Has anyone mounted CB antennas on their toolbox? I'm probably going to be getting a toolbox for my bed and a CB soon. I really don't like drilling holes in my truck, so I was thinking of mounting the antennas on the toolbox. Has anyone done this? How's you do it? Have any pics? I kno9w two antennas arn't any better than one, but I like the look. I don't need anything long distance, just something to play around with.

 

If the toolbox is aluminum, which is almsot always will be, then you would have to use an antenna that doesn't need to be grounded. If you don't like drilling holes you can also use a magnetic mount or maybe one that gets it to come out from the hood, at least the holes would be hidden.

http://www.firestik.com/FAQ.htm
http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

This site is a maker of antennas, and can answer lots of questions about grounds, antennas, ect.

 

It'll work OK. For best performance mount the antenna as far from the cab as practical.

Sheet aluminum tends to be thicker than a normal body sheet metal, so if you get a mount designed for use on a body you may have some challenges trying to make it work.

Put a cheap ground strap from your toolbox to your bed in a discreet place or use star washers on the mounting bolts of your tool box. That will give you a better antenna ground.

 

Aluminum makes a great ground. It's a wonderful conductor of electricity and RF. He doesn't need an antenna designed for a "no ground" enviroment.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Keep it coming. I'm new at this. I like the look of the Firestik antennas.

 

Has anyone put a whip antenna in the middle of a toolbox? I want to put one on my truck, but I want to use a L bracket mirror mount (don't want to hassle with a ground wire). My question is What brand of toolbox can I get to mount the bracket under the nameplate? Most toolboxes that I see are indented under the nameplate and the antenna wouldn't be able clear the lid. also I am stuck between a Cobra 148 and a Galaxy 949 cb radio. I need a cheap and simple SSB radio any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I have a Wilson trucker 2000 mounted on the side of my tool box. Works great, I just used a mirror mount bracket. Definately make sure that either the box or the bracket is gounded and you shouldn't have any SWR problems. Toyman

 

I did this on my gull wing box. I had a piece of diamond plate, cut a 6" strip off it and bent it into _|-|_ type shape (like a square omega or rectified square sine.) It worked like a champ and you could only see the connections from the sides when the lids were down.

I like my current mount best. It's a 3"x5" box steel tube about 8" long. I cut the open ends at an angle to look prettier, and put a 5" hole in the middle of the bottom. Then I put the mount holes in the top. The hole in the bottom let me work on the connections easier than the small holes in the side. I let the powder coater do it all in black once I had the holes cut.

 

I used half of a mirror mount on my toolbox, with a 60 inch steel whip. I know it should work better further away from the cab, but I mounted it up close on the drivers side. It seems to pull in the signal just fine. I haven't, however, done an swr check yet. Looks wicked sharp, though.

 

I have an old truck box with a k40 mounted dead center of the lid. They are right about the thickness of the metal. I had to trim the bottom of the plastic to fit the box. One that was done i sealed it up. It tuned great and never had anyproblems with it. I almost thought about going back to that box but I just don't know. It would get my other k40 off my roof. And since I have the amp now I don't have to worry about the lenght of the wire reaching my cb. I can replace that old k40 with this new one because that other one has some damage to the wire. Sorry that got long.

 

I have a fuel tank toolbox combo with dual firestix. No groundwire and I get about 4 miles of range on the interstate and about 2 miles in the city. I don't know if grounding them will help but you have to remember you have to mount the ground to the frame....the truck box is mounted on rubber bushings.

 

YES!!! Make sure that tool box is grounded to your bed!! or you will have a high SWR and will POOF the radio.
I have found the 4ft Wilson Silver loads work very nicely on there..they also have a seperate ground wire that gets grounded to somehting.

 

The required ground plane isn't all that big. The bed is sufficient, but it is also grounded to the frame. The radio chassis is grounded through the ground wire to cab, so you do have double duty.

4 miles is good at 4watts. Now if you were using power, I might think you have a problem, but barefoot it sounds right.

 

install the antennas...then CHECK YOUR SWR..if it's on the high side and you didnt ground your tool box to the bed then that's probably why..cuz that box will be sitting on the rubber bed rails and what's used to secure the box to the bed isnt always a lot.

 

they also work great if you have a light bar, just weld on 2 tabs for the whips...looks great