anyone able to get a CB antenna to work on a Jeep TJ it's like the old CJ's??

[niceguy71]

View attachment 167622

What I searched and had to order per Mr Applegate some years back. Maximum contact points for penetrating primer, after paint-only removal.

FWIW, I’ve not ever heard a Jeep with rear antenna worth beans over three decades and far past a million miles. “Gone” in about a mile.

No Ground Plane.

Worse than a pickup with one on a headache rack or tool box. And that’s saying something as at least those might be remedied.

Explored earlier (or elsewhere) is an antenna cowl-mounted. Looks promising.

I hope that’s the outcome. The results are so well worth having “best” antenna design & mount-location that this soon eclipses cool kid fears.

Whats funnier right now than the Monkeypox Motorcycle formerly known as H-D? Performance never mattered, it was always 6th grade “look at me”.

I do have the experience that as things are falling apart on the road by the minute or even the second that the inability to communicate effectively cancels options in play — but not formalized — by the savvy.

I’ve had these jury-rigged attempts try to follow several big trucks as we divert around a serious problem. And they disappear in the dust as haven’t practiced previously the order of precedence in comms atop a lack of map & compass . . so even being somewhat able to hear they can’t correct course across road changes.

Off the road entirely this ought to be seen as a problem-compounded as one hasn’t signage at all.

.

thanks SlowMover
you're not the first to tell me getting an antenna on the back of a jeep is impossible to get to work... or at least work well.
I think I'm done fooling with it in that location.
now I did talk to him on his way home, got him for 3 miles... then nothing until he turned a corner and got on a highway ( little better elevation ) and a new radiation pattern because he turned 90 degrees..... this was 10.4 miles... so that's really excellent.... but he could never seem to hear me most places in our test???? and I turned the 5555 up to 50 watts and was using the 47 foot tall A-99... he "should" have always been able to hear me... but many times in our test I could hear him and he could barely hear me at all????... I talked to another friend that is pretty damn good on this stuff and he said the reason I could not adjust his antenna ( I cut 4 inches off 1/4 inch at a time and did everything I could and it just wouldn't come off 1.9 SWR) my very smart friend said it had no ground plane and the ground plane was through the coax... and I'm sure he was right.
I may tell his wife next time they keep him in the hospital for a week I'll go get the jeep and do some RF bonding and stick my Stryker AR 10 on the right rear corner of the jeep hood and see how it works in that location with the hood RF bonded to the cowl and firewall.....
I'll also wire the darn thing to the battery!!!! but I'll have to buy a relay too... I don't mind helping a down on his luck friend.. but it is getting pricey....
if the Stryker antenna works in that location, I'll drill the hole and install this antenna
the site LIES and says it's equal to the 102 whip... I know it's a lie.... but what if it's not???? what if it works that nicely???? so for a $100 bucks for the Antenna and the $50 bucks for the NMO mounting kit I'll try it.... I may even give him the 5555 Long version I was planning on putting in my truck... he's a good friend and their very hard to come by.
this picture is the $30 dollar 70 inch antenna I bought him for the jeep.... it sticks up above the Jeep... looks good... if I could get a ground plan on the mount I'd love to see what it could do they LOVE this antenna in the UK...... this is how it was when we got the 10.4 miles on his way home...

 

[niceguy71]

There are no holes in my Jeep hood, the trunk lip mounts I used just clamp on with no damage. The 67” tall NMO wide band antenna I use is very efficient.

your lucky... his 2005 hood is like an upside down square cake pan... see picture below..... but I found a NMO mount that only requires a 3/8" hole... so it is easy to plug if he hates it..... and I'm putting this antenna on it and whatever it is .... it is..... I can only do so much.. but I think it is like the Larsen CB27 and people on this forum seem to really like that antenna.... so I'm hoping it will work well.
the antenna I plan to use

 

[prcguy]

your lucky... his 2005 hood is like an upside down square cake pan... see picture below..... but I found a NMO mount that only requires a 3/8" hole... so it is easy to plug if he hates it..... and I'm putting this antenna on it and whatever it is .... it is..... I can only do so much.. but I think it is like the Larsen CB27 and people on this forum seem to really like that antenna.... so I'm hoping it will work well.
the antenna I plan to use

It’s hard to understand the edge of the hood in the picture but it looks fairly typical to me. When it’s closed is there a slight gap between the edge of the hood and the cowl, maybe 3/16 to 1/4” gap? Is the edge of the hood thin across the cowl area like just two layers of sheet metal for 1/2” to 1” before it gets thick?

