CB Antenna - Bullbar or Gutter Mount?

[Barrbeast]

Right since it's now on my radar for the Wales trip I've been looking at CB's and whip antennas to replace my handheld and mini whip.

I've found an 80 channel Midland cb for a good price and so I'm now looking at antennas.

Question is - Do I mount it to the bullbar like I planned or do I buy a gutter mount and put it on the rain gutter?

Pro's of the gutter mount is I won't need to run the cable through the firewall (it can go through a back door like my current mag mount) so I can remove the aerial when not in use. Con is that it'll be higher up so more exposed when laning/offroading (?)

Pro's of the bullbar mount is the hole's already there (ARB bullbar) and I can see what's happening with the antenna at all times as it will be in front of me. Con is that I will probably have to run the cable permanently through the firewall.

Opinions? :nenau

[Fez_uk]

I'd go with bullbar mount, Range may be reduced but will be marginal.

Probably some grommets not used in the firewall, will be very easy to route to the dash area.

Are you buying the midland cb new?

[Barrbeast]

It's b grade, but apparently fully functioning and with a year's warranty at about 60% of the normal price.

Bullbar mount was my original plan :thumb2

[Fez_uk]

:thumbs

[walshie]

Roof mount every time for me. Assuming the antenna is a monopole it will have better match and more favourable radiation pattern in both azimuth and elevation if it has a decent groundplane. (I'm not a cb man though, just work with antennas)-so practicalities of bumper mount might be more important to you.
Perhaps buy a cheap mag mount and try the antenna in both locations to see the difference in performance?

[Sweety]

I'd fit it to the bull bar:thumbs there will be a grommet you can feed the coax through into the cabin & there is a good chance the length of the coax will be shorter which is a good thing IIRC plus it rules out water getting inside your motor as i've had water leaks from coax through door seals in the past:doh

[Barrbeast]

Yeh I know exactly where to pass it through as I already had to make pass a cable through the firewall for the cable between the oil pressure gauge and sender :thumb2

[spinna]

Bullbar mount and you can get quick release antenna mounts. This is what I intend to fit when I get round to it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lazy-Ferret]

Mine is on the Bull bar, and I had a quick release mount!!! Doing a tight multi point turn near a hedge, and the aerial snagged on a tiny branch, and the quick release snapped... They are just plated brass, and the thin bit where the bayonet pin clips in, just snaps off.

Since then, I have the aerial screwed straight into the mount, and it has been fine ever since.

With regards to the position, it depends what you want from the CB, if you want to do long distance communication, then it needs to be in the middle of the roof, to get the best radiation patterns, but I only wanted it for convoy and pay & play days, where range is not really an issue, and it really makes no difference where you put it, other than ease of installation.

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

swr will be easier better on roof,

i'd stick with mag as if on convoy work only need mini stinger for range.

in worst case if caught on a tree mag will give way, where as a fixed mount
will drag and break.

suppose a diesel wont interfere as much as a petrol could, but isnt a twig
flicking about visually a distraction. can see how looks cool, popular in Oz....

[jims-terrano]

I guess if you came across a policeman that really wanted to he may pick on the bulbar mounted being a danger to other road users and pedestrians.

If distance doesn't really bother you then do what is easiest for you.

I've used mag mounts and a clamp mount on to the roof rails. The mag got dragged off and I towed it through some mud until I got to a bit of track that I wouldn't get my feet mucky :lol. Really bent an aerial on the roof rail mount so lesson learnt on that one.

[Sweety]

The bit that worries me with mag mounts is if the come off the can go through your window or damage the body panels which has happened to me before:doh so would rather kill an aerial. As mentioned it might be a tiny bit harder to SWR in but can't see it being as hard as my disco was with an alloy bonnet & roof

[Fez_uk]

alloy roof won't make a difference to the antennas performance. Just means a mag mount won't stick on it.

Bumper is the way, will barely make any difference to the range.

