CB antenna mount on Explorer

[Ilikemice]

I'm stuck for places to mount a CB antenna on my '97. I've decided on a simple drill-through mount through the roof about 6" from the rear and offset to the driver's side (see pic). Am I alright to just drill straight through or will there be a surprise of wiring or anything?

 

[Redneckryder]

if you're gonna drill a hole, why not on your front fender or something where when it leaks, and it will, it wont ruin your interior.

 

[Ilikemice]

The mount is waterproof apparently but the fender idea is good too. Cheers.

 

[MusicManiac]

I think I would make a bracket that came off to the rear bumper to the side so it wouldn't be in the doors way personally. Or you oculd go with one of the magnetic ones too.

 

[Ilikemice]

I think I would make a bracket that came off to the rear bumper to the side so it wouldn't be in the doors way

Sorted. Great idea.

Thanks!

 

[MusicManiac]

Like this.

 

[Jason]

If you want it to work it's best you should mount dead center on the roof.

 

[Little X]

^^ what he said. You need the antenna to be in the center of the grounding plain for it to work effectively.

 

[MusicManiac]

Well never mind then! Scratch my crappy ideas! HAHA!

 

[Ilikemice]

I understand the principle behind it hence the original idea of just drilling the roof of the car. My old S10 has the antenna on the spare tyre rack on the back and it works fine for the on and off road convoys that I get into, and looks pretty cool too.

I'll have to go with a roof mount I reckon for this. Cheers for the input

 

[Tony Raine]

i used a magnetic mount in the middle of my roof. sorry, this was the best pic i could find

ran the wire through the rear "wing" window.

 

[llxRanger]

Just some .02 from a HAM and CB radio expert.
Never mount a CB antenna towards the rear of anything. You lose usability and distance. You always want to mount it in the MIDDLE of a roof so the steel roof acts as a Satalite so to speak. I've dial in CBs with up to a 6 mile difference doing this.

Get a SWR Meter and tune the antenna the best you can. The further the noise has to travel through the wire the worse it will sound. BUT the more knots that it has to travel through the more stactic and jumbo you get.

 

[Ilikemice]

I have an SWR meter and I've managed to keep it under 1.5 in previous vehicles. The next hurdle is installing the actual CB unit. I have an old Rotel which is huge. I'll post pics when I'm done!

 

[MusicManiac]

Yup! I couldn't find a picture, but that is about the same as what I had when I had my Cherokee. Just a little magnetic mounted antenna that I picked up cheap on Ebay. I ran it just rear of the front seats on the Cherokee and had the cable up along the luggage rack and then down through the rear passenger door jamb. Couldn't find a picture though.

 

[Roger]

I run a mag mount on my Grnad Cherokee until I figure out something better. And my son does the same on his 94 Explorer...

 

[MusicManiac]

Where would you guys mount a CB on a Ranger? I have another cheap magnetic mounted antenna on it in the middle of the cab right now, but I have a nicer antenna that I would like to mount semi-permanantly. I was thinking that I would make a bracket and mount it in the center of the bed rail right behind the slider but wanted to make sure that wasn't going to hinder my reception any first? I think it is about a 3 or 4 foot antenna.