is there any guys out there that have a CB in there fieros? i have a CB in my winter car and i miss it greatly as i have many truck driving friends. i was looking at it today and i can run the coax cable from in the car through a small corigated pipe thats behind the consol so there would be no wires showing. now for the question? i tried to put the whip on one of the grills and the magnet will not stick. what the heck are these grills made of? i have seen fieros with a CB whip on the grills how would they have done that?
any suggestions greatly appriciated
thanx

Doughboy,
The grills are made of pot metal, I believe.
Go to Home Depot or wherever... Go to the electrical department. Find the flat galvanized cover that is used on the electrical conduit junction boxes. If you can, find one that has holes in the corners, instead of just slots. Buy some thin 6 inch cable ties. Cable tie the galvanized cover to your vent grill.
Instant base for mag mount!
Not real pretty, but it works.
Not sure how good of a ground plane you'll get for the signal, but it's a start. If you have a VSWR meter, check your installation for minimum of reflected power.

mount the whip right next to your air horns.

sorry man, i just COULD NOT resist!!!!!

80sBOY i dont know why it dosnt surprise me that someone had a smart ass remark thanx for wasting my presious space here.
RAYDAR hey thats a great idea thanx ill do that tomorrow do you have one in your fiero?
ill just use my lilwill whip till i can get the shorter style and with it not showing i can just take it off the grill and slide it into the trunk if i am at a car show or something. i thank you again and any more info on cb radios would be greatly appriciated

I thought the grills were Made of magnesium??
I've also seen whips on the grills, I'm not into CB's, was when I was a kid Raido Shack has a C-clamp type base/mount that a
whip will screw onto, I'm sure they will have something that will work.

Whoa! can't anyone take a joke anymore??

DAD ya i know what your saying but like i said i have like 15 friends that i pass everyday on the highway and now i cant chat with the id like to try and keep it as inconspicuious as possible so im going to try that magnetic mount idea that way i can take it off and on in like seconds ill even hide the cb so it just looks like the antenna is for a cel phone all i need is the mic as i only use 19 thanx again

uhhhhhhhh....10-4 breaker 1-9....we gone....watch out for the smokies and catch ya on the o'l flip flop....

doughboy, That would be cool, do they make a
CB antenna that looks like a cell phone antenna? If the ground is not good enough
you may try the clamp type, the base would
take some time to remove, but just unscrew
the whip?? Just a thought??? I would check
with Radio Shack and see what they have.

When my brother and I go on road trips we use
the heck out of our cell phones, would be nice to have a CB just for that!!

Breaker, Breaker 17 we callin ya, callin ya doughboy, come on I remember the days

why not get one of those hand held ones? looks like a cell phone? no wiring and plugs into lighter? just a thought.

Doughboy,
If this is a semi-permanent installation, here's another idea. I think Radio Shack has a glass-mounted CB antenna. Works, and looks, similar to a cellphone antenna. ...at least I think they sell one.
No, I don't have a CB in my car, at present. Was gonna cobble one together for a trip, and realized that none of the other folks were going to have one, so I forgot about it.
One of the guys in our club has an antenna mounted the way I described. Seems to work okay.

Catch you on the flip-flop.
Keep it between the ditches. Keep the shiny side up, and the rubber side down.
I'm gone.

(Jeez. haven't said that in a while.)

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 06-04-2000).]

Here are some thoughts. 1st, those hand held ones are almost worthless unless your crawling up someones bumper. As for the antenna...it all depends how much cash you want to lose. They make and adapter so that you can use a regular FM ant for CB. Not the greatest, but much better than nothing. What about 2 power ant in the back. One for the CB and the other for the stereo? Or try a K40. They're fairly decent antennas and you can get them with a permanent base and a removable whip. That's what my wife had before someone decided they needed it worse than her. Last, here's a pic of one that might help. I have no idea who it belongs to.

hey guys i must say i really appriciate the come back on the CB topic
sdm1964 what monkey said is true i had a cobra top of the line hand held wife bought it for me for that reason for the fiero so no antenna was required and i couldnt even get accross the highway before my buddy had passed by.
dad ill try the piece of metal first and if all else fails ill try the clamp type and keep my "lilwill" for my winter car.i know they sell smaller antennas that work really well as i bought one for my VW GTI last winter because going in undergroud parking was not fun
TO ALL THAT LIKE TO DIS THE CB --- its a cheap radar detector its legal and finds the cops miles and miles before you get there not to mention passes the time buy very fast
ahhhhhhhhh 42 thats a 10 4 big guy im getting off here i have to go to the chicken coop watch out for that meat wagon
man do i like those lot lizards check out that seat cover hehehe thanx guys

I have a cb mounted in mine. If you want it to look right and perform right. You need to get a groundless antenna, you can get them from copper , their web site is http://www.copper,com these are the kind that are used on boats and motorcycles.
I mounted mine by using 2 disks about 4 in across and drilled a hole in the middle and then (gasp!!!) drilling a hole in the rear decklid. these antenna have the coax hookup about 3in above the mount.
My SWR's are 1.1 to 1 and it works great. no close ups but you can get the idea from the pic below...If you've got good eyesight....hehehe

[This message has been edited by kong (edited 06-04-2000).]