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

alloy roof won't make a difference to the antennas performance. Just means a mag mount won't stick on it.

Bumper is the way, will barely make any difference to the range.


what alloy roof, my mag stuck like glue to both t2 and the y61 trol.

last alloy roof i had was 74 classic rangey so used a gutter mount.

oddly its bonnet was steel as recall but didnt fancy my growing aerial farm there.

[Fez_uk]

As mentioned it might be a tiny bit harder to SWR in but can't see it being as hard as my disco was with an alloy bonnet & roof

what alloy roof, my mag stuck like glue to both t2 and the y61 trol.

As above

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

arh, green oval issues so not a Nissan issue anyway.

[elty001]

I'm toying with the idea of mounting mine on the front wing.
I bought a second hand one as mine is rusted through but it has the mirror mount as its off an import.
the mirror is broke but the wing mount is still there so was going to adapt it to mount antenna on.
if it wont swr up as the mount is ally I will just ground it to the chassis.

[Lazy-Ferret]

I'm toying with the idea of mounting mine on the front wing.
I bought a second hand one as mine is rusted through but it has the mirror mount as its off an import.
the mirror is broke but the wing mount is still there so was going to adapt it to mount antenna on.
if it wont swr up as the mount is ally I will just ground it to the chassis.

Ally wont be a problem, as long as it is electrically connected to wing and the wing is electrically grounded to the battery, it will be fine.. the only problem with ally is for people who want to use a Magmount.

When I did my RAE training many many many moons ago, I think I remember that Aluminium is actually one of the best electrical conductors, only surpassed by gold, but the problems with making good mechanical connections to it e.g., you can't solder or weld it, limits where it is used. If you think about it, most TV aerials are Ally.

[elty001]

ally is super conductive but I was told it was something to do with the ground plane.:nenau

[walshie]

As long as there's a good electrical contact to the wing the wing should act as a good groundplane. It'll only be a problem if the mount is electrically isolated from the wing itself.

[walshie]

Excuse my lack of knowledge of cb radio kit, are dipole versions of cb antennas not available? They would be far less susceptible to variation in mounting position?

[Lazy-Ferret]

There are, but I believe that there are 2 hangups..

Firstly, it would be illegal to run DiPole, but secondly, because of the wave length, on a car, you can not really get them far enough apart to be effective, where as on Lorries, they get them out on the end of the Wing Mirror frames, and can just get enough of a gap.

I believe a lot of Truckers run the DV27, 5/8wave aerial as Dipole, since the aerial is illegal anyway...

[walshie]

Ah ok, I think we have different meanings of the term dipole! Why r they illegal? And what freqs does cb work over?
I'm getting intrigued by the idea of cb in the car now! Lol

[Fez_uk]

Dipoles are not illegal...

It doesn't make sense to use one on a car anyway, As you will have to feed the coax halfway up the antenna.

Basically a CB antenna on a mag mount is just like a dipole, the car is the other half.

[Lazy-Ferret]

40 channels on the 27 MHz band and I am not sure, but there was also 20 channels on the 934 MHz band, both of which used FM, but not sure about the 934 now.

Re Dipole..

Antennas for 27 MHz CB

The following types of antenna are legal:

A single, vertical, omnidirectional monopole, the driven element of which does not exceed 6.95m in length or 55mm in diameter, including any loading coils and associated circuitry and casings, but excluding any plates, radial wires or rods designed to act as a ground plane or counterpoise, which are located at the physical base of the antenna; and

A single, vertical, omnidirectional dipole antenna not exceeding 5.55m in length.

Please note that the use of a loop, yagi or any type of beam antenna is prohibited.

[jims-terrano]

934was taken away by Ofcom several years ago, not sure but think it was sold off for mobile phones or summat.

[briggie]

934 mhz is illegal for cb now

[briggie]

i used to have a 934 set ..... think it was reftec ...... bluddie expensive radio at the time :eek:..... the bonus was not many people could afford opne , so less idiots .