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Antenna Project

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by mike5511, Mar 24, 2018.

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  1. Mar 24, 2018 #1
    mike5511

    mike5511 Road Train Member

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    Fixing up an old 2001 S10 Blazer for a back road/hunting vehicle. I'm trying to decide on an antenna placement. This thing has a luggage rack, which I'm keeping so I can haul a canoe. How bad does the luggage rack interfere on the GM SUV vehicles? Anybody got any experience with that? I'm thinking of mounting one my Wilson 1000s on the front part of the cab, in front of the luggage rack, for everyday use, and putting a puck dead center of the vehicle so I can use a variety of antennas when I want to drive up on the mountain and park, and play "big radio".

    Edit: The "variety of antennas" I mentioned above will NOT include any enclosed coil antennas! (especially one in particular) I will try any and all open coil and whip type antennas. Not looking for suggestions on type, just LOCATION in relation to the luggage rack.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2018
    mike5511, Mar 24, 2018
    mike5511, Mar 24, 2018
    #1
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  3. Mar 24, 2018 #2
    Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    luggage rack won't matter when it comes to RF.
     
    Ridgeline, Mar 24, 2018
    Ridgeline, Mar 24, 2018
    #2
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  4. Mar 24, 2018 #3
    rabbiporkchop

    rabbiporkchop Road Train Member

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    Mine is surrounded by luggage rack.
    Works great.
     
    rabbiporkchop, Mar 24, 2018
    rabbiporkchop, Mar 24, 2018
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  5. Mar 25, 2018 #4
    Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

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    Seems like a rack is low enough to avoid affecting the transmitting element of the antenna.
     
    Meteorgray, Mar 25, 2018
    Meteorgray, Mar 25, 2018
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  7. Mar 25, 2018 #5
    jessejamesdallas

    jessejamesdallas Road Train Member

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    Luggage rack shouldn't be a problem...But if you're planning on drilling a hole for the antenna mount, I would try a magnet mount antenna first so you can fine the sweet-spot to drill your hole...Antenna's tend to react differently on large roof vesicles... For instance, when I had my Suburban, I never could get a very good tune when the antenna was in the middle of the roof...placed 6" fro the back it would tune perfect...Another application I did for a friend with a Jeep Cherokee was just the opposite...Best location we found on it was dead center of the roof using the same antenna.
     
    jessejamesdallas, Mar 25, 2018
    jessejamesdallas, Mar 25, 2018
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  8. Mar 25, 2018 #6
    rabbiporkchop

    rabbiporkchop Road Train Member

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    Top dead center works great on mine.
    Screenshot_20180325-122854.png
     
    rabbiporkchop, Mar 25, 2018
    rabbiporkchop, Mar 25, 2018
    #6
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  9. Mar 25, 2018 #7
    iron horse 128

    iron horse 128 Bobtail Member

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    I have a ladder rack on my work truck and it doesn't hurt anything other then antenna placement.
     
    iron horse 128, Mar 25, 2018
    iron horse 128, Mar 25, 2018
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  10. Mar 25, 2018 #8
    jessejamesdallas

    jessejamesdallas Road Train Member

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    cool...could have something to do with the antenna maybe...I was using a Predator...never could get SWR as low in the middle as I could on the back
     
    jessejamesdallas, Mar 25, 2018
    jessejamesdallas, Mar 25, 2018
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  11. Mar 25, 2018 #9
    Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    There is a bit of a problem with this issue.

    The luggage rack can effect the SWR but it doesn't mean that it will affect the effectiveness of the antenna.

    My old 'burb (which I miss a lot), had the two antennas in the middle of the truck, spaced out by 6 inches CL to the center of the truck, but the CB one had a 2:1 SWR while it didn't cause problems with the effectiveness of the antenna, it worked very well with a small lob off to the right front of the 'burb. The 2/440 antenna that was mounted behind it had an SWR on it 1.3:1/1.6:1 respectfully. It also worked really well with my ts-9000 2 meter and Standard 440 rigs.
     
    Ridgeline, Mar 25, 2018
    Ridgeline, Mar 25, 2018
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  12. Mar 25, 2018 #10
    mike5511

    mike5511 Road Train Member

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    If I could have picked the folks to chime in on this, I couldn't have done any better! Thanks y'all!
    I've never dealt with the luggage rack issue but have always heard others complain about it. I don't know how many holes this vehicle may end up with! Rolling antenna farm?????
     
    mike5511, Mar 25, 2018
    mike5511, Mar 25, 2018
    #10
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