Rollin CBs - CB radio sales and service

[broncokak]

Can we talk antennas now? What do you think would be best for an open top vehicle like a Bronco?

 

[whttail101]

Ok, that sound good...might have a few more questions for you tho.

Ask as many questions as you like. I love to talk about cb radios and working on them. I have had a few customers tell me that I give them too much information, lol. I love to teach people what I know, especially if they have been fed less than accurate information from others.

Can we talk antennas now? What do you think would be best for an open top vehicle like a Bronco?

I have a question for you first. What is the body composition of your rig? Is it metal or fiber glass? This will make a big differnce when choosing your setup.

On a mobile radio setup, a typical antenna will generate only half of the signal, 1/4 of the 1/2 wave RF (Radio Frequency) signal. You need a ground plane to make up the other half of he signal, which will give you a full 1/2 wave RF signal. In this case, you need to have a metal body to attach it to.

Now, if the body is of another material, like fiberglass, rubber composite, or something else, you will need a no ground plane antenna. This means that the antenna itself will generate the entire 1/2 wave signal.



Antenna Types

Now for the types of antennas. You have the steel (102") or fiberglass (96") full-size whips, regular fiberglass whip (ranges from 3' to 5.5'), and loaded antennas (top, center, and bottom laoded).

Full size whip antennas are the most efficient, when a vehicle is setting still. They also have the longest range out of all mobile anteannas. Because of their flexibility, they loose a lot of their efficency when traveling. These are great for barefoot radios (no amp).

The steel whip usually only rated for a maximum of 500 watts, which means you can not continuously run more than 250 watts through them. So, if you decide to run an amp with any real power, you will need to stay away from these. I am unsure of the power rating of a full size fiberglass whip off the top of my head, but I believe they are the same as the steel whip.


Regular fiberglass whip antennas are great for talking with a barefoot radio (no amp). The come in tunable (have to set SWR) and non-tunable (factory set SWR). I suggest not using one that is less than 40'. They work great and are usually the cheapest to replace when they are broken.


Loaded antennas are usually my choice to run. I like them because they usually have a power rating from 10,000 and up watts, which means I can usually run as much power through that I can afford.

Now as far as range is concerned with the loaded antennas, the one with the furthest range is the top loaded, then center loaded, and finally the base loaded.

On Glass cell phone type antennas are terrible. I suggest to stay away from them completely.

Co-Phased (Dual) atennas are good if you are driving an 18-wheeler or bus, but not for a car or truck. Dual antennas are only good if they are 1/2 wavelength apart, (almost 18'). If you can show me an 18' wide Bronco, I will tell you that it could be worth using, lol. If anyone wants more information on Co-Phased (dual) antennas, feel free to pm me. I will tell you all I have learned.


Open top Vehicle Antenna Mounting

I do not personally own an open top vehicle, plus I never took the top off my old Bronco.

I believe the two best options for mounting a cb antenna on an open top vehicle would be to use a hood/trunk mount (mounting it at the hood on the passenger side) or a hatch/door mount (mounting it back at the tailgate).

The way you mount it will depend on how much work you want to put into it, the extent you want to go to put holes in the body. There is a side body option, kind of like what you see on fiberglass cabin cruiser boats. Also, you could look into a flat surface mount, along the side rail if it is accessible from the inside.

As you can see, there are a few options to mount it on your rig and make it look professional.

 

[broncokak]

Steel body and would rather have the antenna behind me unless I could come up with a nice looking fender mount.

 

[whttail101]

Steel body and would rather have the antenna behind me unless I could come up with a nice looking fender mount.

You sound like me. I do not like cb radio antennas on the front of a truck.

On my daily driver for work (95' S-10), I have mine mounted at the tailgate. The mount is screwed in to the tailgate jam, and it does not interfer with opening and closing the tailgate.

I do not have my pickup at the house tonight, I am home in my 18-wheeler. If I remember, I will take a picture of my setup tomorrow afternoon, so you can see what it looks like.

 

[whttail101]

broncokak - Here is two pics of the antenna mount on my S-10.

 

[broncokak]

That could work. What about hooking it the the spare tire rack?

 

[whttail101]

That could work. What about hooking it the the spare tire rack?

Do me a favor. Take a good picture of the spare tire rack and send it to dean@rollincb.com, so I can get a good idea of what it looks like.

 

[Madgyver]

What is a good handheld that you would reccomend?

 

[bludorbronc]

talking about antennas, i have been on lots of trail rides where full length whips are not allowed, because they reach so far they could hit someone.

 

[whttail101]

Madgyver - In my opinion, the best handheld cb radio is the Midland 75 822. I like the fact that it can be used with a battery pack for handheld, plus has a car kit that snaps in place of the battery pack to provide dc power and an antenna hookup for a mobile antenna.

