I'm curious if I can mount my firestick II on the rails of my yakima rack system and get it to work as well as ...say, mounted on the fender ?
I have extra perches for the yakima rail system and thought it'd be a good/high location to have it.
I think the only issue in doing it that way, is the ground. I plan on using stainless wire loom and stainless wire connectors.

As far as the grounding points, here's what I planned to do.

Grounding antenna to frame...
Grounding the hood to the cab...
Cab to the bed...
Bed to the frame ..and exhaust to the frame.


Whats your thoughts???

 

firestik sells non-ground plane antennas. this would be better suited to your mounting option. check out jacksonpt's website

bob

 

I know Phalanx is running his on the Yak Load Warrior he has and his set up works very well.

May give up some distance overall but I guess it comes down to what you need it to be able to do. I only use mine for trail runs and we are all in a pretty tight group so I don't need much range.

 

just run a huge ground (10 gauge) from the antenna base to the frame. That will do. That should be an ideal location.

 

I appreciate the replies......thanks !!


I decided to go with the standard fender mound.

I'm having a bit of problem with noise from the heater/fan. I was sitting in my truck at lunch today, listening to the cb. There were a lot of other cars driving by. Seemed I was getting feedback from them coming through the radio. I don't understand this.

I have the dang thing grounded real good.....I thought.

How the heck can I resolve all the feedback ??

 

First off, the antenna requires a groundplane, not an electrical ground.
A groundplane is a flat surface of metal on whick the antenna is mounted. This groundplane acts as the second half of the antenna. the bigger the surface area of metal the better, that's why the roof is the best place to mount an antenna (plus the height factor).

If your Yakima rack is grounded to the roof via it's mounting, it's possible that the roof still might act as a groundplane and your antenna might work decently, especially if you can mount the antenna on the rack at a point near the center of the roof.

Or just get a good mag mount antenna like the Wilson or K40 and stick it on the roof.

As far as the rest of your grounding questions, the battery neg terminal is grounded to both the frame and the cab. You can add a ground from bed to frame, hood to cab is OK but hood to frame is better. Don't go from cab to bed. In other words, reference everything to the frame. Screw the exhaust.

 

Thanks for the reply fourwd1

I'll make the grounds go from antenna/hood to frame and see what happens.