Posted: 11/30/2008 3:24:46 PM EDT
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I need one.
Who out there has experience with these and what do you recommend? Also, I'm thinking of mounting it to my Dodge Ram in the same spot the stereo antenna is mounted, just on the other side of the truck. I know the center of the roof is best, but sometimes I need to go into parking garages, and I feel that this combined with a whip-type antenna might make it possible to tie it down somehow should I need to go through a low clearance. Running a Cobra 29 LTD Classic, but the old, cheap antenna I have makes it a POS system. Thoughts on the upgrade? _MaH |
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Back in '89 I had one in my Blazer. My system consisted of a Cobra 29GTL with a K40 magmount antenna.
The k40 was excellent. The best thing you can do is try to mount the antenna somewhere near the center of vehicle and not so much as the side so you the vehicle acts as a ground plane. |
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Either get a magmount or get a permanent 3/4" roof mount and just un screw it whenever you go in a garage.
We sell a buttload of these at work, just get a roof mount or buy a magmount base. http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=41319&eventPage=6 |
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Quoted:
I need one. Who out there has experience with these and what do you recommend? Also, I'm thinking of mounting it to my Dodge Ram in the same spot the stereo antenna is mounted, just on the other side of the truck. I know the center of the roof is best, but sometimes I need to go into parking garages, and I feel that this combined with a whip-type antenna might make it possible to tie it down somehow should I need to go through a low clearance. Running a Cobra 29 LTD Classic, but the old, cheap antenna I have makes it a POS system. Thoughts on the upgrade? _MaH A CB Antenna is just a radiator for the signal. There are only two really important things; one is the GROUND. This is the foundation for your entire signal. (magnet mounts are BS since they have no real electrical ground, only an inductive ground, which is horrible) The other is being tuned. Tuned meaning, it is a perfect factor of the wavelength. (1/2 or 1/4, etc) This is done with an SWR meter, and the adjustment portion of the antenna. Any commercial antenna you buy that can do both of those criteria will perform decently; PROVIDED YOU PAY ATTENTION TO BOTH THINGS when installing it. As for low clearances, if you do not get a flexible steel whip that can be arced back to your rear bumper (ala Humvee style) then you can look into the fiberglass types (FireStik) and add a quick disconnect coupler on the bottom. (or just carry around a 1/2" crescent wrench in the drivers door map pocket like I do for fast removal of the threaded version) Good luck, E. |
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Quoted:
I need one. Who out there has experience with these and what do you recommend? Also, I'm thinking of mounting it to my Dodge Ram in the same spot the stereo antenna is mounted, just on the other side of the truck. I know the center of the roof is best, but sometimes I need to go into parking garages, and I feel that this combined with a whip-type antenna might make it possible to tie it down somehow should I need to go through a low clearance. Running a Cobra 29 LTD Classic, but the old, cheap antenna I have makes it a POS system. Thoughts on the upgrade? _MaH If you can, Id be interested in seeing where you have the cb mounted in the cab. Ive been wanting to add a CB to my truck, but cant find a good spot to mount it where its accessible and out of the way in the cab. Also, how do you like the Cobra? |
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K40 Works great with my old Teaberry 101. Too bad I haven't used it in umpteen years. ETA: The magnet mount gives the best ground. Uhh... Yeah. If your definition of 'best' is that which destroys the painted surface under the mount over time, and debilitates the transmission of a signal by orders of magnitude due to a lack of a true ground plane. Please don't spread misinformation. A properly ELECTRICALLY GROUNDED aerial installation will outperform an inductive mag mount base each and every time. E. |
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K40 Works great with my old Teaberry 101. Too bad I haven't used it in umpteen years. ETA: The magnet mount gives the best ground. Uhh... Yeah. If your definition of 'best' is that which destroys the painted surface under the mount over time, and debilitates the transmission of a signal by orders of magnitude due to a lack of a true ground plane. Please don't spread misinformation. A properly ELECTRICALLY GROUNDED aerial installation will outperform an inductive mag mount base each and every time. E. While I agree with you on the paint issues, a mag mount IS capacitively grounded. at RF frequencies, AC flows through a capacitor with very little loss. This is why glass mount cell antennas worked so good. they were capacitive coupled. The large magnet of a K40 or Wilson forms a pretty good ground. Still, I hate mag mount antennas. I prefer NMO punched through the sheet metal(vhf/uhf), or 3/8" solid mounts. |
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The K-40 with the mag mount made by K-40 will work very well.
