mkgarrison5

sweet... one question. my face plate moves down in order to load a CD, by looking at yours does it do the same? some pop down but mine is motorized- comes off the cd player- then lowers itself. its an Eclipse Cd player (best brand ever made imo)..

about your installation. where did you run the antenea wire in your taco? and does the antena come with it? never bought one before thats why i ask.

also do you have a SWR meter? if so how did you hook that up? sorry for all the questions but if i do this i want to do it right. CB's will burn up if they arent tuned correctly. thanks!

pmbazus

My faceplate is motorized. There is a rubber plug on the bottom of the back of the cab. I ran the antenna cable thru there. You have to buy the antenna. I do have A SWR meter and I use about a 1 foot jumper cable that I hook up to the back of the CB. I hook the SWR meter to it. After I calibrate the CB I hook up the antenna the the 1 foot jumper with a connector.

mkgarrison5

what year is your taco? i have the extra cab 2002. where did you get the jumper cable? also do you get motor noise and other unesassary noises? i am really interested thats why i am asking so many questions.

i hear those wilson 500 antennas are great compact antennas.

dirtoyboy

looks like that antenna is gonna waller a hole in your bumper when it starts moving around...just an observation

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Very nice job but back in the 70's when CB's were in their hey day, I used to run a Shakespeare Big Stick (6 ft fiberglas whip) and the 6 ft stainless steel whip on my 70 Bronco. There were mounts made that attached directly to the side near the rear, or as in my case I mounted it directly to the rear bumper. The mount was attached to the bumper then a stainless steel antenna spring was attached then the antenna screwed directly into the whip spring. In the course of 4 wheelin you do encounter brush and some trees so having the whip spring allowed for the antenna to flex without damage.

I also did the "tennis ball" mounted on the antenna at the exact spot the antenna would contact the vehicle to protect paint. Hard mounting is the way to go but if you don't have some sort of spring between the mount and the antenna, you may snap it off. I also remember guys running twin whips with a parallel attachment harness. It helped in focusing the transmit beam in the direction the vehicle was facing. If memory serves me correctly where you place the antenna makes a difference on how the beam direction is focused. Putting the antenna in the rear allows for the metal of the vehicle to help in focusing the beam in a forward direction, while placing in the front cuts down on forward amplification as the metal portion of the vehicle is aft of the antenna. I may be off on that but seems the off road club I belonged to then we did some experimentation with SWR meters and reception meters to detect the optimum broadcast beams based on antenna location, along with using different equipment. Something to consider when you do an antenna install, just my opinion.

I'm looking at installing my old mobile CB back in my 4Runner so very nice idea for the location. As for radios, I used an SBE Trindad BASE station in my Bronco! Yep, a BASE station! It had a emergency 12vdc connection in the rear of the chassis next to the AC power cord! No one really had or used ac converters then. Had it temp mounted between the two front seats so I had to do was key the mic! Used to go to Palomar Mountain in California and shoot skip! Farthest I talked on straight 5 watts was about 1000 miles! Awww the memories ....

mkgarrison5

Ritzy, i have a tacoma with a toolbox and i was thinking of mounting the compact antenna there in the center of it. or would i be better off putting it on top of my cab?? personally i like the toolbox idea but i will use what is the better of the two.. the antenna in mind is a wilson 500

mkgarrison5

dirtoyboy, it does look like that doesnt it.. i would use a SS washer to help that out.

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Personally, I would mount it in the center of the tool box (actually center but along front edge of the box) vice the roof. Less likely to be in the way and on the tool box doesn't take away from the ascetics (the look) of the truck. Being towards the center of the vehicle like that will help in being more omni-directional as well. Seen that set up most often on pickups. Only time I have seen the whip on the bumper is if there was a cap on the truck. I have seen a mount that bolts to the front of the box just behind the rear window so if you take the tool box off for what ever reason you still have the antenna mounted to the truck and it will still look and respond the same way. Just adds a bit more versitility

mkgarrison5

good deal, thanks ritzy

crolison

i would suggest a spring to give it some lead way when you offroad.

mkgarrison5

man! i think that my cd face will hit the mic wire that goes into the front of that cobra cb.. argh

Whitey13

Do you guys ever talk to truckers with your CB's. I'm sure they give each other a "heads up", i wonder about the rest of us.

choover567

i do sometimes when im driving through states, its kinda fun actually. hahaha i never actually ever calibrated my CB's or anything ever... i just plugged them in to the antenna i mounted and wired them. is that bad? seemed to work fine.

Mason Dixon

Why not tie into the antenna built into your truck in the rear passenger side window? I would think that would be just as effective as an outer mounted stick.