Felipe4x4 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Im thinking of installing a CB radio but have no clue on what brand, where would be the best place to install and where do i put the antenna? Can someone give me some pointers please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Some people use the real small cb's and get them to fit either above or below the stock radio, others put them in the center console. What type you get depends on what you want to do with it, ex. close communication within a group when 4 wheeling, talking or getting highway status updates on the highway, talking skip or using it on SSB for the upper or lower channels. Antenna placement also depends on use, best location for the antenna for all around good reception would be on the roof in the center of the truck. Most people will mount the antenna off the rear bumper or tire carrier. Where ever the antenna is installed the reception is best the opposite way, for ex. antenna on pass rear best reception would be forward and towards the drivers side, the reception pattern wouldn't really matter if you just were using it for close contact as in when 4 wheeling in a group. As for brands, Cobra is still decent, Midland, there are a lot of "off brands" you may not have heard of, Ranger, Galaxy, RCi, it really depends on what you want to do with the CB, than I, and others could recommend a particular radio. I personally prefer full featured export or ham radios that are converted for CB band use, I like trying to talk to people out of state or country when the "skip" cooperates, For antennas again that depends on mounting location and use, 4 wheeling in the woods you probably wouldn't want, or need, a 102" SS whip mounted to your back bumper, I usually run a Wilson 1000 perm mount in the center of the roof, they also come in a magnet mount and either version the whip/coil can be easily removed. In the woods I used to swap over to a small 2-3' fiberglass whip, good enough to hear my buddies and small enough where it's not banging into every tree branch. I'm sure others will post their opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Like he said, depending on usage... honestly, it doesn't really matter how much money you put in to the radio. the important part is your cb antenna, and cable choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 that's true forgot that, you can have the best CB in the world and if the antenna is crap your system is crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Like he said, depending on usage... honestly, it doesn't really matter how much money you put in to the radio. the important part is your cb antenna, and cable choice. So if you have a $150 budget, place $100 on the antenna and cable and $50 on the radio? I've used that logic with speakers and stereo's in the past. I too will be investing in a CB this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmoore4512 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Believe it or not, in this aspect the guys are right... Antenna's are everything. For years I ran a RadioShack CB (19.99) with a Truckers Light House fiberglass special (49.95) mounted on the rear bumper of my jeep... It worked great. The parts were off brand, but in most cases the CB radio's themselves all transmit with the same power (unless modified of course...) I have a 102 inch whip that I had used for a 2 meter radio, but thought about utilizing it for a CB setup... Its flexible enough that I could bend it over and strap it down to the X rack when I dont need the massive range... haha... Sorry, I am rambling a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 really need to wait and see what the OP wants to use the CB for, we could go on and on about antennas and cb's. What is good for one may not be good for the OP. Once we hear back suggestions can be made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 All CB radios are federally regulated to put out the SAME amount of power. but depending on your antenna, depends on how much of your CB's power is utilized. My recommendation is to get a tunable firestik. I wanted to get a 5' but had to opt for the 4' due to availability, and I wanted it now and didn't want to wait for shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 all Cb's are regulated but exports are readily available that put out more than legal limits. Depending on as I said what he wants to do with one. If you choose a fiberglass whip whether it be a Firestik or a Wilson or any other brand ,make sure where ever it is installed that at least 2/3 of the length is above the vehicle for optimum performance, So if the antenna is installed on your rear bumper and the distance from the top of the bumper to the roof is, for ex. 3 feet than you would not want to use a 4' antenna where only 1 foot is above the roof, in this example a 7' antenna would be good, 3' from bumper to roof, 4' above roof, 2/3 of 7' is 4.6666. I don't want to copy from another site so I recommend reading this page especially the very bottom under "basic rules"http://bighairantennas.com/CBAntennas.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Why is this thread in the "New People Start Here" section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felipe4x4 Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Ha Ha...I got confused and put it in the wrong place...but I am new to site and to 4bying....now as far as what I want thats part of my question...im not really out in the boonies a lot but if i invest in a CB I want it to work when I need it...I had found one at the swap meet for 10 bucks but I didn't want to get it because I didn't know what I would need...I didn't want to make holes in the roof so I think I like the bumper install of the antenna and it makes sense that if I have a crappy antenna the system would be crap as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert89 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 CBs like everything else can cost however much you want them too. I use mine to talk back and forth to other guys I'm out with. This super cheap one works for me. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XSEATG/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i01 What ever antenna you decide to go with if it is a decent model it needs to be "tuned" using a SWR meter to get the best recepion and transmitting distance. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 If you don't want to install an antenna on the roof than I would recommend mounting it to the tire carrier (if you have one), using a mount like this: and I would suggest a fiberglass antenna from the same company, Wilson makes good stuff, these antennas are adjustable to tune the SWR using an allen wrench and moving the metal tip in or out under the top cover on the antenna, link to the antennas below, the lower antennas are flex series but only come up to 4' long, I would use the top series in a 4" or 5', pic below: link: http://www.wilsonantenna.com/fiberglass.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Why is this thread in the "New People Start Here" section? Good question, I'll move it to the General Forums section Ha Ha...I got confused and put it in the wrong place...but I am new to site and to 4bying.... No problem, it's a simple move Please post up a new intro thread in the New Membes section and don't forget to include some pics of your truck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 If you buy at a swapmeet make sure it's 40 channel, there are still a few 23s floating around. I'm running a 40 channel Cobra with bluetooth and a 4 foot firestick mounted on the spare tire mount, and an almost flat match between 1 and 40. The bluetooth makes it nice here in Ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WokeUpDead Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I saw CB antennas with mounts like this: http://www.gemoto.com/images/antenna_mount.jpg, but inside the engine compartment. The mount is thin enough to fit into the gap between the hood and fender. The advantage of this location is that you don't have to run the wire very far, just through one of the holes in the firewall then along the firewall and fender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmoore4512 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Something that I have ran into in the past with fender mounts similar to that one is the massive amount of interference that I was picking up from under-hood electronics. Now a Pathfinder may be substantially different in this regard, but on my XJ it made the CB useless until I move the antenna to the rear of the vic. Yes we SWR'd it, and did what we could to shield it. It just would not work on that vic in that location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 The antenna on that mount does not look like a CB antenna, it looks more like a 2 way radio antenna. That mount does not appear to be heavy enough to take a fiberglass whip CB antenna. I would still suggest to stay with either a roof mount or a mount that goes on the spare tire carrier. Wilson and K40 both make very good magnet mount antennas for people that don't want to drill a hole in their roof, I prefer the perm mount over the magnet as it eliminates any wire being on the outside of the vehicle, less chance for a-- holes to come along and cut the coax. We have seen in another thread here how some a--holes put salt in one of our members gas tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 This is a little hard to describe. I use a fender mount, that is screwed into the roof in between the hatch and the roof. It's centered on the hatch and with a 3ft fire stick we get great reception. Looks kind of like an RC car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felipe4x4 Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 this is all great info. i am going to consider all these options. thanks guys.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brix542 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 ok so i been thinking. I have a 3ft firestick that ive got mounted on the back cross bar on the roof rack. But our fm anttena is in the windshield and the antenna in the fender is for am and i only listen to fm. So would it be possible to take the anttena out of the fender and install the firestick there? Would it mess up my radio signal at all and would it work well for a cb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I saw CB antennas with mounts like this: http://www.gemoto.co...tenna_mount.jpg, but inside the engine compartment. The mount is thin enough to fit into the gap between the hood and fender. The advantage of this location is that you don't have to run the wire very far, just through one of the holes in the firewall then along the firewall and fender. I've run a fender mount since I installed my CB several years ago, no real problems with it. But because it is a tight fit, I cut a slot in it in order to better feed the wire through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Where did you ever hear the fender antenna is for AM only? That is not correct. Some OEM Nissan radios had a similar system to what some Sony radios have, Sony calls it "diversity tuning" which basically means using two antennas combined to get one signal. "You can think of it like there being two tuners in the factory radio and two antennas in the car. With diversity tuning, the radio is constantly looking at both antennas and it uses the one that is the strongest." As I said some Nissan's used this type of system that is why there is an antenna in the glass as well as on the body. Most of the time when someone installs an aftermarket radio they will only use one of the antenna, usually the fender mounted antenna, but the fender antenna is for FM. You could only use the glass mounted antenna, remove the fender mounted antenna and install a CB antenna in it's place, I don't see that having any bad effects on the radio reception at all, other than you would be using the glass installed antenna instead of the vertical fender antenna for your FM reception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Here is a thread you might want to check out...... http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/20030-newbie-cb-radios/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brix542 Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 interesting. i swear when i got my first pathy 2 years ago i read a post around here that said the fender anttena was just am. maybe im imagining things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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