If so the trunk lip mount sits on top of the hood and wraps from the top edge of the hood at the cowl around the hood edge between the hood and cowl then goes under the hood for about 1/2” where two set screws dig into the underside edge of the hood. I would send a detailed picture but I’m out of town at the moment.

 

[slowmover]

your lucky... his 2005 hood is like an upside down square cake pan... see picture below..... but I found a NMO mount that only requires a 3/8" hole... so it is easy to plug if he hates it..... and I'm putting this antenna on it and whatever it is .... it is..... I can only do so much.. but I think it is like the Larsen CB27 and people on this forum seem to really like that antenna.... so I'm hoping it will work well.
the antenna I plan to use

I’d hold out for 60” or higher.

I’ve swapped the 7’ antennas I use on the Dodge roof for a nice ProComm I ran years ago on tanker. Great design and construction. But at 52” it’s not competitive. The 60” Skipshooter gets me back closer. The ProComm Quad is possibly the better antenna by design.

NMO-34 with WD640b (64”) gets it up there. You have an antenna analyzer to get it right.

The CWB @prcguy has mentioned a few times (that’ll talk) has a 67” whip atop the base.

Add the optional spring if a concern.

We have a contributor here has already shared his use of such, and others can be found on other sites. He has his on a mag.



.

 

[redbeard]

A couple more pics. I ran a Comet lip mount on top of the rear tailgate. Used to have a Diamond dual band on there but my Motorola melted it in half with 100W. switched to NMO and put a VHF Motorola on it. Motorola ball mount on the passenger side. Hated to put it there but the gas fill is on the driver's side. The spring helped.

 

[nokones]

hi guys
well I was hoping I was DONE and could sit back and enjoy my base station and mobile unit in my Ford F150. ... lot easier to talk then get them set up.

my friends keep coming over and asking me what I'm doing on my retirement, so I show them my CB set up and they go out and buy one for their cars / trucks.
a few of the guys had cars with a unibody construction and I loan them one of my extra Tram 3500 and I set it up for them... they try it for a few days and love it and come back and with a new Tram 3500 to replace the one I let them borrow... most of the guys are getting 15 to 20 miles with a 4 watt radio... talking to my base station... once I set the SWR with my Ridge Expert they go home and I talk to them as they drive home... so far I've been able to talk to them till there in their driveway.

I had a friend call me and told me he bought a used Cobra 29 and a 4 foot Firestick with a spring that he mounted on the back drivers side tail light.... he does not have a spare tire in the back or the spare tire carrier to mount anything too... he mounted the radio to the side of the shifter and sounds like it's all installed and would like me to do the SWR...... I HATE Firesticks and never had one work more than a mile or so.... and I know jeeps just don't work very good.... so I had hoped to avoid ever trying to set a CB up on one.

so I'll range test it soon and see what we get for range.... then I think I'll suggest a better antenna... I know some guys here like the Siro 5000 Performer and if I can get an extension from the taillight mount that will go to the top of the Jeep????? maybe I can talk him into putting it there????? but I don't know how to make a non magnetic antenna work... do I have to ground the outside of the coax to the metal of the jeep?? do I need to buy a new better coax? I'm a total newbie on this style Antenna install. .. I could tell you I have installed about 20 to 30 different antennas ... but NONE OF THEM EVER WORKED so I think I'll start new with what you guys suggest.

my friend also said he would be interested in installing it on the side of the fender..... he has the factory Stereo Antenna on the passenger side, on the fender by the door... and there is a matching spot on the driver's side... so I would think someone must make a mast that would mount the same way... and go up to the top of the windshield of a Jeep?????

picture shows where the factory stereo antenna mounts,,,, is mounting a CB antenna on the opposite side a good idea?

this should be an interesting learning experience.

thanks in advance.

Your problem is not the Firestik. What was the VSWR on your Firestik. I bet if you were having an issue of not more than a mile your VSWRs were high and most likely the antenna mount was not grounded.

Here is my setup on my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. using a 5 Foot Firestik II Tuneable Antenna and a quick Disconnect and Heavy Duty Spring with a Cobra 25 LTD Classic and my VSWRs are 1.12 on Ch. 1, 1.16 on Ch. 20, and 1.19 on Ch. 40.

 

[jcrmadden]

Here is my setup

What kind of range are you getting? Is it about the same for Rx and Tx?