KONG so are you suggesting that with the car not being metal and just mounting it using the piece of metal on the grill that the radio will not work at all or just not very far away? i presantly get a good 3 kms or 2 miles i dont know weather that is good or not but my whip is only 4 feet as well.
thanx for your input and nice ride where did you mount your cb? on the passengers side console? also that web page dosnt work

Hello doughboy I hope you're still looking in here. An antenna needs the metal in a regular car body to ground the antenna and to reflect the signal. I tried 3 different antennas on mine and I only got out about 2miles. when i mounted the groundless one, also 4 ft, I get about 10-15 miles now depending on conditions. Trust me you will like the difference.
sorry forgot to tell you where I mounted it. I used a sheet of tin and made a bracket for it and mounted it with the face up against the console on the pass. side. it's a solid mount and the controls on the radio are easy to get to.

[This message has been edited by kong (edited 06-04-2000).]

KONG hey wow what a difference eh but i guess till i get some cashola i can handle the 2 miles
where did you mount the cb and mic? and did you feed the coax cable through a small tube in the firewall?
hey if you have icq here is my # message me and thanx
76154531

Doughboy, I sent you an e-mail with the details If I had a digital camera I would send you pics to help you out . Good luck!

2 miles sucks. If you can't get out at least 5 miles, you're doing something wrong. Alot of it has to do with the radio, too. If your SWR (standing wave ratio) isn't below about 1.8:1 you won't get out very far. I still have the radio setup that I used in my last truck. (For those that don't know, I drove a truck for about 12 years until last Oct.) My big setup consists of: Galaxy 99 (peaked and tuned--somewhere around 350 watts on high power running barefoot) with a 1000 watt variable power kicker. I used to pull flats, so I had a pair of 102" whips mounted to my headache rack. Lots of things will affect your distance (including sunspot activity, rain, etc) but I was getting out around 12-18 miles on a regular basis. Of course, it depended on the traffic, too. Channel 19 is not where you'll get the best distance unless you can seriously overpower everyone else. (I could, most can't. Then again, most other drivers didn't have $2500 wrapped up in their rig.) If you have either a side band radio or one with extra channels (ham), you can get out clear across the country. WARNING!! If you use the ham bands, don't advertise where you are. It gets expensive.

88s to you and yours. Gotta fly. Catch you on the flip.

Doughboy, If you have a legal radio ( not like me and another forum member... Right monkeyman???) you can get around 5 miles , give or take, on ch19. I run on ch 13, that's the local ch.
My rig is a Uniden grant peaked and tweaked xtra channels with upper and lower sidebands, and deadkeys at 16 watts and swings to 40 watts barefoot. Mokey said he ran 2 whips, so he probably had them co-phased which make them more directional. most truckers with twin antennas do this so they can reach farther ahead and behind than to the sides
With 1 antenna you should be more omni-directional, maybe less behind you. on alegal radio (4-5 watts) you should be able to send at least 7-8 miles on an off ch. Monkeyman you is so crazy! $2500 in a mobile rig.....PHEW shoulda put that in another Fiero!

hey guys once again thanx a million im learning a lot.
but there is no tewwking and peeking on my unit in canada thats the only illegal thing i believe. which is fine with me as im not really needing the 10-20 mile range though that would be cool
i usually run channel 19 only because thats where ill here where the cops are easiest but when i see a buddy i change to their company channel to gab for a bit.
untill you have a cb and get to hear the talk and chat with people you will never appriciate a cb.
MONKEY i am your great admierrer as id trade my job in 2 sec to drive truck HOOOONK HOOOOOONK if it wasnt for the wife and my 2 boys and a 58000 a year job that a rarely put in 39 hours hehehe
guess i cant justify it yet

I beleive it was Monkeyman that metioned the FM adaptor. I used one of those in a Horzion and it worked pretty well.

doughboySE--I quit trucking last October. 12 years of it was more than enough. You're not missing anything, trust me. The 1st year or two are better than the rest because you get to see things/places that most never do. After that, it's all the same. Let's put it this way. I used to marvel at the beauty of the Grand Canyon. Now it's just a big ditch. (Actually, I haven't seen it in almost a year. I think I could appreciate it more now.)

