Comment on my antenna please.

How is the antenna mounted? A picture is worth a thousand words.

Volvo cab/sleeper are made of steel panels WELDED together. Cascadias, on the other hand, are aluminum panels bonded together (with some sort of goop).
I had to use a few ground straps on a Cascadia to get a proper antenna setup, along with the sword fighting looking antenna mounted on the driver side mirror.

I had a much easier time with the 2023 Volvo mounting on the back of the sleeper (I run flatbed). Mount is a Top Gun Z-Perch available from Bob's CB and a few other places.
Top Gun Technologies (Z-PERCH) - Ultra Mount with Heavy Duty Bird Perch, For SOME Volvo's / Freightliner Cascadia's / Kenworth T2000's / & Peterbilt 579's, ALL STAINLESS STEEL, Mobile Antenna Mounts

Was much easier to dial in the Volvo than the Cascadia!


JD

 

Nice looking antenna install. The numbers on your rig expert look great, I don't think you could do much better. The only way you might make an improvement would be to use a top loaded antenna. I believe your using a Francis antenna or something similar. No doubt if Snailexpress follows your example, he'll be just fine.

 

That is a top loaded 5 foot Skipshooter. Strong antennas! Can take a bit of a beating. Tip is about 13'5" so it clips a tree branch or two. Only drawback I have found with Skipshooters is the adjusting nail tends to rust and won't adjust anymore.

JD

 

Oh okay, I assumed you probably were using a top loaded antenna, but wasn't sure. I wonder if you could put a rubber cap (like the one the Francis antennas use) on that skip shooter. It would help to keep the moisture out of that tuning tip. I suppose the hard part would be finding the correct size rubber cap to fit on the skipshooter.

 

I mounted mine on the side right at the top of the metal panel. I've added a big spring since this picture was taken. It works decent. I get good reports on 19. It works way better than most radios do on the newer trucks so I'm not surprised by the compliments, even though I know it isn't performing as I'd like. I need to do some bonding to get it better.

 

To SnailExpress, if you have a Radio Frequency (RF) ground problem, then you should STOP using your cb radio immediately. Continued use without fixing the RF ground problem will very likely cause damage to the radio's final amplifier circuit over an extended period of time. The result will be, your radio will transmit using the pre- amp signal and your range will be extremely short. Like okay in the parking lot but out on the road useless. When the final amplifier circuit is useless, fixing the radio will cost about the same price as buying another radio.

 

To me mounting antenna or antennas on the side of the cab looks better than one 6 or 7 foot mirror mounted antenna. Too bad the performance isn't as good as the one long antenna.

 

I'm not sure it isn't as good, or will be with a little more attention. The tip of the antenna is at the same height. Should be close enough.

 

Do you happen to own an antenna analyzer? It would be interesting to see the numbers of your antenna system.

 

Yes I do. RigMaster 35. It wasn't that good when I checked it after install. SWR was decent on 19 and that is all I cared about at the time. I was getting ready to take off on a trip. It talks better than the modern day factory setups. I haven't taken the time to mess with it. Another retirement project waiting to get done! I'm going to need to do some bonding I'm sure.