2018 F350 CB Antenna Front Bumper Mount
2018 F350 CB Antenna Front Bumper Mount Photos Finally finished up installing my CB radio in our 2018 F350. Antenna location would have been a lot easier without the truck camper in the bed....
Forum Discussion
Because of the groundlplane effect, mounting an antenna all the way forward like that will make it directional toward the rear.
Way back in the CB heyday when we used to hold weekly “rabbit hunts”, we’d set up cars for tracking a signal by mounting an antenna at the extreme rear, which made it highly directional toward the front. We’d mount a super large S-meter in a box and tap it into the radio. We’d drive in a tight circle and the direction we got the strongest signal was the direction the signal was coming from.
Technically, linear amplifiers are illegal on CB... but the reality is the FCC gave up and quit caring about CB many years ago.
Tuning and peaking a CB is all psychological. Going from maybe 3 watts up to say 5 watts doesn’t have a measurable effect. We did all that stuff and tested it in the field.
Optimizing an antenna involves not just SWR, but size and placement.
Bigger is better, higher is better, and centrally located within the groundplane (in this case the metal vehicle body) is better.
If you can stand how that front and center antennal looks, it’s practical because it fits around the camper, but it’s performance will not be best toward the front like it might seem.
I’d go with one of those brackets that comes through the seam between the fender and hood, up by the cowl. That has a number of advantages: your coax cable is much shorter (and that’s a significant performance factor), it’s up higher, it’s a little more central to the groundplane.... and it looks a whole lot better too.
Way back in the CB heyday when we used to hold weekly “rabbit hunts”, we’d set up cars for tracking a signal by mounting an antenna at the extreme rear, which made it highly directional toward the front. We’d mount a super large S-meter in a box and tap it into the radio. We’d drive in a tight circle and the direction we got the strongest signal was the direction the signal was coming from.
Technically, linear amplifiers are illegal on CB... but the reality is the FCC gave up and quit caring about CB many years ago.
Tuning and peaking a CB is all psychological. Going from maybe 3 watts up to say 5 watts doesn’t have a measurable effect. We did all that stuff and tested it in the field.
Optimizing an antenna involves not just SWR, but size and placement.
Bigger is better, higher is better, and centrally located within the groundplane (in this case the metal vehicle body) is better.
If you can stand how that front and center antennal looks, it’s practical because it fits around the camper, but it’s performance will not be best toward the front like it might seem.
I’d go with one of those brackets that comes through the seam between the fender and hood, up by the cowl. That has a number of advantages: your coax cable is much shorter (and that’s a significant performance factor), it’s up higher, it’s a little more central to the groundplane.... and it looks a whole lot better too.
