Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

Gotcha, I agree with you on that.

 

Yep, terrible spot. That was about 5 years, and 4 cb setups ago. It's now centered on the truck, sitting up nice and high.

 

i have mine mounted on the bed rail towards the tailgate using a wired ground... but im new to this tuning thing and i think i might have a bad ground situation on the antenna.

that being said i have no idea if my swr meter is accurate... its got a little cal knob i can move around to make the needle go where i want.

 

Did the SWR meter come with instructions? If not, I bet it works like most others...

http://www.cbradiomagazine.com/Articles/How to use a SWR meter.htm

 

I don't know if anybody has mentioned, but your extra antenna coax cable should not be bunlded together (if you have extra). I wrapped mine around my rack to take up the extra length.

I run a ham radio and can easily reach repeaters 100 miles away.

 

The bed rail on a Tacoma is defintiely not an ideal spot for an antenna. Because of the Poly internal bed, you have hardly any ground plane. Ideally, you should have a flat sheet of metal connected to antenna ground at the antenna base.

See quote below...

Also, Bumper mounting will not only have an effect on range but also what direction your range is better in. If you have it on the rear like some jeeps do, you'll probably notice much better reception behind you than in front of you. The radio signal will be affected not only by the truck's body blocking the signal but also by signals being reflected off the truck's body.

 

Not entirely true. You can bundle it together, but it has to be very tight. Loop it together where, when flat, the bundle is about 4-6" in length, then ziptie it very tightly together. Just not too close to the ends as to pinch and break the coax.

I.E. In my previous truck (F150 ext cab) I had a Cobra 29LTD Classic and Francis 4' hot rod antenna using a 12' coax routed hidden through the cab w/ the antenna mounted behind the cab, on the bed. Excess coax was bundled tightly hidden in the dash. I could easily talk 4+ miles in downtown Atlanta.

 

If you get your ham radio license you will learn you should not bundle extra antenna cable. If you have to, don't bundle it in the shape of a circle or it will act like an inductor. You have to form it into the infinity sign/figure 8 shape.

Like I originally said, your best bet is to not bundle extra wire.

 

You come over from Mud?

 

This is hilarious. You HAVE to do A or else, certain doom! No, you HAVE to do B, or else, certain doom!

WTF? Your best bet is to bundle, followed by your best bet being not to bundle. Good grief!

Has anybody gleaned a single useful nugget from any of this?

 

I learned that my antenna mount location us terrible, but it already knew that

 

Well then, there you go! I hereby retract my smart-assed comments to the contrary.

 

Mounted my shovel via quick fist mounts

 

Noted!

 

It could just be the angle but wont the shovel be hitting the topper if it rotates? If I'm right i would put something there so it wont wear a hole into your top.

 

You think yours is bad? Apparently I'm lucky mine reaches further than the end of my driveway...

 

You may just impale someone with that setup.

 

Anyone yet have experience with ARE's new Overland series shells? I can't decide whether I love it or hate it.

http://www.4are.com/product/overland/

 

^I think they are ugly. If I were to get a cap it would be the snugtop outback.

 

Ugly