questions about factory CB antenna wiring in Freightliner Century Class and Cascadia

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by corneileous, Nov 28, 2009.

  1. corneileous

    corneileous Road Train Member

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    Nov 19, 2009
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    Just curious how they wire the antenna cables in these trucks. Im currently in an '06 Century and cant figure out if both antenna mounts on the mirrors are both used for the CB. The reason for asking is some CB shop guy I talked to said that some trucks use the right-side antenna as the AM/FM radio antenna and the left side is for the CB. Well, my truck has its own dedicated antenna for the stereo on the driverside where the stacks would be if it had them. I figure in this case that both mirror-antenna mounts are for the CB since I am only using the right side for my CB. Reason being, I was having really bad results with my CB and found out that a possible reason was because the driver-side antenna mount was missing the little nylon washer that goes between the mount and the place on the mirror where it mounts to. I decided to unhook the coax underneath the bottom mirror mount and only use the right side. It seems to work a little better, but its still kinda poor. I thought about getting a sheap SWR meter and some aftermarket cable and antenna mount for better results but since Im getting a new truck, I figured why bother.

    As for the Cascadia I might be getting, Ive noticed that the only antennas Ive seen are the two on the sides of the sleeper. Are these the ones that CB shop guy told me that the driver side is for the CB and the other for the stereo?
     
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  3. outerspacehillbilly

    outerspacehillbilly "Instigator of the Legend"

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    The Freightshakers and Volvo's use a co-phase system that use a junction box for the cb/amf/fm. Both antenna's run both. The coax goes to a distribution box that splits the signal out. Best bet is to run your own piece of coax and get a "pre-tuned antenna" such as a francis or something and mount it yourself on the mirror bracket. You'll get much better results. I assume the cascadia is the same but don't know for sure.
     
  4. corneileous

    corneileous Road Train Member

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    Where else can you put an antenna on a Cascadia since the mirrors dont really have a place to mount them to?
     
  5. Powder Joints

    Powder Joints Subjective Prognosticator

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    On a Columbia the right antenna is used for the cb and the am/fm. There is a tuning box in the lead running to the right mirror for adjust the am/fm. Easy to prove, turn on the am/fm tune in a station, now pull off the right antenna and your stereo will go away. I use the right antenna mount with a 2' francis for the stereo and run my own antenna, mount and coax to the left mirror.

    On the Cascadia there is a rail for supporting the airlines on the rear of the cab, this is where the guys in our company mount antennas. We pull tankers that are not high like a box, but I don't know of a lot of options.
     
  6. Rat

    Rat Road Train Member

    Well to answer your first question. The reason why your setup is not working properly is due to not having an antenna on the right side. It is a cophased setup and you have to have two antennas installed on a cophased setup. See a single setup uses 50 ohm coax while a cophased setup uses two 75 ohm coax leads. Using a single antenna and just unhooking one of the coax cables on a cophased setups will mess with the swr and mess with the performance of the radio.


    Now alot of newer trucks use what they call a multiplexer box. Both antennas serve as Cb antennas along with being AM/FM antennas. You have to have matching antennas on both sides for it to work properly. It does not matter what antenna you use with these multiplexer type systems. The AM/FM radio could careless what you are using for an antenna.

    I don't care for the sleeper mounted setups on some of these trucks. The antenna mounts are so low on the sleeper that very little of the antenna is above the roof line and the antenna is so close to the side of the truck that you get a huge amount of reflect which messes with the SWR and performance of the radio. You can't hardly put a longer antenna on them to get the majority of the antenna above the roof line without fear of taking out low flying aircraft.
     
  7. Dieselforce

    Dieselforce Bobtail Member

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    May 15, 2012
    Grandville, Mi
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    I drive an 07 freightliner Columbia. The driver side cb antenna is snapped off , I have the passenger side stock one still on. I was wondering if I needed to use the same style antenna on the drivers side or if I could repair that one with a 3k watt coil antenna? Any help our advice would be great. Thank you in advance.
     
  8. EZ Money

    EZ Money Road Train Member

    Replace BOTH with the same antenna. The factory antennas are the worst ones you can use....they put the cheap ones on at the factory.
    Go with 2 Francis or tunable tip Wilsons.....They are not that expensive.
    No need for those 3000 watt antennas.......those are the oil filled ones? Not needed and a poor antenna.

    Myself i would run my own coax to one mirror and use a Wilson 2000. Easy to tune and will work way better than the co-phased factory crap.
     
  9. Dieselforce

    Dieselforce Bobtail Member

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    May 15, 2012
    Grandville, Mi
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    Thank you for the advice, what length would you recommend? I have seen 3 and 4 foot ones. I think there are 4ft ones on here now.
     
  10. wjm1129

    wjm1129 Bobtail Member

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    Jun 22, 2012
    Evansville In.
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    The company I work for has Cascadias, both sleeper and daycabs and I slipseat. I mounted my antenna on the air hose hanger bar for awhile, it worked ok but there was signal loss behind the trailer(dry box). I got to thinking there has to be a better way. I made a bracket and bolted 1/2 of a mirror mount with antenna onto it and mounted this onto the passenger door where that worthless mirror is supposed to go. tuned the antenna to 1.2 1.1 and 1.6. gets out and receives better than where it was. I run the coax down the door rubber and through the grommet on the lower right of the firewall. Then it comes up between the dash and door frame to the radio. My antenna is a k40 trucker.
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2013
  11. EZ Money

    EZ Money Road Train Member

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