cb antenna

ed s · 06-29-2010, 12:57 PM

Hello all,

I am looking for ideas on how to eliminate the mirror mount antennas from banging on the bunk as I drive down the road.
I have 5 ft antennas so that I can clear the roof for better coverage but like I say they whip in the wind and bounce off the bunk. What have you guys done or what antenna are you using?

Maybe I have to go back to the shorter antenna and not have much distance.

Thanks for your ideas

Ed

GENECARP · 06-29-2010, 01:23 PM

Ed i had the same situation, shorter ant did the trick, this weekend i will be at the Rig, i will measure the HT and model, Gene

ed s · 06-29-2010, 02:10 PM

Thanks Gene,

If you have any idea as to what kind of range you have I would be interested in that also.

I assume you have dual antennas.

GENECARP · 06-29-2010, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ed s:
Thanks Gene,

If you have any idea as to what kind of range you have I would be interested in that also.

I assume you have dual antennas.

Yes definetaly duels, G

Bob86ZZ4 · 06-30-2010, 02:58 PM

My truck has a single antenna. I know it's probably not as good as duals. Mine doesn't have a spring mount, it's about 3' I'm guessing? My son drives truck over the road. I've talked to him from about 1-2 miles away, truck to truck.

Doc Weaver · 06-30-2010, 05:00 PM

I don't even turn my on except for when driving in heavy traffic.

Doc Weaver

ed s · 07-02-2010, 07:26 PM

Most of the time I like to listen to whats going on between truckers. Cheap thrills I guess but I find myself driving without the radio on alot and cb on. I was able to get my 5 ft dual antenna's sw in today but need to get closer to truck traffic to see what kind of range I get. Then if the range is good, figure out how to stop the antenna's from banging against the bunk

Chill Travelers · 07-07-2010, 11:23 AM

Hi Ed,

I have a Cascadia that had similar problems because the body mount antennas were too close to the overhang. Mine was solved with two trangular foam wedges slipped over the antenna at the contact points. The triangular shape helped with the aero effect and the foam eliminated the slap if it did hit.

I have a friend with a Colombia and we solved his slapping with two plastic brackets. One side slipped over the antenna with a loose fit and the other side secured to the bottom side of the overhang on each side. We made his out of .187 clear Plexiglas, so they are nearly invisible.

Hope this gives you some ideas for an easy fix.

Bob

Bob86ZZ4 · 07-07-2010, 02:14 PM

I like that idea of the plexi guides.

Bob86ZZ4 · 07-07-2010, 02:15 PM

Except my antenna is mounted on the mirror so I guess that wouldn't work for me.

ed s · 07-07-2010, 03:14 PM

They say dual antennas need to comunicate with each other so I had to go with 5 ft antennas so that I was over the roof line. I bought two foam balls at wally world and slid over the antennas. I had to take the rig down the interstate a ways today and they did work well today. No noise at all but may consider something like the plexiglass just to keep the antennas from flexing so much in the wind.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Chill Travelers · 07-07-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob86ZZ4:
Except my antenna is mounted on the mirror so I guess that wouldn't work for me.

My friends is as well. The bracket mounts to the underside of the overhang for the bunk section and sticks out to the side about 1/3rd up the antenna. His antenna is one of the coiled fiberglass types and the pass-through hole is about .250" larger than the OD of the antenna. It supports it in the a and y axis. He has since added some foam to secure the antennas inside the Plexiglas opening because it was rattling a bit.

I saw another hauler with a couple of what looked like racket balls pushed down over the antenna at the impact point, bit they did not look as nice.

ed s · 07-07-2010, 05:09 PM

My red balls dont look so bad.......better on the antennas then else where............
On my rig the plexi would have to extend from the roof I am afraid but do not want to drill any holes.

Chill Travelers · 07-07-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ed s:
My red balls dont look so bad.......better on the antennas then else where............
On my rig the plexi would have to extend from the roof I am afraid but do not want to drill any holes.

LOL! I bet they do look good and you can change them out depending on the holiday!

We actually did not screw the Plexi down, we used some of that nasty foam tape. Worked great!

Easy is always better...I would stay with the red balls as well!

Bob

ed s · 07-07-2010, 05:43 PM

lol
The red looks ok but..........
I have fire stix ??? antennas and not sure they are what I need. The weather radio on cb does not come in as well as it should. I depend on the weather radio alarm and not sure it will work with a weak signal. I do not know for sure what kind of cb range I have either. Next trip planned for mid next week and hope to find out.

Next week may be a blue ball week LOL

Chill Travelers · 07-07-2010, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ed s:
lol
The red looks ok but..........
I have fire stix ??? antennas and not sure they are what I need. The weather radio on cb does not come in as well as it should. I depend on the weather radio alarm and not sure it will work with a weak signal. I do not know for sure what kind of cb range I have either. Next trip planned for mid next week and hope to find out.

Next week may be a blue ball week LOL

I am a geek and somewhat familiar with rf stuff.

The major thing that you have to do with any CB is to make sure the antennas are tuned. Cobra radios have an alert if they are out of tune. It is usually a red led that comes on when you transmit. Sometimes marked TX error or alert.

Our coach had to have these funny horns to extend the body mount CB antennas that threw the tuning out of the window. So, I had to add a matching/tuner devise. They are about ~$25 on eBay. See CB Antenna Tuner

This will improve your CB, but may not improve your weather radio. The reason is that when you put dual CB antennas on the mirrors, they become co-linear and are designed to provide best reception in a cone directly in front and to the rear of the vehicle. This will actually reduce the effectiveness of the weather radio significantly if the transmitter is out of that cone. (usually is)

Best suggestion is a separate SAME weather radio, also available on eBay. This has a omni directional antenna pattern and also contains severe weather alarm settings. Most do have an external antenna, but I have never found the need. See SAME Weather Alert Radio

There is another new option that we switched to. It is a software that monitors NEXRAD radar. Too complicated to explain here, so I will write about it in a separate post as to not hijack this one.

So, net net is that the dual antennas make you more directionally efficient for talking to others in front and behind you, but significantly degrades the weather function.

BTW, I also had one of those CB's that had the base unit hidden and all the controls in the mike on my old coach. Neither the CB or the weather ever worked well with two replacements from the factory doing the same poor job.

Hope this helps!

ed s · 07-07-2010, 07:30 PM

Chill
Thanks for your thoughts!!! I have the sw in good shape and what you are saying about the weather radio part makes good sense. All I want is the weather alert of the cb to sound off and wake me up if bad weather is close by. The cab radio has a weather radio but no alert.

Still have to reread your post but... thanks for the infor and I may be badk to you after out next trip for advise. Thank you again

Chill Travelers · 07-08-2010, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ed s:
Chill
Thanks for your thoughts!!! I have the sw in good shape and what you are saying about the weather radio part makes good sense. All I want is the weather alert of the cb to sound off and wake me up if bad weather is close by. The cab radio has a weather radio but no alert.

Still have to reread your post but... thanks for the infor and I may be badk to you after out next trip for advise. Thank you again

What is the brand and model of your CB/Weather Alert radio. I have a friend that is a Storm Chaser that is pretty savvy on the weather side. He may have some ideas.

Bob

ed s · 07-21-2010, 04:36 PM

I still have my red balls.........I glued them to the antenna and so far with 600 miles with them they have not moved. Cannot hear them hitting the coach at all. I was able to get the weather radio to work not very well but I do get the weather alerts when there is nasty stuff closing in. I can aways use the cab radio weather band to here whats going on. I wanted to make sure I had the alert to wake me if needed.

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