Got my CB and 6ft whip! Got questions!!!

[93ZJ19yrs]

Ok, I got mt CB installed and I got a 6ft whip. I installed it under the rear bumper. I was having trouble opening the lift gate so I wanted to move it. My Jeep chick came up with the idea of putting IN the roof rack on my ZJ. The roof rack is hollow so I just ran the 6ft whip through the rack. The only thing you can see now is the connection in the rear and the red tip coming out the front. Now, my question... Will I get good reception? I know it wont be the same as if I mounted it where it was. but will I even get OK reception?
Thanks!!!

[MaineZJ]

You are just gonna have to try it out and see, but I would guess your reception might be somewhat degraded. I say that because the antenna is inside metal that is grounded to your vehicle, I may be wrong tho, let us know how it works.

[93ZJ19yrs]

This is a reply from another forum....

That will never work!!! There are to many reasons why it wont but the best 2 reasons
are that mobile antennas must be vertical and MUST be grounded to the frame of the
vehicle! Once that is done the antenna then can be adjusted for the best swr. try
www.firestick.com for a great web site on cb antennas


I guess I wil have to move it back to the rear bumper. Anyone have any other ideas? Please help!!!

[Seeker]

I put put my mobile antenna on the roof right above the overhead console. I get excellent transmission and reception. It took a while to get used to the look but I like it now. Below are a couple of links to pics, the antenna is hard to see but it's behind the broken cellular antenna.

http://heather.greatbasin.com/~waterman/Jeep.jpg

http://heather.greatbasin.com/~waterman/Myjeep.jpg

These aren't great pics but you get the idea.

Jeff

[Zac]

rule of thumb is that 2/3 of the length of the antenna must be above ground plane to get optimal results. Ground plane is the highest flat surface on your vehicle (typically the roof, could even be the racks) that is grounded along with the antenna.
HTH
Zac

[Deez Nutz]

yeah that's a bad Idea......the thing is that in order to get a low SWR reading there can be nothing around the antenna....if you encase it with a steel tube then you'll most likely get a really high reading. You can even blow up your CB if it's high enough. so yeah, you'll have to find somewhere else to mount it. If I still had photopoint active I'd show you my mount but since they're being stupid I guesss I can't. I have a firestick mount that fits in the trunk on the side right above my tailight housing. I got really good SWR eradings from mounting it there. Good luck.