 

[nokones]

What kind of range are you getting? Is it about the same for Rx and Tx?

Obviously, it depends on the conditions especially if the noise floor is up, but I think, and I am guessing, I'm seeing about 3 or 4 to 5 miles before the noise level captures.

My RF output is about 4.2 watts with modulation. I have no idea which would be better between Tx and Rx.

 

[niceguy71]

It’s hard to understand the edge of the hood in the picture but it looks fairly typical to me. When it’s closed is there a slight gap between the edge of the hood and the cowl, maybe 3/16 to 1/4” gap? Is the edge of the hood thin across the cowl area like just two layers of sheet metal for 1/2” to 1” before it gets thick?

If so the trunk lip mount sits on top of the hood and wraps from the top edge of the hood at the cowl around the hood edge between the hood and cowl then goes under the hood for about 1/2” where two set screws dig into the underside edge of the hood. I would send a detailed picture but I’m out of town at the moment.

hi PRCGUY, you've always given me such good advice and it's always appreciated

I have a couple K40 antennas with trunk lip mounts that I wanted to put on the Jeep to try... if you are familiar with them... you open the trunk and the metal on the edge of the trunk is less than a half inch of folded metal... and the trunk lip mount slips right on over it.....
but on the Jeep hood......
if you take a piece of paper.... and measure one and a quarter inches from the edge 1 1/4" then fold it...... that will be his hood.... it is just a flat hood ( paper) and the back edge is bent ( folded) at a 90 degree .... so when the hood is closed.. he has a 1 1/4" metal pointed down to the ground... the 1 1/4" metal is adjacent to the firewall with about 5/16" between hood and firewall. .... his hood is actually two pieces of metal spot welded together and in the picture you will see the two pieces of metal that is the lip I am describing....

so now if you look at the picture .... the hood is open and you can see the two bolts for the hood hinge..... if you look under the two bolts you will see the actual hood hinge... if you look between the hood bolts and the hood hinge... you will see there is a 1 1/4" piece of metal that is kind of separating the is now aimed towards the sky as the hood is open.....
so I don't think any normal lip mount antenna will fit it.
I would love to see a link to your mount?

 

[niceguy71]

View attachment 167634
I’d hold out for 60” or higher.

I’ve swapped the 7’ antennas I use on the Dodge roof for a nice ProComm I ran years ago on tanker. Great design and construction. But at 52” it’s not competitive. The 60” Skipshooter gets me back closer. The ProComm Quad is possibly the better antenna by design.

NMO-34 with WD640b (64”) gets it up there. You have an antenna analyzer to get it right.

The CWB @prcguy has mentioned a few times (that’ll talk) has a 67” whip atop the base.

Add the optional spring if a concern.

We have a contributor here has already shared his use of such, and others can be found on other sites. He has his on a mag.

View attachment 167633

.

thanks SlowMover, great advice as always

my friend is not into CB at all..... just a great guy that thought it would be fun to talk to me on the CB because I'm into this hobby ...we used to go shooting once a week and would always meet up someplace for breakfast or something... and he thought he would surprise me having a CB...... but instead of being happy he had one.. I said NO NO NO that mount is terrible, where did you get the CB, a yard sale???? he said YES $20 bucks!!! and I said well it looks it! ... I said why is it plugged into your cigarette outlet!!!!????? so I calmed down and said let me see if we can get this to be a nice install that would work well for you. he was I just bought it to talk to you on the way to the range.... don't you think it would do that????

and yes, it would do just what he wanted it to do....

but me being the perfectionist..... just felt we should get it done right so he could actually use it. (why on earth have a radio that doesn't work well????) always drove me nutts that people put an antenna on the bed rail or tool box and think they have a great system.

so I wanted to get rid of his firestick as I knew that was only good for a mile or two ... and I was hoping with a good ground plane, I could find an antenna that could get him 5 miles
but it has turned into a challenge for me... instead of listening to him that he is happy with it... I wanted to get something that could go more than 5 miles.
he is not thrilled with an antenna on the hood ( no other place to put it that would work and get a ground plane) but I figured once we get it working he would enjoy the hobby as much as I have.... he has talked about getting a sideband radio... but he knows it will just get stolen with the soft top jeep.
so I think I'll just stop going crazy and put a decent antenna on the hood so we have a ground plane... I'm sure we can get 5 plus miles out of a standard larsen NMO27 Larsen NMO27 ... ( I'm actually going to put the one that says it's equal to the 102 whip) and I'll wire the radio to the battery and add some ground straps to the hood and call it a day.

no real reason to switch to a taller antenna on the larsen as he is not trying to conquer the world.... but in my eyes it will at least be a nice correctly working CB install and if he gets into the hobby he can get a better radio.

