where to mount antenna on S-10

You do not want it directly behind the cab. The best possible place is the center rear of the roof. You want more then 2/3s of the antenna above the roof line if not all of it. That and you want to have it centered as much as possible.

 

The center of the roof is best. You'll have a better ground plane. It also gives you the height.

 

If you like the idea of mounting on the top of the bed rail and not drilling a hole in the roof..."This is your Best-Bet!"

Install the antenna on a "Riser" behind the cab, getting most of the antenna above the roof line. You will get the same results as if it "WAS" mounted on the roof!


This one, the guy used a Celling Fan "drop-pole" from Home Depot, and a Mirror Mount...

 

If your antenna is long enough, you can mount it on the bulk head of the bed. However it is not the best spot.

In the below pics, I had a 102 whip mounted on the bed bulkhead. Since most of what obscured the antenna was glass, the SWR's didn't go high. In fact 1.5:1 I think was the worst SWR I saw and anything under 2:1 SWR is ok, 1.5:1 is better.

An idea I am going to try next is I'm going to buy either a roll bar for the bed or a headache rack and then I am going to weld a tab on the top for the antenna to mount to. That way the entire antenna will not be obscured by anything.

Also for what it's worth, with the set up you see below and running a 4 watt radio with no linear, I was able to talk 10 miles on average and one time 14 miles away. That's not during skip either.

 

Oh yeah i accidently posted the wrong pic...the one of the antenna in the bed corner...don't do it like that or you'll only get out good on one side and not so good on the other. Instead mount it dead center.

Here's the proper pic I wanted to post...

 

I drilled a hole behind the seat on the floor pan close to where the spare tire jack is. Then routed the coax up thru and used a grommet to prevent any damage. Make sure you ensure the coax will not come in contact with the driveshaft or the exhaust.

 

Grommets usually seal up pretty tight, as long as you don't bugger them up getting them in. If you have to seal it, DO NOT use silicone on anything you might eventually paint, even a tiny residual amount will wreak havoc on your paint job. Get a tube of automotive seam sealer that's designed to be compatible with paint.