CB install, anyone have it yet?

mike5511 · November 4, 2015

I made a mount for my bed because of my bed cover wish i haf pics, but it involed removing the bed from the truck to mount it

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You went to a lot of trouble! I'll probably just mount a Wilson 1000 on the roof. That is what I did on the last truck. The hole I drilled for it never leaked. When I removed it I plugged the hole with a rubber grommet designed to do just that. I sold the truck my self and had several look at it. Nobody ever mentioned the grommet. I asked the GMC dealer if drilling a hole would hurt the trade-in value and he said no. He said it would on a car, but not truck. I will run a mag mount prior to drilling just to make sure that is what I want to do. The roof is the best ground plane you can get on a vehicle. What kind of SWR reading did you get mounting that antenna like that?

TimmyG · November 4, 2015

Mine was 1.0, gotta keep it low, i run a 98vhp

Removing the bed really isnt hard!

Its only like 4 bolts and maybe 2 wiring plugs. I had it off,drilled,installed and back in place in under 2 hours

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JRL1164 · November 4, 2015

Finally figured it out.

mike5511 · November 9, 2015

Finally figured it out.

I've never been able to get a decent SWR mounting the antenna on the toolbox.

Mine was 1.0, gotta keep it low, i run a 98vhp

Removing the bed really isnt hard!

Its only like 4 bolts and maybe 2 wiring plugs. I had it off,drilled,installed and back in place in under 2 hours

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If you mount one like this on your new truck, take some good pictures and post them for us.

JRL1164 · November 9, 2015

I've never been able to get a decent SWR mounting the antenna on the toolbox.

If you mount one like this on your new truck, take some good pictures and post them for us.

That's cause aluminum isn't a good ground these beds have the plastic protector. But if you look at my antenna that extra wire with the yellow end is my ground wire and it runs to the frame. My SWR is .3 pretty close to perfect.

TimmyG · November 9, 2015

It help my coil was above the roof, plus it was mouted to the bed and not a tool box mouted to bed

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FL335i · January 24, 2016

Ok. Finally months later I got some pics posted. I will take pics of the antenna today. I'm running a 3' lightweight firestik. SWR is at 2.2 according to the radio. Yes it's high. I believe I need to work on grounding the antenna better or adding a 10ga ground wire to the base in the fender. Few notes here... the Coax is running through the firewall through a spare boot would be cable. So I cut the tip off it and ran the coax through. Once everything was in place I used clear windshield silicone to seal it up well. Coax then run under the center console and comes up under the cup holder area. I drilled a hole in the console, under the cup holder area, uder the rubber pad down there for the coax to enter in a corner. Then terminated the end of the coax. When my CB is not in use, I store the coax lead under the cup holder area. you do not see anything. When in use, the coax runs through a gap between the cup holder and the console in the corner. For mounting the radio I went on Ebay and found a vendor that sells PVC/Plastic sheets. I had him custom cut. Cost me like $12 shipped to the door. It's 1/4" thick PVC sheet. 9-78" long, 3.75" Tall. I then mounted the radio's normal mounting bracket to it using some counter-sunk SST screws from HD. The PVC sheet fits into the vertical slot channels in the console. This system truly works beautifully. It takes 15 seconds to setup and take down.

FL335i · January 24, 2016

Update on tuning. Lately my SWR's have been 2.25 and I never have been using the radio. Well today I got around to fiddling with it. Adjusted the antenna screw tip all the way out. SWR is now 1.25 flat across 1, 20 and 40. And I was getting a few good radio checks today also. Don't know the transmit range of this system yet... haven't really used it. But I'm receiving very well. SWR's are under 1.5 so you can't complain about that. My purpose for the system is highway trips and off-roading/camping trips in North FL. I'm in the process of restoring a 89 GMC Jimmy K5 and I plan to throw a cheap craigslist special compact radio in it with a tail gate bracket and a 4' fire stick. Tune the SWR's and that will be a good radio setup for that truck.

FL335i · January 24, 2016

Ok here we go. Antenna pics. 3' lightweight firestick. Again, SWR's are reading 1.25 on 1, 20, 40. I do not have a spring for it. Might be necessary but I don't foresee me taking my new truck deep into the brush like I used to my old rock crawler.

muddkatt · January 25, 2016

That is a nice install FL335.

