CB radio's anyone?

Wes Tausend wrote:

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
Should work fine if you use a star washer inside the bumper on the antenna's stud mount, assuming you're mounting it through a hole you will drill in the upper surface of the bumper. Doesn't really matter what the outter surface of the bumper is coated with, since the plastic insulator of the stud mount will keep the antenna from touching the top surface of the bumper anyways. It's the bottom (inside) surface of the bumper where the coax's ground connection is made, via the stud mount.

SoCal, Don,

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned, I formally used a chain clamp for mounting to avoid holes in the bumper. Normally this link-mount was grounded directly on the underside, but in this case the clearcoat will likely insulate this from happening and I probably should protect the more fragile finish further with a bit of nylon strap.

Maybe I can form a hidden electrical ground contact surface directly on the nearby backside of the bumper. I do have a SWR meter, but it seems the ratio had never been too low with any mobile antenna mount I've tried anyway. Hope it's not too much worse.

Wes
...

I wouldn't fool around with that clamp-on doo-hickey. Just drill the hole and be done with it. You can plug it with a plastic plug or rubber grommet when you're ready to sell the truck.

102" whips, when used with the stud mount and heavy duty spring, which makes them 108-109" long, exactly the 1/4 wave length of the 11 meter band, and mounted anywhere they can get a descent ground plane, usually give a nice wide, flat bandwidth for operating safely on many channels above and below the 40 channel CB band, even with an amp. The recieve and transmit signal strength of the 102 is usually also excellent, if the radio is at all descent.

A well-mounted 102 and a good mic can turn a cheap-o mud duck radio into an acceptable communicator, and turn a good radio into a real talkin' machine. :)