 

[niceguy71]

A couple more pics. I ran a Comet lip mount on top of the rear tailgate. Used to have a Diamond dual band on there but my Motorola melted it in half with 100W. switched to NMO and put a VHF Motorola on it. Motorola ball mount on the passenger side. Hated to put it there but the gas fill is on the driver's side. The spring helped.

that ball mount looks great and I know a 102 whip is a great antenna... must work great for you..... pretty hard to get anyone to drill that big hole on a nice looking jeep... I would in a minute.... but most won't. beautiful set up Redbeard

seems to be a lot of people just can't get a good ground plane on the back of a jeep... your Comet lip mount looks good but I'm not sure how I could get it to give a good ground plane with the tub.

 

[niceguy71]

Your problem is not the Firestik. What was the VSWR on your Firestik. I bet if you were having an issue of not more than a mile your VSWRs were high and most likely the antenna mount was not grounded.

Here is my setup on my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. using a 5 Foot Firestik II Tuneable Antenna and a quick Disconnect and Heavy Duty Spring with a Cobra 25 LTD Classic and my VSWRs are 1.12 on Ch. 1, 1.16 on Ch. 20, and 1.19

when he arrived his 4 foot firestick was 3.1 SWR ( less than a mile range) ... it was EASILY adjusted to 1.4 and 1.7 and I sent him out for a test we got "almost" three miles on his firestick.... to my base station that is 47 feet in the air.. so less than 3 miles wasn't very good.... mobile to mobile I would have been happily surprised to see it close to 3 miles.
and that's about the best I've ever seen personally...
I am told daily on the internet how GREAT the Firesticks work... but every time I meet someone with a firestick in person and we range test it.... I can't hear them after a mile or two... they can always hear me as my mobile has generally always gotten 15 plus miles ( I will meet people at home depot or the doughnut shop and if we talk CB and they tell me how great their Firestick is, I always want to see it for myself, so I ask for a range test as they leave).... most seem to be 1 to 3 miles and I just don't think that's very good.... I meet people with a horrible LiL Will or K30 antenna and they will get 3 to 4 miles range out of the box .... beating the Firestick..... I really dislike the LiL Will Antenna's as I don't know anyone that has gotten more than 3 to 4 miles with it using a stock CB.... even my neighbor has a Lil Will ( it was cheap and easy to put on) he has very expensive high power ham radio.... we were lucky to get 4 miles with his Lil Will and my mobile.
it is not my mobile either as I have talked more than 10 miles to many people with a magnetic antenna like a Stryker or a Wilson 1000 or a K40 different President antenna's ( they did great) 102 whips are always fantastic.... most of the Semi Trucks do 5 pus miles with whatever they have......but most people have the firestick and so far I've only seen 3 miles range!... now if the Firestick is on the fender next to the hood that has a good ground plane ... and the Firestick is at least 4 feet tall they go a little over the 3 mile mark.... but the ones mounted on the pick-up bed rail or a toolbox in the back of the bed... I've yet to see over 3 miles range.... it is also noted that most of the Firesticks are 3 feet tall and of course they suck!

you said you get 3 to 4 miles range guessing.... on the back of a Jeep that is really fantastic! the Jeeps are very difficult to get good range. but a 5 foot tall one has really got to help.
they say CB's generally get 3 to 5 miles range and that's it! so that set up is working great for you
.... the problem on the back of the jeep is getting a good RF Ground... how did you get your tailgate Bonded? did you run some 1 1/4" wide Bonding straps? the factory ground on the tailgate through the hinge doesn't usually carry RF very well and with no metal under the antenna to reflect off most Jeeps don't do very well....
most of my friends have gotten Magnet mount antenna's on the top of their Trucks and most of them do more than 10 miles.... this is why I'm just not a fan of the FireStick
here is a video of a CHEAP piece of junk Tram 3500 getting 18 plus miles range.... ( according to some on RadioReference) Tram is a terrible company) and I'm sure it is about the cheapest antenna on the market.... but my Tram 3500 always get more than 10 miles range... I just did a test where I got 16 miles in terrible conditions so I know this guys video is honest.... so if a terrible,,, cheap antenna gets 18.5 miles... it is hard for me to like the Fire sticks.

