I have a magnetic mount antenna for my CB. I was thinking with all the plastic and fiberglass where to mount it. I remembered the vent covers are steel. Has anyone done this?

I put a stick on antenna on my rear glass. I wasn't really supposed to because I have rear defog and it will do something with the SWRs or something. But it works for me. I never use the rear defog anyway.

I don't think the rear vents will work for an antenna mount because they are aluminum. The people that have made an antenna mount there have fabricated a steel plate with a ground wire. This is my understanding anyway. Just putting it on the vent will not work, I know that.

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I have a rear window stick on one from Radio Shack. It looks like a cell phone antenna. I was able to tune it with an SWR meter and it works jusr fine.

We have played with them for years and the mount I liked the best was off my trialer hitch. It seemed to give me the best ground plane. We have mounted them on the back deck / and on the motor grate.

Ecklers Corvette in Titusville has one that mounts where the license plate is. I might try that one on the White Horse for the heck of it.

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Frank

Space Coast Fieros -> Florida Fiero Council

Click here to go to the Daytona 2003 show site http://FloridaFieros.org/daytona2003

About the only time I ever use one is for RFTH. I took a flat metal cover from an electrical box, and zip tied it to my metal decklid grill. Used it to hold a mag mount antenna.
Seemed to work fairly well, although I never checked/set SWR.

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Raydar

88 3.4 coupe. In progress.

Out of my mind. Back in 30 minutes.

The one on my Vette is mounted sort of like yours, Frank. Not really off the trailer hitch but down low under the rear of the car. The matching yellow antenna is not attached in this picture but you can see where it goes. You can actually swing the mount out of site under the car when the antenna is off.

The easiest way to add a CB antenna is to buy an antenna splitter. It makes your stock antenna become the CB antenna as well as the stock radio antenna.

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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged
White 88 GT Stock
Please give me a rating if you appreciate my contribution.

I've got a 2-meter ham antenna mounted on the cover over the battery. There was a hole there when I bought the car, so I just enlarged it. The antenna works well, but I have to fold the it over to open the decklid. My car is an '84 so it's got the solid covers there.

The mag mount won't work here as songman said because it's not steel. I did temporarily put a mag mount on the rear crossbar of my luggage rack, but I wouldn't recommend that for either a big antenna or long-term operation. Running the coax is a little interesting, and the thing is rounded, so you don't have all the magnet making contact.

When I get a post-84 Fiero, I'll be looking seriously at either a through the glass model or another antenna that doesn't require a ground plane. The trailer hitch idea is a good one though too!

I like the thru the glass antennas, but have not had really good luck with them. My 2-meter antenna would not stay in place more than a couple of days until the manufacturer sent me some different sticky pads. It lasted two years before the heat finally got to it. Still, two years is two years.

quote

So how does it connect to the CB? I don't see any coax in that pic.

If the car's radio antennae works for CB, then I'll just unplug it from my am/fm radio and use it in a CB for my trip to Pontiac. Are the connections the same?

The thru the glass unit mounts with an adhesive pad. Inside the glass is another pad that the coax connects to. You can not plug the CB into your car antenna without a splitter designed for that purpose. Connectors are not the same and impedence will be off. I tried finding a splitter a couple of weeks ago, but did not have much luck.

There are two pieces. One inside the car, one outside. Both have sticky stuff on them. You don't have to drill the window or anything. The glass is thin enough that the signal shoots through it. There is a coax on the inside of the car. You can only see about 3 inches of it until it goes under moulding. I got this one at Wal-Mart for about $15. I installed it rather hurriedly and without really following directions back in September for the Run For The Hills. Still there... no problems.

Car radio antenna leads are different. There is a box you can buy that lets you share the regular antenna with the CB. JC Whitney has them and I'm sure others do too. I've always wanted to do that but have heard from a lot of people who have tried it that you don't get a great signal that way.

[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 02-21-2003).]

There is a few problems with using a splitter, the reason is that the current radio antenna isnt properally tuned for the CB frequencies and you will get a high SWR. A high SWR will destroy the circuitry inside your CB. I recommend the Antenna that mounts right on to where you liscense plate goes. You can get them at www.hamstick.com and under the catigory "mounts". If you want something that will look a little smaller then I would go with the "through the glass" antenna. Just remember the bigger the antenna is usually the better.

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'85 SE 4 Speed
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No Cat
Holley Scoup
Holley Throttle Body

all well and good, my prob. were do you mount the C.B. IT SELF.?that its not in the way, or are we talking a trunk mt cb, I like the one in the car best.

roystoy 2m4 84

If you are looking at glass-mount antennas...Go with a Larsen. My 2 meter 1/2 wave has been on 4 vehicles now. In fact, I broke the shell on the antenna side the last time I took it off.
I believe Larsen makes 27 mhz models.(CB)

Larry and AndyLPhoto...What are your calls??
Mine is K9ZZZ

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'85 SE - '86 Fastback SE - '99 Chevy K-1500 Z-71 - '00 HD 1200XL Sportster

Cabelas sells a 2 meter antenna for fiberglass boats that might work also

Pay 100$ - 250$ and get a Cobra CB HandHeld.
I dont like antennas to much. I got an handheld scanner *to see where cops are *. I will be purschaseing the Cobra CB soon.

