mounting a cb antena

[bjroadshow]

has anybody mounted a magnetic cb antena to a class A motorhome

[Kaz]

bjroadshow wrote:
has anybody mounted a magnetic cb antena to a class A motorhome

If all you want to do is to listen to nearby truckers and occasionally make short-range communications, then as noted a no-ground-plane antenna will work fine. The Firestik is the standard, but there are others: http://www.firestik.com/Catalog/NGP_3-Way.htm.

Otherwise, you'll need a "ground plane." It's kinda complicated, but think of a ground plane as the surface that the radio waves push against to get out of the antenna. It's almost impossible to get a decent ground plane on a vehicle, and contrary to what some people suggest, no, you can't run the coax braid down to the chassis to use it as the ground plane for the radiating element up on the roof. I have seen guys cover the entire roof of the motorhome with diamond plate, but I assume they're either divorced or soon will be. Besides, I doubt it works very well anyway. If you're really interested in antenna theory and how to implement a mobile solution, there's a website (actually geared to hams, but the principles are the same) dedicated solely to that topic. See here: http://www.k0bg.com/.

FWIW, I just installed a NGP antenna and tolerate the inefficient performance.

[Rbertalotto]

I had a PU truck camper so I couldn't mount my antenna on the trucks roof. I mounted a very good whip antenna on the front fender. Terrible performance. So bad I thought something was wrong with the radio. Did the SWR thing and no joy.

Sold the TC and bought a Toy Hauler bumper pull. Bought a Wilso "Lil Wil" magnetic mount and plopped it dead center on the roof of the truck. AMAZING performance! Night and day. Having that big ground plane under the antenna was what was needed.

Simple Cobra handheld "All In The Moc" CB radio. Nothing fancy.

Be sure to buy an SWR meter or borrow one to tune the antenna. Make a HUGE difference!

[WyoTraveler]

hershey wrote:
For a magnetic antenna to work it has to be mounted on metal and the metal has to be a size big enough to become the other half of an antenna. Idealy, it should be a 9' circle. Obviously thats not practical or necessary. But a 2 or 3 ft circle of metal will give adequte CB performance for the average CBer.
On the flip side, a magnetic antenna will never give performance anywhere close to a quality, hard wired installed antenna. But you didn't ask about that.

Didn't see it mentioned. Could be a NGP antenna for 2m/440. That is what many use on RVs. I mount mine on the ladder.

[WyoTraveler]

hershey wrote:
For a magnetic antenna to work it has to be mounted on metal and the metal has to be a size big enough to become the other half of an antenna. Idealy, it should be a 9' circle. Obviously thats not practical or necessary. But a 2 or 3 ft circle of metal will give adequte CB performance for the average CBer.
On the flip side, a magnetic antenna will never give performance anywhere close to a quality, hard wired installed antenna. But you didn't ask about that.

Didn't see it mentioned. Could be a NGP antenna for 2m/440

[hershey]

For a magnetic antenna to work it has to be mounted on metal and the metal has to be a size big enough to become the other half of an antenna. Idealy, it should be a 9' circle. Obviously thats not practical or necessary. But a 2 or 3 ft circle of metal will give adequte CB performance for the average CBer.
On the flip side, a magnetic antenna will never give performance anywhere close to a quality, hard wired installed antenna. But you didn't ask about that.

[darsben]

I did by mounting a plate to the roof of the MH and placing the magnetic antenna on it.
POS did not work very well. Stayed put at 70 MPH but got no range

[RoyB]

I have always had CB antenna on my truck just to monitor the truckers when we are on the big roads. In all of my four to five years in the RV I have yet to talk with another RVer... I guess they are not just into CB radios anymore. We use the FRS radios around the camp sites...

There isn't much metal surfaces on the RV. best bet is mount the antenna on the mirror supports or mount a antenna directly to side of the RV up near the roof. That is where mine two antenna mounts on each side of the RV near the back of it...

I use my antennas for radio scanner listening most of the time...

This is mounted to feed into a ceiling mounted inside cabinet where I can run my RG cable down the walls behind things to where my radio is sitting...



These are 2M/440 Ham Radio Antennas but you can use the 27Mhz antennas there as well...

I used the side mount piece showm to cover the hole I drilled into the trailer and filled it all with RTV seal to keep the water out...

Roy Ken