 

[niceguy71]

Your problem is not the Firestik. What was the VSWR on your Firestik. I bet if you were having an issue of not more than a mile your VSWRs were high and most likely the antenna mount was not grounded.

Here is my setup on my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. using a 5 Foot Firestik II Tuneable Antenna and a quick Disconnect and Heavy Duty Spring with a Cobra 25 LTD Classic and my VSWRs are 1.12 on Ch. 1, 1.16 on Ch. 20, and 1.19 on Ch. 40.

View attachment 167655View attachment 167656View attachment 167658

BEAUTIFUL jeep by the way!

 

[nokones]

BEAUTIFUL jeep by the way!

Thank you.
This is my comm/nav package. I use a Larsen Glass-Mount Antenna for my UHF radio.

 

[niceguy71]

It’s hard to understand the edge of the hood in the picture but it looks fairly typical to me. When it’s closed is there a slight gap between the edge of the hood and the cowl, maybe 3/16 to 1/4” gap? Is the edge of the hood thin across the cowl area like just two layers of sheet metal for 1/2” to 1” before it gets thick?

If so the trunk lip mount sits on top of the hood and wraps from the top edge of the hood at the cowl around the hood edge between the hood and cowl then goes under the hood for about 1/2” where two set screws dig into the underside edge of the hood. I would send a detailed picture but I’m out of town at the moment.

as I said the lip is just two pieces of metal of the hood, bend down at the end of the hood..... but no possible way to use a lip mount... unless you have a different kind of lip mount I've never seen??? he is a close up of the hood.

 

[nokones]

as I said the lip is just two pieces of metal of the hood, bend down at the end of the hood..... but no possible way to use a lip mount... unless you have a different kind of lip mount I've never seen??? he is a close up of the hood.

There are brackets made by Jeep after-market suppliers that can be attached to existing Jeep mounting points such as near the A Piller or Cowl area. When I get home in a hour or so I can post a picture or two of the bracket(s)

 

[niceguy71]

There are brackets made by Jeep after-market suppliers that can be attached to existing Jeep mounting points such as near the A Piller or Cowl area. When I get home in a hour or so I can post a picture or two of the bracket(s)

thank you,
but I've seen them all... they make a ton of them and they look GREAT... I've seen the A-pillar and the under hood mounts door hinge mounts, side mounts.... I'm trying to get some metal under the antenna and the only metal that reflects is the hood some people put an antenna on the back of a Jeep hood ( those antenna's work fairly well I'm told) the ones without metal under them don't work as well....
PRCGUY has a great looking set-up ..see picture below.... but I believe his year Jeep is different than the Jeep year I'm working with... see picture below.... an antenna with metal under it will have a better ground plane.

 

[prcguy]

There are brackets made by Jeep after-market suppliers that can be attached to existing Jeep mounting points such as near the A Piller or Cowl area. When I get home in a hour or so I can post a picture or two of the bracket(s)

Im familiar with nearly all the brackets for Jeeps. I avoid most of them due to poor ground plane issues or placing the antenna way below hood level. Here is the best picture of my mount I can come up with at the moment. There is some rubber stuff around the hood edge that obscures the underside of the trunk lip mount but hopefully you can tell if my hood is similar to the one your working with.

 

[nokones]

There are brackets made by Jeep after-market suppliers that can be attached to existing Jeep mounting points such as near the A Piller or Cowl area. When I get home in a hour or so I can post a picture or two of the bracket(s)

Finding my brackets was the easy part; remembering which forum I was supposed to respond back was the hard part. I looked all over the Jeep forum for my previous message and realized that it was on this forum.

Oh well, the little bracket was from Rugged Radios and the other bracket was from either Extreme Terrain or Teraflex.

Laird Antenna has NMO Non-Ground Plane antennas. Essentially, there are no good ground planes on Jeeps. The Laird has a base loaded coil non-ground plane and Phantom Non-ground plane. I have both but I don't usd them on my Jeep. I use a Larsen Glass-Mount Antenna on my Jeep wigh great success.

 

[nokones]

Oops, I was thinking GMRS. For CB, I would look at Firestik II tunable antennae with a Cable to work with whatever mount/bracket you decide to use. Walcott Radio will have the type cable and various types of mounts for Jeeps that you'll need.