik style antenna and went to the old reliable 102" Stainless Whip. The match is down to about 1.1 1.2

i have done some significant testing with the 5ft firestik it performed well but the old saying is still true hight makes might, I will be doing testing with the 102" Whip for distance on TX and receive.

From other studies nothing so far can out perform the 102" compared to coiled antenna's as they are faked 5/8 waves


RangerExtreme your setup is good for a all around radiation pattern of a good omni directional. The back of the bumper/alon mounts produce a more directional radiaton. If its on the back right then it will go to the front left and lose some gain in the rear. Your car becomes a director.

Also for true Cophasing I do beleive its 18'