MONKEY i have a major question
the cb is in everything went smooth i wont be able to tell how far i get out till tomorrow on my way to work.
the problem i have is when i talk in the mic i can now hear my voice and i think its comming from my front speekers? is that possible? i dont mind hearing my voice cause now i can hear what i sound like on the cb but im getting a bit of a squeel as well why is this? never had it before is it the ground? antenna to close?could it be the coax resting against the wires comming off the battery too the amp thats interfering? HELP ME MONKEYMAN

It's me again Doughboy, Yeah the signal can come though the speakers, It could also be feedback . the mic picks up your voice from the speakers makes a loop.Did you have the swr reading checked? about the highest you get away with and still have some kind of performance is about 1.4 to 1. about the squealing, Do you have a power mic, if you do you'll have to turn it down, and the mic gain on the radio too.
You have to run a balance beween the two or you'll have overmodulation hence the squealing. If you have a cobra radio the dynamike serves as the mic gain. If you still have a regular antenna, no ground can cause it too.
Get some one you know with a cb to listen to you and adjust your power output with the mic and the mic gain till you get the best sound. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by kong (edited 06-07-2000).]

KONG BUDDY hey thanx for all the info i have not mounted it yet ran out of time
i just have a reg mic its a radio shack cb cost 200 so its fairly good i guess.
ill fiddle with the mic gain in the morning i think its up all the way right now.
i still have my lilwil antenna so that could be half the battle to hey you have a base cb for home?> they worth the money? i want one bad

Doughboy,
You didn't say which side you have the antenna mounted on. If it's directly behind you, try moving it to the right side of the car. I would also second what Kong said about the SWR reading. Try to get it below 1.4 - 1.5 to 1. I also have a Radio Shack CB (TRC-448) that I used to have hooked up to a base antenna and a power supply. When the antenna went "south", the radio started transmitting a squeal.
Just for grins, turn off your stereo. If the amp is wired "hot", pull the fuse. Your signal could be getting into the front end of the amp.
(We used to have a base station that would *blast* through our neighbor's stereo -even when the volume was turned all the way down. They were *most* unhappy.)

As for the base station question... Most of the base stations these days actually have the same guts as a mobile CB, just in a nice cabinet with a built in power supply, and a few extra bells and whistles. If you're going to go buy one, I would recommend a Uniden. They can be tweeked to hell and back, and they have survived the test of time. Get a good microphone and antenna. A few folks use converted amateur radio transceivers, even though it's illegal. They talk really well, but you don't wanna get caught.

Yeah Doughboy I have a Robyn SB520D base with extra channels, am-usb-lsb. I can go from 26.085 mz to 28.005 mz that's plenty of channels for me. Uniden is a good choice for a base reasonably inexpensive, and good performance.
My Robyn has the same uniden board that the washington base does, It'll swing to 45 watts bare foot, and with the little toy next to it it'll do about 500 watts. If I don't watch it I go through stereos and my neighbors cordless phones.
But I can talk skip all over. Go with the groundless antenna and mount it in the middle of the deck lid looks better than off to the side. once you get the power output right it'll work good for you. The groudless antenna will cost you about $40 U.S. but it's well worth it.
Raydar's right it's illegal but the FCC usually doesn't mess with you unless somebody turns you in. And if they take mine, they'll have to take about 30 others around here.
I've heard a lot of Canadian radios putting out a lot more power than stock. Go ahead and get a base when you can and enjoy the hobby, you'll be surprised how many people you'll be able to talk to.

[This message has been edited by kong (edited 06-08-2000).]

The best base station is the Cobra 2000 GTL I have one. I was lucky that I got one before they switched to the 2010. I love it. I have the extra channels and it is tweaked and peaked

hey guys wow i cant believe that i have tuched another hobby us fiero guys like just an update the cb is working ok the squeel was the gain and its gone now and the echo is gone to the only thing i need now is an external speeker by my ear cause the wind plays havic with me hearing the boys talk
i put the antenna on the battery side grill and its mounted nice and snug actually a trucker gave me a shout today asking what my antenna was he liked it and said it sounded great not to get rid of it he thought it was a K40 but its a WILSON LITTLE WIL
anyone know of that antenna?
i have not yet had a reading done never have ((( BAD BOY
anyone know of a site where i can check out a cb home base? and what they cost and areal as well? WHAT IS BAREFOOT? guys should we change to totally O/T before we get in trouble?

I have a CB mounted on inside rear firewall behind drivers seat, mike with volume and channel just setting on edge of seat by seatbelt . I used the thru-the-glass type antenna from Radio Shack, just had to bundle up all the cable with tie wrap. Works fine to keep track of all the speedcops.

Barefoot means no linear amplifier. Just thepower coming from the radio itself. Now LAST WARNING!!!!!! Get the swr's set! If they're too high, And I will guarantee they are, You'll burn the finals out of your cb.

What he said. Been there, done that. I just picked up on of the glass mounted (looks sorta like a cell phone) antennas this weekend. It works surprisingly well. I had my backup radio (Cobra 148 Nighthawk) and I could still get out about 6 miles. Not bad for a $20 ant. Wish I could have gotten the parts to line up. I seem to be off by about a half inch. Oh, well. Time to buy a new razor blade.