Anyone here mount a CB antenna with a stake hole mount on a 3rd gen ram yet? I ordered one and want to know if anyone has had any problems or had to modify the mount to make it fit. I am going to mount my 8' whip to the mount and put it in the front stake hole pocket on the passenger side. I bought the one that sticks out so it will clear my bed cover.

Any interference/RFI issues with the hemi or 3rd gen wiring?

Thanks

Bob

 

Here's what I did...I used the plates which come with the tie down rings you can buy most anywhere...used one on top with the rubber piece and one on the inside, picked up a bolt, washers and nut from Lowes.

The bracket the antenna is mounted onto is the Firestik mount for the Dodge hood (too much wind noise in that location) The bracket already has a nice bend to it for a cleaner look.

The mount can be setup for in or outside the bed rail. No matter how you install yours, I highly recommend the Firestik detachable antenna adaptor...Makes it easy to go through the carwash or inside the garage.

Keith

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Cool, Thanks for the idea. I bet I could do that with a button head bolt which would be easier to drill a recess for in the cover frame. The only question then will be if it will hold my 102" whip on a fat spring.

Thanks

Bob

 

I really like Keith's mount and his choice of the antenna. I would suggest making sure that the mount is properly grounded to the frame of the truck as with the rubber gasket on top, it would need to be bonded to ground nicely under the mount. When in doubt, take an ohm meter reading from the mount to what you know is a good ground on the body of the truck. There should be no measurable resistance between the two.

For no more difference in performance than you would notice between the 1/4 wave whip and the firestick that Keith is using, I would much prefer the firestick because of the aesthetics and clearance problems presented by the whip. That, however, is a matter of opinion.

 

I actually run outside the CB band so it's longer than 8' but I just say its 8 to be simple. I wish someone made a shorter antenna that covers 12m through 10m without re-tuning and still be able to hear good without a tuner. My whip does pretty good for what it is. It doesn't cover the whole spread but it does what I want it to do. Plus it's paid for, will never rust, and will never rot. I got my mount installed and it came out great. I used the foam tape for a cap to make sure the setup is watertight. I plan on running a ground wire from one of the inboard screws to the body so it should be grounded good. I ended up with the firestik extended stainless stake hole pocket mount. We will see if it can handle the whip and spring.

Thanks for the info and insight.

Bob

 

Longer means 12 meters, perhaps? A fellow ham I suppose? Hope your mounting arrangement works out okay, seems that it may.

 

FYI..

The antenna is gounded

I thought I might have to run ground wire to to do this, but the steel plate which is inside the stake hole does not have the rubber seal on it which made a good contact point to ground it.

I used my ohm meter to check out the ground and my SWR meter to tune the antenna.

Keith


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Well, actually, I love to listen to 12m and the voice part of 10m while I'm driving but as hard as I tried I couldn't catch on to CW. The no-code is useless to me as I'm not interested in anything above 30 mhz. I don't tx in 10 or 12 M but I occassionally play in the space in between. The designated bands are great to listen to but they are your territory and you earned the right to tx in them. I have not. So I just listen. Maybe someday that will change.

I think it will work out ok. I am hoping for minimal reflection from the cab (the length of the whip should negate that) and minimal noise through good grounding. I may play around a bit with the grounding as I think I may be battling a lot of noise with 16 plugs firing and a fuel pump running all the time.

Thanks for the reply.

Bob

 

The paperwork that came with the mount said it should ground fine from that steel plate but I think I may end up battling noise issues with the 16 plug hemi ignition system. I figure some extra grounding may cut some of that noise. The mount actually has a hole for an extra ground to be added but since it is on the wrong side of the cover, I am going to use one of the mounting screws. I am trying to keep it low profile so it won't whistle at very high speeds. I actually had to make adjustments to the cover due to speed related issues and I am hoping it is still ok since the install. I will post if I have a problem.

Thanks for the input.

Bob

 

Well it's all done and installed. I ended up finding an incredibally simple solution to the coax routing problem.

I ran it down from the stake hole mount in between the cab and box and then crawled under the truck. I was looking at the options for securing it and routing it up the frame when I noticed an access hole in the rear cab crossmember. Visible through this hole is a white plastic rectangluar grommet that sticks into the crossmember about an inch. I stuck my fingers in the access hole and could feel what I thought was a screw inside the grommet. I took the screw out of the junk holder and then went back under the truck to see if the screw was gone from the grommet. It was not but when I pushed up on it, I could hear the junk holder move in the cab. I removed the other 2 screws and the junk holder and there was the top of the grommet to the left of the hold down screw. The thing I thought was a screw was a post off the backside of the junk holder. I popped the grommet out and pased the wire from the access hole through the crossmember and out through the grommet hole. I poked a small hole in the bottom of the grommet on the side opposite where the post was and put the coax through it. I replaced the grommet, the junk holder, and all my junk. I soldered a new connector on the coax and after it cooled, I tried it out. It works great, there is no ignition noise, and my SWR's are plenty low. I could TX from just above 12m through the middle of 10m if I wanted to. I have great RX in 12m and cound hear some CW skipping in from somewhere. Maybe someday I'll be able to learn CW so I can enjoy those bands too.

Thanks for the input.

Bob