Wison antennaes are good also. If you go with a 102" stainless whip you will also need a 6" spring for a combined length of 108". No tuning needed with the whip. Have antennae tuned by someone with an SWR meter that has experience. Check channels 1&40. If channel 1 is lower antennae is too long. Match 1&40 as close as possible by changing adjustment 1/8" at a time. Middle channels will be lower on SWR meter and will give the best performance. Small magnets like Radio Shack brands probably won't stay on roof. Good Luck smitret |
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On the Pete I usd to drive I used a 29 Classic and a 4' Wilson glass w/clear coax. It worked great.
I am now in the same situation as you, wanting to mount a 29 in my F250 and trying to decide what type of aerial to use. I park in a campus parking garage everyday and dont want to rip it off. |
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Quoted: Wilson 1000 102" whip this. nice thing about a whip is that i dont hold it down. i just let it bang around on the ceiling of the parking garage. if there is lights, i clip it on my bumper. but thats on my jeep and i dont take it out much anyway. i have a wilson1000 on my car and it sits low enough it doesnt hit anything. |
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You will find what you need here !
http://www.copper.com/cart/ |
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Quoted:
Back in '89 I had one in my Blazer. My system consisted of a Cobra 29GTL with a K40 magmount antenna. The k40 was excellent. The best thing you can do is try to mount the antenna somewhere near the center of vehicle and not so much as the side so you the vehicle acts as a ground plane. We sell the K40 magnet mount antenna at our store & it is a VERY good antenna. The SWR is preset from the factory so you don't have to worry about setting it & if you are ever forced to park in an area where your worried about it being stolen, you can just twist the top off & put it in your truck until you come back. 
The only downside is it's $99.95 but then your antenna is more important than your radio when it comes to getting out. Also, how do you like the Cobra?
The Cobra 25's are our #1 selling radio. The 29's are good as long as you stick to the classic model & avoid the "sound tracker" & "nightwatch" versions. STAY AWAY FROM THE COBRA 200. 102" whip
They are good but a lot of people don't like them because they are so tall. Plus you really need about 21' of coax on them to help SWR. Dual antenna whipping in the wind
The problem with that is the SWR on the 2 antenna's must match each other PERFECTLY. Depending on the vehicle involved, that can takes hours. That's why we don't set SWR. You cobra might have a built in SWR meter
The Cobra 29 does. |
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I need one. Who out there has experience with these and what do you recommend? Also, I'm thinking of mounting it to my Dodge Ram in the same spot the stereo antenna is mounted, just on the other side of the truck. I know the center of the roof is best, but sometimes I need to go into parking garages, and I feel that this combined with a whip-type antenna might make it possible to tie it down somehow should I need to go through a low clearance. Running a Cobra 29 LTD Classic, but the old, cheap antenna I have makes it a POS system. Thoughts on the upgrade? _MaH If you can, Id be interested in seeing where you have the cb mounted in the cab. Ive been wanting to add a CB to my truck, but cant find a good spot to mount it where its accessible and out of the way in the cab. Also, how do you like the Cobra? Mounting it in the cab is a problem I'm still searching for a cure to. Of course, I have a whole bunch of things I'm attempting to find mounting solutions to –– - CB Radio - Ham Radio - Jotto Laptop mount - Navigation (GPS) unit - Cell Phone (BlackBerry) Mount (which I can tether to the laptop for broadband wireless internet) ...and best of all... - This To answer the question which I'm sure will be asked: "Why not?" 
_MaH |
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I can't find much information on the Wilson 1000 roof mounts.
How does it connect? I'd like it if it was some kind of detachable mount (like an NMO) which I could quickly remove, as opposed to something stuck there with bolts that would make removal infeasible. Any reason why I should consider sticking with a magnet mount? I don't like the idea of something becoming a projectile in the event of a collision... _MaH |
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I can't find much information on the Wilson 1000 roof mounts.
You have to drill a hole into where you want it mounted. The Wilson's are popular but can be a hassle with the SWR. Any reason why I should consider sticking with a magnet mount? I don't like the idea of something becoming a projectile in the event of a collision...
The K40 isn't a weak magnet like you'd find on a refridgerator  .
I tell people when they get them* to be careful putting it on since if they get their fingers pinched we'll hear them screaming in here. 
*If they plan on installing them before they leave. BTW, your 29 should have an SWR meter built in. You need it to be as close to 1 as possible. If it's around 3, it's too high. |
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If you are worried about scratching the paint with a magnet mount use a piece of cleam 3m protective film cut into a circle and placed underneath. Or take a piece of contact paper and put it on the magnet itself to help protect.
