How To Install Cb Radio In Semi Truck

There's no better vehicle to install a CB in than a pickup truck! Autonomously from the rugged skillful looks and functionality a nice CB install adds, the pickup offers the nearly options when it comes to antenna and radio mounting.

Mounting Locations

General Guidelines
Roof Top
Toolbox
Stakehole
Hood
Bumper

Dual Antenna Installations
Antenna Recommendations for Pickups
Radio Recommendations for Pickups
Mounting Your Radio in the Cab
Equipment Recommendation Summary

Mounting Location General Guidelines

Every bit a full general rule for all pickup antenna installations:

Longer = Better. The longer the antenna, the improve performance you'll receive.
Higher = Amend. The higher up you lot can mount antenna, the better performance y'all'll receive. Ideally yous want at least 1/two of the antenna higher up the roof line and 1/three above the roofline at a minimum.
Higher Quality = Ameliorate. It may sounds obvious, simply you'll become improve operation (both in terms of range potential and longevity) from a well known, trusted brand. Nosotros'll mention specifics brands and model afterwards this commodity.

Eye of the Roof - The Ideal Location

In terms of functioning, it'due south hard to beat mounting an antenna in the center of your pickup'due south roof. Why? This ensures it will be located at the highest betoken on your vehicle, which will maximize performance. It will also exist installed in the middle of the truck's chassis. This serves to both minimize any directional bias (receiving signals only from one direction) besides as improve omni-directional transmit capabilities.

For roof installations, magnet mount antennas tend to work best. If you can swing it, we'd recommend a 3' or 5' magnet mountain for the height of your dearest rig.

A iii' antenna will offer a bit more clearance, while a 5' model will offer maximum range. Wilson makes our favorite magnet mount antennas. For pickups, we'd recommend the Wilson Fiddling Wil for a 3' version and the Wilson 1000 Magnet Antenna for a 5' option.

Both antennas come with coax, mount and the antenna whip - so you'll just need a radio to complete your install. For coax routing, most people route the coax through a door frame or through the rear cab window.

Mounting to the Tool Box

Mounting an antenna to a toolbox is some other extremely popular pick, and tin be a great choice. For toolbox mounts, most people will use a traditional 3-fashion mountain alongside with a fiberglass antenna.

When mounting to the toolbox, make certain you employ an antenna length that volition clear the roofline. Once more, ideally you'd similar 1/2 of the antenna to a higher place the roof with a minimum of 1/three clearing it. If mounting just a single antenna, try to mount it on the commuter's side. This will prevent the truck'due south cab from blocking signals coming from other drivers upwards and down the route.

For single antenna toolbox installs, nosotros recommend the Firestik FS Unmarried Antenna Kit, which includes everything you need for a high-quality toolbox install.

Toolboxes are probably the most popular spot to mount dual antenna installs, and the Firestik Dual Kit is perfect if yous'd like to go that road. Just make sure yous read our commodity on dual CB antenna installs first.

Stakehole Mounts

If yous desire to mountain behind the cab but don't accept a toolbox - or don't want to drill into it - mounting using the stakehole is a great pick. Stakeholes are the square openings along a truck's bedrails, and we offer special antenna mounts that fit into those spots - no drilling required.

A fiberglass antenna will be your best option for a stakehole mounting location. Once again, brand sure to option a length that gets at least ane/3 of the antenna in a higher place the roofline and install on the driver's side if possible for best reception from other vehicles.

Nosotros offer a few unlike stakehole options, including this stakehole CB mountain kit and this hang-over stakehole mount.

Hood Mounts

Mounting your antenna along the hood channel is also pop with pickup owners, and is sometimes the but choice if a trailer, camper or fifth cycle makes other options incommunicable. If you're going for more of a manufacturing plant installed looked, mounting forth the hood channel probably offers the cleanest look of all the options discussed.