Sixpack19 · January 25, 2016

What mount you use on that

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slj2008 · January 25, 2016

Ok here we go. Antenna pics. 3' lightweight firestick. Again, SWR's are reading 1.25 on 1, 20, 40. I do not have a spring for it. Might be necessary but I don't foresee me taking my new truck deep into the brush like I used to my old rock crawler.

photo's of mount ??? looks good

FL335i · January 25, 2016

The mount is drilled into the black fender bracket. Remove the plastic cowl piece on the end (that the antenna goes through) and you'll see the fender bracket. It's VERY TIGHT in there. I used a Firestick mount. Their better quality one. It's a compact design (diameter). Once you drill the hole, you have to sand the under-side of the bracket to get a good ground. Then I assembled the coax to the mount. Ran a tie-wire up through the hole which then pulled some string I had tied to the mount (with the coax installed) and pulled it up through the hole. This is the tricky part. You have to install the nylon washer and top nut now. Remove string. Final tighten it up. Drill a hole in the plastic piece of the cowl to allow the antenna to go through it. Done. I need to snap some pics of the engine bay side showing the coax running into the firewall by the brake boosters. I used the high quality mini x wire. I believe it was Wilson wire. It's the small diameter, clear jacket, shielded wire. The mount is super strong. I could easily run a 4' antenna, but if I did.... I'd use a spring. Again, for the purpose of my setup or until further testing.... I'm sticking with the 3' antenna. My only gripe is the Firestik antenna is a bit "thick" in diameter. So I hear some wind noise from it. Not terrible, but it's there. Later on I might look at a new antenna that is skinnier such as the Wilson's. I've run those in the past and loved them. But for now I'm curious to test out the 3' firestik.

Last night I was in my driveway playing with the radio. Reception is unreal. I was hearing people from all over. I heard some skip from Virginia. Nobody could hear me.... they all had base stations and such. They were miles and miles away. I've run a lot of CB radio setups since the early 2000's and I will say that this new Cobra 29 LX radio has the best reception of any radio I've used. Hands down. Unreal tuner. I'm not a fan of the LCD display as it washes out and it's hard to see at an angle but that's my only gripe on the radio.

mike5511 · January 26, 2016

The mount is drilled into the black fender bracket. Remove the plastic cowl piece on the end (that the antenna goes through) and you'll see the fender bracket. It's VERY TIGHT in there. I used a Firestick mount. Their better quality one. It's a compact design (diameter). Once you drill the hole, you have to sand the under-side of the bracket to get a good ground. Then I assembled the coax to the mount. Ran a tie-wire up through the hole which then pulled some string I had tied to the mount (with the coax installed) and pulled it up through the hole. This is the tricky part. You have to install the nylon washer and top nut now. Remove string. Final tighten it up. Drill a hole in the plastic piece of the cowl to allow the antenna to go through it. Done. I need to snap some pics of the engine bay side showing the coax running into the firewall by the brake boosters. I used the high quality mini x wire. I believe it was Wilson wire. It's the small diameter, clear jacket, shielded wire. The mount is super strong. I could easily run a 4' antenna, but if I did.... I'd use a spring. Again, for the purpose of my setup or until further testing.... I'm sticking with the 3' antenna. My only gripe is the Firestik antenna is a bit "thick" in diameter. So I hear some wind noise from it. Not terrible, but it's there. Later on I might look at a new antenna that is skinnier such as the Wilson's. I've run those in the past and loved them. But for now I'm curious to test out the 3' firestik.

Last night I was in my driveway playing with the radio. Reception is unreal. I was hearing people from all over. I heard some skip from Virginia. Nobody could hear me.... they all had base stations and such. They were miles and miles away. I've run a lot of CB radio setups since the early 2000's and I will say that this new Cobra 29 LX radio has the best reception of any radio I've used. Hands down. Unreal tuner. I'm not a fan of the LCD display as it washes out and it's hard to see at an angle but that's my only gripe on the radio.

You might try a Francis antenna. They are skinnyier than all the rest of them.