3' Firestik on Relentless Hood Mount

So I am planning on getting a CB radio and I thought I had my mind made up on the relentless hood mount with a 3' firestik & firering coax. However, I could only find 1 person on here so far with this setup and they said they had problems.

Is anyone running this antenna setup? if so please let me know how the tuning, grounding, and reception is. Pics would be awesome so I could see how it looks. I want my radio to work well but I think I would prefer the look of the 3' over a 4'. Thanks for the help

 

Man i have a 3' firestik and i kinda wish i would have bought a 2'. Do what you want but with the mount, stud, spring, and antenna its taller than my stock radio antenna.

 

Yea thats what I figured, that's why i think a 4' would look ridiculous on the hood. How does the 3' work for you in terms of performance?
Btw i lost my train of thought for a sec when i saw your signature

 

awesome man, thanks! this is the kind of stuff i want to hear haha

 

she clicks too you know... haha

 

gotcha, so the thin green horizontal line is the mount correct? And the G shows where the grounding is required?

 

The radio im getting has a built-in swr meter so Im going to try that first. People have said that the in-radio meter is accurate when tested with a standalone SWR meter as a test

 

Thats alot more antenna than I want lmao

 

Anyone else with this setup?

 

I use the 2' Firestick II with the ditch light bracket on the passenger side of hood. When tuned, it works better than anyone else in my group.
Just because you can "hear" people doesn't mean you are correctly tuned, either. Tuning is more important for sending out a signal, which is where you can burn up a transformer in the CB if not properly tuned. It is VERY possible to hear everyone in a group, but they cannot hear you when it is not tuned with proper SWR.

 

How did u guys ground ur firestik with the relentless fab mount... I'm finding the bolt is exposed when it goes through the mount because the mount is quite thick...and I'm getting conductivity between bolt and grounded mount... very confused ha. First cb setup so probably just making a dumb mistake but wondering if u guys insulated the bolt somehow beyond those little washers. Thanks!

 

I didn't do anything except install the relentless mount with the factory hood bolts. To be honest I didnt use a voltmeter to check the ground but my antenna diagnostic on my radio passed. I am also able to get a SWR close to 1.1 in the middle channels which I am happy with.

When you say the bolt do you mean the factory hood bolts or the bolt for your antenna stud? Are you using a Firering coax? If so, make sure the it is installed per the images posted earlier in this thread. Make sure any paint or powdercoat on the mount is scraped off where the firering makes contact with the mount and also where the mount makes contact with the hood. I did not remove enough paint from the mount the first time and had a failed antenna diagnostic. Removed more paint and was good to go!

 

for posting the diagram!

 

Just figured out my issue... for some reason the radio is grounding my coax out... not sure if this is supposed to happen. I checked with the ohmmeter and I'm getting continuity from the outside barrel of the adaptor on the back of the radio and the inside part where the coax goes in. So when i plug my coax in, it grounds out (if my explanation makes sense ha). I opened the radio up and looks pretty simple to replace but we shall see. For the relentless fab hood mount I just found I had to drill the hole a bit bigger to clear the bolt and make sure none of that was touching when mounting the firering.

EDIT-
This is quite the learning process... well I think I got everything hooked up right , still can't get an swr below 2.5-3. The best I can do is 3 on 1 and 40. Anyone else having this issue with the firestik?

 

How much bigger did you make the hole? There is a thin metal ring on the firering that has to contact the mount!

I used the firestik bolt that came with the firering and it fit perfect. No need to drill the mount. The plastic washer with the firering has a lip that should fit snug in the mount hole with no modification.

 

On the mount I got, the hole wasn't exactly fitting the plastic washer lip, and the bolt was almost touching the sides of the hole, which i expected since its a hood light mount and not made for CBs, so I just drilled it out to 1/2"? I think and it fit perfect now. I drilled it just large enough to clear the firering lip so it still contacts the metal on the firering coax. I think I could have made it work without but it was binding the plastic washer and the lip wasn't seated.

What antenna did u use tgriff? I found putting a spring on my 2' firestick made swr readings go down a bit but think i may need to step it up and go 3'. Thanks!

 

Oh my bad I just assumed you had the relentless mount haha

I have a 3' firestik firefly. I like the sleeker look compared to the regular firestik. I also have a spring so the total height is close to 3.5' and it is well above the roof

 

I actually do have the relentless mount I just think the hole on mine was a bit smaller than what I've seen other people have. It also was somewhat tapered if that makes sense, I'll have to take a pic when i swap antennas cuz I'm going with A 3 foot like urs or a 4 foot with a quick release.

This is the setup as of now, trying out the spring right on the mounting hardware so I can clear the garage but subject to change. Relentless mount is a beast of a mount ha.

 

Has anyone got pics of where your cb is mounted inside? Thanks

 

There's hundreds of threads on that full of pics. Go to google and type cb mounted Tacoma and it'll link you all over. Mine is on the passenger side of the console