The only downside to the Midland 75 822 car hookup is that it gets the dc power from the cigarette lighter socket. The reason I say it is a downside, is because you have a greater chance of electrical interference comming from the "dirty" power from under the dash. If I were to run one, I would buy an accessory socket (looks the same as a cigarette lighter socket) with heavy duty wires, mount it in the truck and run the wires directly to the battery with an inline fuse.


bludorbronc - Great information to have. I never knew that. I will have to keep that in mind when recommending antenna selections to people who frequent trail rides.

I guess for those who are really into trail riding, and like their full-size whips, they should keep an extra anteanna in their rig to swap out when they get to the location of the ride.

 

[bludorbronc]

hi, i came across a TX50 broadband 3-30 mhz solid state amplifier, made by palomar electronics corp., serial no. 15472. it has an on and off switch on front, also a little red lite. on the back it has two female cable connectors but doesnt say which one is in or out. do you know anything about it, is it worth messing with. thanks

 

[whttail101]

hi, i came across a TX50 broadband 3-30 mhz solid state amplifier, made by palomar electronics corp., serial no. 15472. it has an on and off switch on front, also a little red lite. on the back it has two female cable connectors but doesnt say which one is in or out. do you know anything about it, is it worth messing with. thanks

If the amp works, then I would say yes, it is worth messing with.

It is a 50 watt amp, but it can do up to 80 watts by what I see on the power output chart:

http://www.cbtricks.com/Amp/palomar/tx50/tx50_pw_chart.htm


Even though it is a low power amp, I say it is worth messing with because it is an actual Palomar amp, made by Palomar. Palomar amps are no longer made, and any you see from the mid '80s and up are generic amps with the Palomar name on it. This amp should be from the '70s, one of the first solid state linear amps made.

 

[bludorbronc]

how is it compared to putting the power inside the radio. can i send it to you to have it checked out. i was thinking of either pairing it up with a regency cr123 sideband-am radio or hopping the radio up by itself. i run a soft top on my bronco so do i need special antenna to handle things. please pm me if we need to discus radios. thanks.

 

[whttail101]

how is it compared to putting the power inside the radio. can i send it to you to have it checked out. i was thinking of either pairing it up with a regency cr123 sideband-am radio or hopping the radio up by itself. i run a soft top on my bronco so do i need special antenna to handle things. please pm me if we need to discus radios. thanks.

I was about to type my reply here, but I will pm you the info.

If anyone reading this wants to see the information I am sending him, shoot me a pm and I will send it to you too.

 

[bknbronco]

I had a old radio with sideband i should have never gotton rid of! It wasnt the sideband that i liked it was the talkback feature that was added to it. When the talkback is paired with a echo and power mic you can hear exactly what your sounding like. The switch to turn it on and turn the volume up on the talkback was on the side of the radio and was the same exact knob that was used on the front of the radio. It looked stock.

Now if i could have my uniden tweeked and peaked and the talkback added along with some extra power I would be in business!

I also have a fiberglass body, but i have a steel tailgate, hood, and grill. What antennas are out there for that? I did get some fiberglass antennas off a RV once that i believe didnt need a ground plane, i actually used to use them on my pedal bike when we were kids and they worked great. Steer me towards what you have come up with for the fiberglass body guys here. Maybe the steel hood is enough although id like to keep the antenna on the rear.

 

[whttail101]

I had a old radio with sideband i should have never gotton rid of! It wasnt the sideband that i liked it was the talkback feature that was added to it. When the talkback is paired with a echo and power mic you can hear exactly what your sounding like. The switch to turn it on and turn the volume up on the talkback was on the side of the radio and was the same exact knob that was used on the front of the radio. It looked stock.

Now if i could have my uniden tweeked and peaked and the talkback added along with some extra power I would be in business!

I also have a fiberglass body, but i have a steel tailgate, hood, and grill. What antennas are out there for that? I did get some fiberglass antennas off a RV once that i believe didnt need a ground plane, i actually used to use them on my pedal bike when we were kids and they worked great. Steer me towards what you have come up with for the fiberglass body guys here. Maybe the steel hood is enough although id like to keep the antenna on the rear.

What model of Uniden do you have? Most Uniden radios are identical to their Cobra counterpart. Tuning and adding talkback to them can be done pretty quickly.

Since the majority of your vehicle is the fiberglass body, I would stick with a non-groung plane antenna. Firestik makes a 3' and 4' model.

I have never tried a regular antenna on just a metal tailgate, but I do not think there will be enough metal surface area (mainly horizontal) to make up the ground plane.

 

[whttail101]

I added two brand new in the box radios to my sale thread:

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191819



One Cobra 29LTD Bluetooth - $145 shipped

Cobra 29 NW WX Bluetooth - $175 shipped