While we practice offer a universal hood mount that volition fit many vehicles, we'd recommend using our vehicle wizard to see if there'southward a hood mount made specifically for your make and model truck. We deport hood mounts that are designed to fit perfectly in many Ford, Chevy / GMC, Dodge and Toyota trucks.

Fiberglass antennas tend to be the best option for hood mount installs. Again, make certain to pick a length where at to the lowest degree i/3 of the antenna clears the roofline for acceptable functioning.

Mounting to the Bumper (Not Ideal)

The bumper tends to be a pretty poor place to mount a CB antenna on a pickup. Why? Because it'due south so depression on the vehicle, it makes it very difficult to get the antenna loftier plenty to provide acceptable performance. Additionally, about of the antenna is blocked past the truck'southward cab - which prevents the antenna from sending or receiving signals to vehicles in front of the truck if mounting on the rear bumper.

The simply time we'd recommend mounting to the bumper is if you're using a 102" whip CB antenna. These monsters (discussed further below) are tall enough to clear the cab when mounted on the bumper and can be mounted there while still offering acceptable performance.

Dual Antenna Installations

It'south difficult to deny the entreatment of dual antennas on a pickup. Apart from the potential operation increases they offer (if installed correctly), they merely wait downright impressive.

Dual antennas can assist reduce expressionless spots caused by trailers, fifth wheels or anything else existence hauled that could block the bespeak of just a unmarried antenna. They likewise increase the CB'due south range in the management of travel and directly backside - just limit information technology to the right and left.

Just they're not ever the best choice for a pickup. For example, a five' magnet mount rooftop antenna will likely outperform a dual antenna install mounted lower, especially if the dual antennas are shorter.

At that place'due south a lot of variables to consider with dual antennas, and so to forbid this article'south length from growing longer than a 102" whip antenna, we decided to tackle them in a separate commodity on dual CB antenna you tin read here.

Antenna Recommendations

Your choice of antenna volition be strongly determined by where y'all want to mount it on your vehicle. That existence said, here are the types of antennas we like best for pickup trucks:

Magnet Mount Antennas

When mounted on the height of the roof, magnet mount antennas are often the best option for overall operation. They're easy to install, likewise, as they include the coax, magnet mountain and the whip antenna in one complete package.

Wilson makes our favorite magnet mount antennas. For a shorter choice, the 3' Wilson Trivial Wil can't be beat. And the five' Wilson thou magnet antenna will give you the all-time performance.

Fiberglass Antennas

For most other mounting locations on your pickup, you'll want to use a fiberglass antenna. Fiberglass antennas are durable, somewhat flexible and about importantly have a universal three/8" ten 24 thread that will connect to whatever of the CB antenna mounts y'all'll use to mountain on the hood, tool box, stakehole or bumper.

Our favorite fiberglass antenna, easily-down, is the Firestik FS. It's built in the USA, performs really well and just can't be beat.

102" Whips

If you're really serious about performance, you'll want to consider using a 102" whip antenna. Because it's then long - and because its length is exactly ane/4 the length of a CB radio moving ridge - you'll be hard pressed to observe anything that rivals these beasts for transmit and receive range. You'll probable meet operation that's double, triple - or even more - the performance range of even a v' magnet mountain antenna.

The downside, of course, is that you have a massive 8 i/2 foot antenna on your vehicle which tin can cause some clearance problems. Besides, you'll need a fairly heavy-duty mount to arrange these whips every bit they are heavy and tend to torque the mount.

A ball mountain is platonic for these bulky antennas, but a heavy-duty 3-way mount or dome mount can also be used.

Center Load Antennas

Middle load antennas accept the antenna ringlet in the middle of the antenna, and are distinguishable by the large plastic housing in the middle (as seen above). They use the aforementioned universal thread every bit fiberglass antennas, so they can be screwed into any of the mounts you could apply with a fiberglass antenna.

Why aren't we fans for using them on pickups? First, they're significantly more expensive than fiberglass antennas (2x to 3x more). They're also much more fragile and prone to beingness damaged and/or damaging your vehicle. While a fiberglass antenna has a flake of give and can work well with a spring, centre load antennas accept rigid, unforgiving metal lower shafts and brittle plastic housings.

