CB Antennas - tied down Whips, Junk yards

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

>1)On the junkyard issue.  I think that it is a good idea, also maybe a
>place on the FAQ where junkyard sitings can be listed?  Maybe we could

It seems to me that Jeep and/or ORD have a Junk Yard list.. 

>2)Tom M, on your CB question, have you ever thought of a very long whip
>that attaches to your one of your bumpers and ties down to the other, sort
>of like the military ones?  It would probably be kinda expensive, but I

I thought about this, but it's even less ideal than my other thoughts..

1) a bumper mounted whip, even a HUGE one, is somewhat directional.. say I
mount it on the ball hitch (and can't open my tailgate), I have a GREAT
groundplane to the *FRONT*, but not to the rear, or to the sides much..
mount it on the corner of the bumper, I now get maximum transmit/receive on
the diagonal.. still not a great solution.

Then, when you add in the bending of the whip over the top of the truck to
the front bumper (or hood), things get even worse.. CB is an AM broadcast in
the 28Mhz spectrum.. typically, CB transmissions are "polarized" or radiated
in a circle, parallel to the earth, and perpendicular to the antenna.  In
this manner, these "ripples" then hit other vertical antennas.

with a bent antenna, your "ripples" are now in an arch, with the extreme
ends of the antenna radiating "properly" parallel to the ground, while the
center of the arch radiates all of it's energy in a plane that is
perpendicular to the earth.. of, think of the ends as two plates lying flat,
while the center of the antenna has the plate on it's side.

Obviously, this "rolling plate" has a slim chance of hitting a vertical
antenna.. thus transmission quality (and reception) is rather poor with a
looped/bent antenna.

Not that it doesn't work.. if you're on the trail with a group of 4xs, it'll
work fine.. but if you wanted to talk a good distance (HELP!) you could
un-hook the bent antenna and let it swing high, then align your truck so the
ground plane "points" in the direction you want to talk.

It's a good idea, and on my "backup" thoughts list..

John Landry renewed my faith in the under-hood fender mount idea.. seems he
has one and it works well enough.  The only one I've seen on a Scout II kept
the hood from opening easily.

I think I'll try the fender mount on my '77, but the '72 will probably see a
short piece of angle-stock welded to the top of the windshield frame.. I
already have a hole in the hardtop, so the big antenna will stay there, but
I'll mount a shorter one on the windshield frame for the summer.

I also installed one of my CBs into my '77 this weekend (at -15 with a snow
storm warning, I was thinking of heading 100m to Bozeman.. we didn't, but
it's always great to be prepared).  I just put the mag-mount on the roof for
now but..

I can confirm that mounting the CB to the right of the transfer case shift
lever, under the dash (using one existing hole, I put the CB mount bracket's
"slider" bolt through the dash hole and the slider, then tightened up) works
MUCH better than putting the CB under the dash to the left of the heater
controls (my '72 had this when I bought it, and the mike cord always gets
wrapped up in the shifter, or gets caught on that HUGE steering wheel)..
with the CB that far over, I can safely shift *and* steer while talking on
the CB.

So, if you're thinking of mounting a CB under the dash.. stick it to the
right of the tranny hump.. 

Also, the ORD FAQ @ http://www.off-road.com/~orlist has more CB related
musings from myself (5 years back, somewhat incorrect now that I know
better) and others for those that are interested.

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs

Someday I'll finish getting my HAM Tech license and I'll add a few more
radios and antennas to my Scouts.