New CB antenna mount

[lekmedm]

Got my first confirmed radio check today, so something is working right!

[Matt]

Mine came in today... very well built & packaged for the price!

I'm going to mount it slightly different. Maybe I'll do that after we put the kids to bed.

[Matt]

All mounted up!!

To get the firering to properly ground to the mount I had to drill out 1/2" hole in a washer, then trim the sides so it would fit into the bracket. Note that I trimmed a lot more than necessary...







Just attaching the bracket to the hood doesn't ground the bracket. So i was going to put a short ground strap to the hood.... but even then there's still a significant amount of resistance to battery ground. I ended up putting a ground strap to the body for a good ground.

Was lucky enough to find a small nut that matched the threads of the bracket studs.





Here's how I have it routed out from the engine compartment. There's a nice little tab there that I was able to bend up, put the coax under, then clamp back down. Zip tie to the bottom of the hood latch, and good to go.





Wasn't able to put my antenna on because it hits my ceiling. Probably going to order a 3' NGP kit though.

[lekmedm]

Nice!! How are you liking it?

Originally I grounded the mount the same way, but I didn't hear any difference in the radio. Maybe I do have a NGP setup!

The black mount looks good on your white Jeep.

[Matt]

I like the new location. I didnt get a chance to hook up my SWR meter to see if there's an improvement from my bumper.

You're not grounding the mount? Be carefull.... CB's are one of those things that just because it seems to work, doesn't mean its installed correctly. You can ruin your CB that way.

I'd verify that you do indeed have NGP:
http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

....otherwise, throw that ground back on.

[lekmedm]

BTW, I also opened up a couple of stainless washers to ground the FireRing. I just used a Dremel to do it.

Sent from wherever my Jeep takes me.

[Matt]

Did you take yours out for a drive with the antenna on? Wondering if you saw a significant amount of bending at highway speeds. That section of the hood tends to deflect sideways pretty easily... but I dont think it'd be an issue because we generally dong drive 70 mph sideways lol

[lekmedm]

I like the new location. I didnt get a chance to hook up my SWR meter to see if there's an improvement from my bumper.

You're not grounding the mount? Be carefull.... CB's are one of those things that just because it seems to work, doesn't mean its installed correctly. You can ruin your CB that way.

I'd verify that you do indeed have NGP:
http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

....otherwise, throw that ground back on.

OK, OK... You don't have to shout at me! (j/k) The ground is back on. I know I have a Firestik II tuneable antenna, But I still don't know if it's NGP or not.

Did you take yours out for a drive with the antenna on? Wondering if you saw a significant amount of bending at highway speeds. That section of the hood tends to deflect sideways pretty easily... but I dont think it'd be an issue because we generally dong drive 70 mph sideways lol

Yes, I have driven around with it, but I've only gotten up to about 65mph locally. I have a medium duty spring on mine, so that should bend before the hood does! So far, no problems.

[Matt]

Sorry I meant to post the link to how you can identify if yours is NGP.... it just brought you to the Firestik page though.

Check this out:

Firestik NGP systems are unique. You can identify our NGP system in one of two ways. The coax assembly and the antenna itself.

The Coax

The NGP coax assembly is black with identifying print in silver-grey. Assemblies made before February 2004 are printed with "Fire-Flex" RG-58A/U. Those made after February 2004 are printed with Firestik Super-Shield 50. The connector at the radio end has a soldered tip (not crimped). Also, at the radio end you will find the coax is covered with a piece of black shrink tubing that is about 18 inches (46cm) long. At the mount end of the assembly the center conductor of the coax has been preprocessed and ready to have the ring terminal installed by the user. The braided shield of the coax is not used at the mount end.

The Antenna

All NGP antennas leave the factory with a yellow band around the antenna just above the base. The heavy-duty fiberglass antennas are referred to as the "FG" series and to the non-expert eye will appear similar to the standard "FS" (Firestik II) series antennas. The light-duty fiberglass models are referred to as the "LG" series and have a similar appearance to the "FL" (FireFly) series antennas. If the yellow band has been removed, measuring the length of the close wound section (loading coil) of the antenna will help you tell the difference between the NGP antenna and its near counterpart. The following table gives you the length of the close wound section of our antennas. First measure the over all length of the antenna to determine if it is in the 2, 3, 4 or 5 foot range. Next, measure the distance from the top of the antenna (not including the tunable tip mechanism) to the bottom edge of the close wound section of the antenna. Compare your measurements to the information in the chart below to properly identify the antenna.

[Matt]

Well NGP might not matter here! Just put my antenna on and checked my SWR's and they're A LOT better.1.25-2 throughout the entire band. Before none of them were below 2, and they'd get above 3 in the higher channels.

Only thing I might change is dropping down to a 3ft antenna. I don't like how high the 4ft version goes above the roof-line.