Soaper

For 250 bucks, you can get a radio that you can talk all over the world with.
The cobras nowdays are junk. The older ones are good though.
Make sure you invest in an swr meter. If the radio has one it is probably inferior.
To get truly good reception, I would shy away from the cell looking antennas.
11 meter radios {cb's} were never meant to use a stubby antenna.

Cdx 864 Northern Ca.
27.474 LSB

Kyote,

My call is N5IMY. I have been doing a bit of Ham radio since 1975. My code is way rusty, but have been playing a bit with PSK.

BTW, reference handhelds...I own a few, but they can't hold a candle to a decent antenna. However, since my thru-the-glass mounts can't stand up to the Fiero engine heat hitting the back glass, and the hot Arkansas summers--guess i'll be using them.

73

Yes , I agree I have a hand held cobra C.B.
i ALSO live in a falt state( WI).I have tryed a few diff. types of ANT.on it .
and I come to the Fact that its JUNK. If I shout out the window.I have a better chance of some one hearing me.
Going to a reg. cb with ant. but were to but the radio.?
roystoy 84 2m4

This is my installation, along with a Radio Shack thru the glass antenna it works fine for traveling the highways.

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SC3800

On the Run For The Hills and the trek across the country, I had a small radio that I just laid up in the pocket on the passenger side of the dash. Now I have a bigger radio and haven't mounted it yet. I'll probably do something like Phil did for my 88. There really aren't a lot of options. I had thought about getting one of those that is just a box under the seat with all the controls on the handset but I have heard that they basically suck too. And I have always heard that handhelds are worthless. I've talked to a few truck drivers that said not to waste my money.

When I redo the 85GT I'm going to try to incorporate the CB into the custom dash somehow.

http://pub86.ezboard.com/bworldwidecbradioclub

best forum on the net bar none.
From beginning cb'ers to advanced hams. requires joining ezboard, no charge..
http://www.bills2way.com
Bill is my tech, honest man and excellent service

Only HICKS use cb radios!!!

... my thanks for positive ratings is in advance.

Roy, if you've got a smaller unit and don't mind drilling a couple holes in a visible area, it can be mounted on the right side of the instrument pod. I've got my 2 Meter rig there. I'd post a picture, but my car is in Wisconsin right now, and the radio is in my Escort. It's about the same size as Phil's, but my mic cord is on the right, so it hangs down. It may or may not work right for your radio. You do have to kind of reach under it to get to the heater controls though.

Phil's installation looks good. I decided that location wouldn't work for me, because I like convenient access to the front of the radio, and that's kind of a far reach. Also, my mic cord is on the right side of the unit, and it's harder to see the LCD display over there.

kyote, my call is KB8PPE. Licensed in 1993, no code tech. Currently only have 2 meters, but am waiting on a dual band (440) rig I just won on ebay. I'm currently practicing code and thinking of upgrading this summer.

I haven't used a CB handheld, but generally speaking, what Larry said. Having a good outside antenna can't be beat.

trailboss...thanks for the ezboard link. I'll have to check it out.

And Azarael, what can I say. What a great contribution to the thread.

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1984 Sport Coupe

Only HICKS use cb radios!!! ?

Call me a hick then...
I have been trucking for over 20 years and the cb radio has saved me from some bad situations many times.
Grant you, there are a lot of agitators and rabblerousers out there, but when me and my friends convov, we go above the cb bands anyway. The export radio's that are out there are pretty nice.
I have a President Lincoln with a chipswitch,
with that mod you can go from 24.800 to 29.999 MHZ.
The orange LCD is going to look pretty good with the instrumentation on a Fiero.
BTW, Bill at Bills 2way is the patent holder/ distributor of the chipswitch.
The cheapest place that I found the radio so far is http://www.bander.com in Finland.
Bill did the chipswitch mod. I have made contacts all over the world with that radio.
It is the latest version of the Hr 2510

Yea Id hook up my CB or ham (the call here is KC8RFC) but I presonally dont like the look of antennas comming off of my sports car, now the van is a differen story.

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'85 SE 4 Speed
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No Cat
Holley Scoup
Holley Throttle Body

I kinda think my little window antenna looks kinda cool. It doesn't mess with the lines of the car, but it does add something..

Yeah for sure on the big antenna.
I will probably go with the lic. plate mount and only use it when needed.
A buddy of mine recommended that mount also but said that he replaced the fitttings with stainless steel. the orig. ones corroded.

CB radio in your cars?

This looks like a cool hobby to get into. As was mentioned before, it is also useful for runs with a group.

I think I am going to look into this a little more.

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#7277 of 46581 built in 1987.

My thoughts are on you Sean and Chris! Come back safe!