Hood mount CB antenna

mjac

Adventurer
Yes, mounting an antenna directly to the metal hood as opposed to the fender channel at the hood/fender.
I am mounting a CB antenna and want to get it away from the Ham antenna in the rear. Since I have a extra Comet lip style mount available, and before I buy a fender mount, I want to use the lip mount if I can. I have mocked up the desired location in the photo. Will this work considering the close proximity the windshield, wipers, etc. or could the truck roof create a problem?
The antenna I'll be using at this location will be a Larson 27NMO, 49" long whip with a bottom coil.
 

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4x4junkie

Explorer
I think that Larsen antenna is a base-load if I recall correct... (edit, you did say bottom coil) Yeah It's probably not going to like being below the roof in that spot.
However a top-load antenna should work fairly decent there (such as a Francis or Firestik). Make sure the hood is grounded well at both corners with a strap to the cowl or inner fenders (there may be a strap there factory, but if the strap is just clipped onto the hood rather than screwed down, I would suggest redoing it so that it's screwed down).
 
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mjac

Adventurer
Correct. It is a base load. And based on your reply I appears I have jumped the gun by ordering it. :( Since the mount I have and wanted to use was NMO the Larson seemed like the one to get. Sadly there aren't many NMO CB antenna choices.
If I am going to go to a top load antenna, as you suggest, should I;
1) Get a different (non NMO) lip mount?
2) Get an adapter for the current NMO mount that will accommodate a CB antenna?

Thanks for the grounding strap(s) tip.
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
I've never been that gung-ho on NMO mounts for CB (NMO seems better engineered for lighter VHF & UHF antennas).

For CB (and HF) stuff, the 3/8"-24 mounts not only seem more robust, but as you found, the options for antennas are far greater.

What kind of mount is it? (how is it assembled?) Maybe it's possible to take the NMO adapter off the bracket and fit a 3/8-24 mount onto it instead? (this is a big maybe though, as I know NMO often uses a bigger hole than 3/8-24).
Or perhaps just try it anyway and see what your SWR winds up being... Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll at least be something acceptable.

Otherwise, I'd bite the bullet and get a 3/8-24 mount. Maybe recoup some of your loss by selling the one you have now to someone else since it's probably in like-new condition.
 

mjac

Adventurer
Right about the NMO's.
The mount I was trying to use is a Comet CP5NMO. It worked good on the lip of the Rear door/gate of my T4R with a Larson 2/70 NMO. But its sure not going handle the 48" Nmo Larson CB ant I ordered.
I am sending the Nmo CB ant I ordered back a scraping the idea of a hood mount. After much teeth grinding I am just going to stick a Lit Will on the roof. It will do for the infrequent times I need a CB, I guess.

Thanks for your help.
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
... I guess.

I wouldn't suggest a Little Wil... The Little Wil is only a bit over 36" tall, which is much too short to work well on 27 MHz (you'll be lucky to get a couple miles range out of it, especially if the party you're communicating with is also using a subpar antenna).

Maybe another option might be get a magnetic NMO mount for the Larsen you ordered... This should work better since you said the Larsen had a 49" whip.
 

mjac

Adventurer
I agree but 49" was doable when I was considering mounting on the hood. 49" on the roof is a lot here in the East (read trees). I guess I could live with it hitting everything. I donno now.
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
I have a Larsen NMO-150 mag-mounted on the roof of one of my rigs (also lifted) which I use for MURS, I think it's whip is a bit over 47" tall (so maybe 50-51" for the whole thing)... It's very rarely been an issue with trees (and the trees can be thick and low out west here in the Sierra Mtns). Only thing is you can hear the noise through the roof when it does hit things. I'm assuming the whip section Larsen uses on the NMO-27 is similar.

Otherwise, I would suggest just go with the fender mount, but get one for a 3/8"-24 stud mount and throw a Francis on it (use a spring too since you said you're around trees a lot). I use a Francis CB-26 Hot Rod on my BII, it beats the popular Firestik antennas by a decent margin, and is much thinner & lighter (less stressful on your mount).

Hood/fender mount:
https://www.amazon.com/Firestik-SS-174-Stainless-Steel-Channel/dp/B000X3D7PE

Francis CB-26 antenna:
http://www.amazon.com/Francis-300-CB26B-Black-5-5-Antenna/dp/B007QXLS82

Antenna spring:
http://www.amazon.com/Firestik-SS-3H-Stainless-Antenna-Spring/dp/B00042LC9M
 

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