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Old 10-19-2017, 09:03 AM   #11
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I think the expanded metal would definitely provide the ground plane IF it is grounded to the rest of the body/frame. That may be easily accomplished, or not.
Think of the ground plane as a mirror, and your antenna as a lighted stick. With a mirror below, when the antenna lights up, that light is reflected back towards the sky or horrizon. Without that mirror, the light just gets scattered. So, your expanded metal would make a fine ground plane with out being connected to the frame, but since you don't want the antenna up that high it makes little difference. Having a good ground plane, and low SWR (standing wave ratio) will assure maximum performance and range, but something less than perfect will still work. Having a high SWR though can damage your radio. I have an SWR meter you can borrow if you can't find one.

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Old 10-19-2017, 09:44 AM   #12
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The CB band ain't what it used to be (in the 70's). It's not helpful like it once was, with updates mainly about what was happening on the road. The conversations are just silly or outright porno. If you have any passengers that aren't ready for XXX language you better not light up the CB. There is no oversight so many of the drivers have 50-100 Watt converted 10-meter HAM radios that just dominate the 4W CB band. You can see them advertised all over. Apparently the FCC has given up.
You can fiddle with your antenna all day but the signal is still going to be pretty bad, because it's AM--very noisy unless you turn up the squelch and then you lose people. You often hear one side of the conversation because driver A is 5 miles away talking to driver B who is 10 miles away and out of your range.
My next move is to pull the CB and install a mobile HAM radio which can monitor the CB band in case there is something extremely important going on.
I installed a 4' Firestik with a quick-disconnect and big spring in the hood seam. That's about as much metal as I could find for a ground plane. Firestik has a lot of real-world documentation on their website. I'm using a nice little handheld Cobra with it's companion connector box under the seat. I used a Ford body grommet to feed the wire so I did the whole install without drilling anything.
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Old 10-19-2017, 12:39 PM   #13
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I am already pushing 101" to the pop top surface and another 9" for the rack so just over 9 feet.
Being 4x4 and having a fixed hightop, I have the same height issue. For my purposes, maybe a ground plane type mounted on the rack, on a folding mount... then just fold it up when I want to use it.
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Old 10-19-2017, 12:52 PM   #14
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The CB band ain't what it used to be (in the 70's). It's not helpful like it once was, with updates mainly about what was happening on the road. The conversations are just silly or outright porno.... Apparently the FCC has given up.

You can fiddle with your antenna all day but the signal is still going to be pretty bad, because it's AM--very noisy unless you turn up the squelch and then you lose people. You often hear one side of the conversation because driver A is 5 miles away talking to driver B who is 10 miles away and out of your range.
well aren't you a wet blanket at the beach party!

Seriously though, thanks for your insights. That's a shame, my only real exposure to this stuff was in the mid 1970's when most CBer's were scared to death of the FCC. I had no idea, and have zero interest in the mindless chatter, just trail COMS and a safety back up should something break that I can't repair, while out in the desert.


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My next move is to pull the CB and install a mobile HAM radio which can monitor the CB band in case there is something extremely important going on.
Isn't HAM a whole can of worms (licensing, etc)?



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I installed a 4' Firestik with a quick-disconnect and big spring in the hood seam. That's about as much metal as I could find for a ground plane.
I'd do that if my hood was steel... Are you sure your hood is steel? Mine's fiberglass on my 1995
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Old 10-19-2017, 01:15 PM   #15
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yeah, sorry to be a wet blanket.. maybe my expectations were too high.
I'm attaching a photo of my antenna mount. I made sure I was biting into good clean steel because this is your "ground" or counterpoise. Everything attached to this piece of body and frame becomes ground plane. Some of the hardcore guys will go around and put copper straps between body and frame and doors and everything they can find. Photo is my SWR of just over 1.5 at a freq. close to Ch 19.. not bad, really.
I really like the quick disconnect because the wind really works on the antenna and I know I'd forget about it at the next Burger King. In fact, I angle it slightly forward so it ends up fairly vertical at expressway speed.
I'm sure CB would be great if you're out with a group.
I'm also a HAM (KE8EWM) but I'm new to it so I don't want to pretend to know anything yet. I got the general class license very easily. The HAM bands are mainly FM and there's almost always a repeater so you can get in touch with locals.. but it's probably not suited to highway info, which is what I was hoping for CB.
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Old 10-19-2017, 10:27 PM   #16
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Isn't HAM a whole can of worms (licensing, etc)?

I'd do that if my hood was steel... Are you sure your hood is steel? Mine's fiberglass on my 1995

I'm not sure what you consider a can of works, but you do need a license to transmit on ham frequencies. It's not hard to get, it just requires some study and a test. A ham rig is far better in an emergency due to several factors including increased range and the ability to often times reach a repeater which can increase your range even further.

My hood is fiberglass, and my antenna bracket is pretty much the same as the one in the photo. I can get out fairly well, but as I said I never talk to anyone unless I traveling with them, or rarely to get some traffic information from a trucker on the freeway.
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