Topic: 1st gen antenna mounting

[toymech]

 Ayone with first gen 4runner running a 3ft cb whip? Im installing mine maybe next week,found a sweet deal on Galaxy 959 with firestick tunable antenna. Im thinking of mounting a bracket off the rear bumper but can that mess up the reception? Thanks.  Mike

[toybuilt]

I put mine on my roll bar, it works well anough.

[fourwd1]

A 3' antenna is very inefficient to begin with. Mounting it on the rear bumper, it will not extend above the body sheetmetal, much less the fiberglass top. So the answer is, this is not a good placve to mount it. But if you're only looking for enough range for use on the trails, it may work for that limited range.


Basic rules of thumb for antennas and mounting:
   1) Mount it as high as possible on as large an area of sheetmetal as possible. (ie, the roof, although not always practical)
   2) The shorter the antenna is, the less efficient it is. (At CB frequencies, a 1/4 wavelength is 9' (108"). When an antenna is made shorter by "loading", it looses efficiency)
   3) Use the shortest length possible of quality coax cable. (The 18' length is an old wives tale.)
   4) Tune the antenna for the lowest VSWR possible.

[Rocksurfer]

Mine is dead center rear of my roof, granted it's only a 2' steal antenna but it works great and has very good range for a cheapy Radio Shack radio.

[79coyotefrg]

center  of the  rear most part of the metal roof is best,  top of a roll bar or light bar is perfect

[jimbo74]

www.4crawler.com has a writeup of what he did to mount his

[Ewong]

On my 1st Gen 4Runner there is a "hole" in the sheet metal behind the B pillar trim panel.

This allows one to run a cable to a "panel mount connecter" and then can be run to a roof mag mount with a  trimmed cable.

Not a great pic - but take a close look at the B pillar here

[4runner freak]

I mounted mine on the passenger fender next to the hood.
I made a little mount that is bolted under the hood on the fender.

I still have to get it adjusted for better reception.
It is only ~2' antenna, but I only use it wheeling and it works for that.

[TURBO]

after finding some cool pics of my antana, i picked this one, a poser shot at the roundup last year....
and i also posted a link  to a short clip of my antana mount in action. enjoy
http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/turbotoyotatruck/?action=view&current=howtomakeDCHARDWAYlookeasy.flv