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CB Antenna Mount Needed!

Jeep Generation

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BostonBilly

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I decided to make my own, usually not a good thing,

I went to my welding/manufacturing shop I use and told them what I wanted.

This is what we came up with:

1UqCVH5yAfk1oR9QaYzbwmxB8ko0j7Q3ACxqqMvCRBVsibzl_bEFQFjEGk9agqZUKB9Tt1JXf1ftBSj1gBE=w459-h258-no.jpg


M6fgO5xVqdKYTbaA4RE6f9I_CDtjOj0viL3-6-MvDv4pVV03aiFfJjQi3ZMPAWTwX3iwv9OqDZsmkJG8u5c=w534-h949-no.jpg


A5tzysVrG5c7_QCSlyG6eNXYBZvHCvSYHBxzJ8bPgKLgk4X4tJUVvObBHX6oinvQKuIak1p903RDGPnK3PA=w534-h949-no.jpg


I had it powder coated to match the red accents of the Rubicon.

It grounds to the tailgate so an easy mount.

It looks good and has room for my 37's when I jump.......... LOL
I know I am late to the party but what size bolts did you use and what size holes did you drill
 

PaPasJP

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No drilling, used the same diameter bolt just longer.
 

BostonBilly

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No drilling, used the same diameter bolt just longer.
Yup meant the holes in your bracket. Just looking to see what diameter bolt I need. 5/16 or 3/8
 

PaPasJP

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Sorry, I don't remember.

Just took the old bolt out and found one with the same threads, longer, and a drill that covered it.
 

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Trav.city

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Aclud4

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Ok @CoolTech I’ve done quite a bit of reading on the forums tonight and placed my order. Hopefully Cali shipping makes it all the way to the east coast fast, I’m heading back to Rausch this weekend!

Thanks for participating here on the forums!

-AL
 

CoolTech

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Giddy up, Al! Our tracking shows that it made it to your front porch yesterday. We now want to see it all installed before the end of the weekend!
 

Aclud4

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Giddy up, Al! Our tracking shows that it made it to your front porch yesterday. We now want to see it all installed before the end of the weekend!
You rock, it arrived yesterday and will have me ready for the weekend! Thanks again for the quick ship and quality product!
 

Aclud4

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Thanks to @RogueKJ for the video of his install. Mine went smoothly - only differences are I also needed a T20 for a screw on the panel with the subwoofer and I used a T30 to remove the tie downs to make sliding the panel out a little easier for me.

Got my little midland 75-822 tuned as best I could in crowded NJ and was able to talk clearly with someone about 5 miles away.

The panel has nice little plastic inserts that clip to the body, so don’t be afraid to crank on it to remove. The plastic insert just pops back in (seen in a pic below).

Thanks again @CoolTech for the quality product and quick shipping all the way from the left coast!

-AL

5CF4871D-4F0D-4420-88A5-80CC74CC8C48.jpeg
22BBD7C4-5F04-4045-8682-98B9DD03D231.jpeg
B2B23E8E-1B7C-40AD-8DDD-532960E57E7F.jpeg


A9D241EA-C9A5-40BB-90DF-1C11EFAA434E.jpeg
 

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Jeep Generation

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Thanks to @RogueKJ for the video of his install. Mine went smoothly - only differences are I also needed a T20 for a screw on the panel with the subwoofer and I used a T30 to remove the tie downs to make sliding the panel out a little easier for me.

Got my little midland 75-822 tuned as best I could in crowded NJ and was able to talk clearly with someone about 5 miles away.

The panel has nice little plastic inserts that clip to the body, so don’t be afraid to crank on it to remove. The plastic insert just pops back in (seen in a pic below).

Thanks again @CoolTech for the quality product and quick shipping all the way from the left coast!

-AL

5CF4871D-4F0D-4420-88A5-80CC74CC8C48.jpeg
22BBD7C4-5F04-4045-8682-98B9DD03D231.jpeg
B2B23E8E-1B7C-40AD-8DDD-532960E57E7F.jpeg


A9D241EA-C9A5-40BB-90DF-1C11EFAA434E.jpeg
Glad the video helped. :)
 

Andras

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would the steel rear bumper work better for ground plane?
 

Fuel Fire Desire

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would the steel rear bumper work better for ground plane?

No.


An electrical ground and a ground plane are two different things. Think of a ground plane as a "mirror" for RF. The ground plane is what the antenna uses to "push off" of to emit RF efficiently. Ideally, the ground plane should have a radius of 1/4 the wavelength of the frequency used. Being wranglers don't have a metal roof, the only perpendicular sheet metal that can be used as an efficient ground plane is the hood. CB is also in the 11m bandwidth, which means 1/4 wave antennas and ground planes are impractically large. This is why the "ideal" CB antenna is a 102" stainless whip, since 102" is 1/4 the wavelength of the median of the CB band (26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz).

BUT.....having a CB antenna mounted in the center of the hood looks dumb. Which is why I mounted mine in place of the factory AM/FM antenna. Thats "the best we can do" with what we have without looking ridiculous.

Keep in mind though, this ground plane stuff is for peak radio efficiency. A CB antenna mounted on the tailgate is still going to emit RF, though instead of it shooting off 4-7 miles, it will probably just flounder around within 1-2 miles. Still more than enough for trail rides and talking to other jeeps in a caravan.


https://www.electronics-notes.com/a...rthing/antenna-ground-plane-theory-design.php



I don't remember if I brought this up in this thread or not, but there are more efficient and compact means of comms. I have both a CB and a UHF/VHF rig in my jeep. The CB will reach about 4-5 miles with my "ideal" setup, 1:1 SWR, 4' stick antenna, and full legal 4 watts. My UHF/VHF mounted in the same location but opposite the CB antenna reaches 40 miles straight line on 25 watts, and 140 miles when using a large repeater (or to any telephone using an autopatch capable repeater). AND the signals are much cleaner, with less static, and never get clogged up with skip talkers in competition with one another to drown the other out with amplified rigs. A basic UHF/VHF radio costa about the same asa decent CB, but lets you get into a multitude of freq bands. HAM, FRS (the cheap handheld talkie radios), GMRS (the nicer talkie/ business radios), marine, and any emergency service that doesn't use a trunked or encoded system.

The catch is you have to be licensed to use it....but the written test for Technician class is not hard, and its just a pay-to-play license for GMRS ($25 I think). And everyone and their brother has a CB, where not everyone has a UHF/ VHF.

I always have both on and monitoring when Im driving around, and typically use the CB for local (within 4 miles) alerts on the highway and the UHF/VHF for regional (the repeater on top of the GM building in Detroit has coverage from Toledo to Flint) and the traffic on these bands are WAY more professional/ helpful than CB traffic.
 
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bbuck7777

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No.




A basic UHF/VHF radio costa about the same asa decent CB, but lets you get into a multitude of freq bands. HAM, FRS (the cheap handheld talkie radios), GMRS (the nicer talkie/ business radios), marine, and any emergency service that doesn't use a trunked or encoded system.

I've been going round and round what to get for communication on trails. Can you recommend the "A basic UHF/VHF radio"?
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