Installation of CB Antenna on roof of 99 Tacoma

Hi

I want to install a roof mount cb antenna on 99 tacoma dbl cab.

anyone have experience doing this? can I drill through roof where he dome
light is and then snake antenna cable through headliner to a pillar? is
there enough clearance between headliner and roof to accomodate coupling?

anyone out there ever do this??

s

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 17:19:59 GMT, "SAH" <s@s.s> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I want to install a roof mount cb antenna on 99 tacoma dbl cab.
>
>Anyone have experience doing this? can I drill through roof where he dome
>light is and then snake antenna cable through headliner to a pillar? is
>there enough clearance between headliner and roof to accomodate coupling?[/color]

First, you want to be towards the /back/ edge of the cab roof (or at
least past the "B Pillar" line on a double-cab or SUV) as the wind
forces are a little less intense back there. An antenna at the front
of a windshield is going to be on a tilt (making the seal at the
bottom a big problem) and it's liable to whistle and moan at you from
the wind blast at the base.

And the shadow of the whip antenna in the windshield is going to
drive you nuts. Been there... (Luckily, it was a magnet mount.)

Go forward from the back cab wall just far enough to get a flat
surface and avoid any structural members, and triple check your
clearances BEFORE drilling the hole. Put the first antenna dead
center for best transmission. If you go crazy later, you can stick
more transmitter antennas off to each side - you want as much
separation as possible.

The Door and Rear-cab (extended) pillars are going to be easier to
get the antenna lead down, then you turn and go under the door sill,
up the kick panel to the dash. Tuck it away where feet won't snag it.

And for a scanner or receive-only antenna you want to get far away
from the transmitter antennas, go down to the fender on the opposite
side of where the AM Radio antenna is mounted. If it's not level
there, they make special 'ball-mount' bases, or you can get one of the
bracket-style mounts that comes out of the hood to fender gap. (The
holes are drilled on the inside lip of the fender.)

Pick a removable antenna where the base mount can be capped,
repurposed, or abandoned easily. I use a Larsen NMO-27 for that - the
NMO Mount was standardized by Motorola and you can get antennas for
practically any radio service that interchange on that base mount.
Cellphone (not that anyone uses car-mount phones anymore), all the VHF
and UHF Ham and Commercial bands, Scanner...

The NMO design is low and wide, very strong threads and really hard
to pull out of the roof sheet metal if you hit a tree branch. O-ring
sealed to the roof, so you can unscrew the antenna for a car wash and
leave the mount exposed.

Don't try putting a 108" Whip or a big mast style antenna on the
roof - the sheetmetal won't take that for long. Base loads only on
the roof. If you want a unidirectional 'T-Hunter Special' rig you put
the base-load centered on the roof, and two grounded dead whips on the
outboard ends of the back bumper, as close to 108" apart as possible.

Don't remove the mount when you sell the truck. The cheap plastic
hole plugs they sell rot out in the sun, and then you have raindrops
on your head... Blank-off caps are readily available for when you
sell the truck - you keep the antenna and abandon the base and coax in
place for the next owner, and new bases are cheap. It's a selling
feature - CB Radio Ready.

That should hold you... ;-)

--<< Bruce >>--

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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