Heart load antennas are great for semi trucks that spend 99.9% of their time on the highways, and might piece of work out if y'all'll never venture off-road or into challenging terrain. Only for trucks where the antennas can get caught, snagged and abused, they're frequently but begging to be broken when mounted on a pickup.

Pickup Radio Recommendations

Pickup trucks offering cab infinite that other vehicle owners could but dream of, and this opens up the number of radios that can be easily installed / mounted. For most pickups, installing a full-sized, full-featured CB radio is no problem - and that's what many pickup owners practise.

In that location are loads of different radios available, and you may desire to check out our complete guide to CB radios to make up one's mind which one is right for you lot. But if we had to recommend only ane model for pickups, we'd take to get with the Cobra 29 series of radios.

Cobra 29 Series

These full-size radios are rugged, reliable work horses that work flawlessly in just almost any atmospheric condition. The base model is the well-known Cobra 29 LTD, just depending on what you need it comes in models featuring backlit displays & weather, hands-gratis bluetooth phone operations and a snazzy LX model with a futuristic display.

Uniden 510 / 520

While most trucks have aplenty room to mount a total-sized CB, maybe you're not interested in something and then bulky. Maybe a massive CB is always getting in the way when your lady slides all the way across that demote seat. No contest, there - that full sized radio has to go.

For something smaller, wait no further than the Uniden 510. It'southward a no-frills CB in a tiny package - but it's bombproof. You could drive over washboard roads twenty-four hours and dark for a year, and you yet wouldn't get this unit to stop working.

It's small size makes information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to mount anywhere, and it's priced significantly lower than a full-sized radio like the Cobra 29. The Uniden 520 is but like its little brother the 510, but offers PA (public accost) as a characteristic if that'southward important to you.

SSB (Unmarried Side Ring) Radios

Another great selection if you lot're looking for maximum range is a SSB-equipped radio. SSB is a feature that lets you talk at 3x the power of traditional CB radios, as long as you're communicating with other SSB operators. SSB radios likewise will operate on the standard CB channels, too, at regular power.

The Cobra 148 GTL is the near popular and trusted SSB radio on the market. Only like the Cobra 29 series, it'southward a proven, reliable model that will offer decades of reliable, no-frills functioning.

Uniden and Galaxy also offering SSB models with the Uniden 980 and Milky way 959 if the Cobra 148 doesn't strike your fancy.

Mounting a CB in Your Pickup

All CB radios come with a U-shaped mounting bracket, which opens upwards a number of dissimilar possibilities for mounting.

The most popular place to mount a radio in pickups is on the floor or under the dash between the commuter and rider seat. It's unremarkably fairly easy to mount hither - either by securing the mounting bracket to the floor or to the lower dash assembly - and is out of the way.

Other options include mounting on top of the dash or even mounted to the roof / headliner. Merely the obvious drilling marks these options require make them less popular.

Equipment Recommendation Summary

Now that yous're an expert on pickup CB installations, it'due south fourth dimension to observe the perfect gear for your rig. Use the following links to get started putting together the perfect bundle for your truck:

Store Using Our Pickup Make & Model Wizard (Click Here)

Top Radio Recommendations

Top Antenna Recommendations

Wilson Lilliputian Wil (3' Magnet Antenna)
Wilson yard (5' Magnet Antenna)
Firestik FS (Fiberglass Antenna)
Firestik FS Kit (Complete Unmarried Antenna Kit)
102" Whip (For Maximum Range)

Other Mount Recommendations

Stake Pigsty Mounting Kit
iii-Way Mount (For Toolboxes, Bumpers, All Vertical Surfaces)
Universal Hood Mount
Ball Mountain (For 102" Whips)

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Source: https://www.rightchannelradios.com/blogs/selection-guides/18399783-cb-radios-for-pickup-trucks

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