The 3m on the paint is the best option though. |
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102" Whip. They look cool, and not as white trash as magnet mounts. If you want something more conservative then two Firestick type antennas mounted does a good job.
A ball mount like this guy did, is what I am planning on for my XJ. I have all the parts, and I am going to have it professionally installed after the holidays. 
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Well, I did some looking around my truck and I'm not convinced anymore that the roof top is the best place to mount an antenna.
Whether it's magnet base or a twist/unscrew removable antenna, it's not easy (or therefore fast) to get it down, and there are cases where I'll need to drive under low ceiling structures. This means I'm starting to think about where else to mount the antenna. Since it's going on a 2004 Dodge Ram, there's no flat spots elsewhere on the truck to mount it to with a magnet mount, so I figure that's out. I'm thinking about something quickly detachable like a NMO mount. So far the only places I can think that would be ideal to mount would be either on the opposite side of the hood from the AM/FM antenna, or somewhere on the top of the sides of the truck bed. With a mount opposite the AM/FM antenna, it would give it some symmetry and look nice, but it would also be asymmetrical since the CB antenna would likely be longer than the AM/FM antenna. The top of the sides to the truck bed look good, but I have a few problems here, too. I can't really mount it immediately behind the cab, since the toolbox lid would hit it whenever I open it - I really don't want to have to continually detach an antenna before I open the toolbox. The other option is at the far end by the tail-gate, but since I have the radio in the front of the cabin, the antenna cable runs all the way to the front, entering the cabin through the firewall. I'd need a long cable for that (at least 20') and I'm not too sure how a cable that long will impact the SWR (will it?) _MaH |
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Quoted: I can't find much information on the Wilson 1000 roof mounts. You have to drill a hole into where you want it mounted. The Wilson's are popular but can be a hassle with the SWR. Any reason why I should consider sticking with a magnet mount? I don't like the idea of something becoming a projectile in the event of a collision... The K40 isn't a weak magnet like you'd find on a refridgerator  . I tell people when they get them* to be careful putting it on since if they get their fingers pinched we'll hear them screaming in here.  *If they plan on installing them before they leave. BTW, your 29 should have an SWR meter built in. You need it to be as close to 1 as possible. If it's around 3, it's too high. Drill a hole to mount it????????? my wilson is a magnet mount and you tune it the same way as the K40, you can even get the trunk mount for the wilson http://www.copper.com/cart/index.php?cPath=32_34&sort=2a&filter_id=15 |
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Drill a hole to mount it????????? my wilson is a magnet mount and you tune it the same way as the K40, you can even get the trunk mount for the wilson
I was thinking of another Wilson antenna. There's the magnet version, the rooftop version* & the Trucker mirror mount Wilson's. *That one does require drilling. |
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http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=616930
Here's one of the threads from the radio forum. As long as you get a good quality antenna the differences are mostly going to be in the mounting system and mechanical. The biggest performance differences will be in where you mount the antenna on the vehicle rather than the exact model of antenna. |
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http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=616930 Here's one of the threads from the radio forum. As long as you get a good quality antenna the differences are mostly going to be in the mounting system and mechanical. The biggest performance differences will be in where you mount the antenna on the vehicle rather than the exact model of antenna. I saw that one just about an hour ago - I was getting ready to post in it, but then went out and took a look at my truck to see what my mounting situation would be. Hence, the update I made a few posts up the thread. The really interesting thing is that the OP in that thread has the exact same radio and situation as I wrote about. Talk about one hell of a coincidental dupe! Are there any short antennas (say the length of an AM/FM antenna) which are really good? Would two shorter ones be tantamount to a single long one? If so, with the latter question, it will really open up my mounting options. _MaH |
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As others have said SWR tuning and ground are most important. We use CB's when we hunt and Firestik has always worked well for us and are very easy to tune. Get a fold down mount if clearance is an issue. http://www.pepperelectronics.com/acatalog/TSFD-100.jpg This may change a lot of things for me... How do they fold down? Push a button? Twist something? I can't imagine they can just be pulled down, or the wind from driving would force it down. Nevermind - did my homework, got my answer. _MaH |
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As others have said SWR tuning and ground are most important. We use CB's when we hunt and Firestik has always worked well for us and are very easy to tune. Get a fold down mount if clearance is an issue. http://www.pepperelectronics.com/acatalog/TSFD-100.jpg This may change a lot of things for me... How do they fold down? Push a button? Twist something? I can't imagine they can just be pulled down, or the wind from driving would force it down. _MaH You lift the knurled collar which is under spring tension and then fold the mount. When it is raised the collar slips down over the joint and locks solid. They work very well. |