2009 Freightliner Cascadia

[gerzi]

My 2009 freightliner cascadia... I have a bird perch mount on the drivers side mirror with a 4' firestick II. When I angle my antenna straight my SWR is so high my CB quits with antenna warning (pegs the needle). When I tilt my antenna forward about a 45 degree angle I get 1 SWR or less across all channels, However while my receive is great 10+ miles depending on the day, my Transmit is only 1-2 miles. Can someone help me with this and tell me why tilting the antenna fixes the swr? I don't want my waves shooting into the ground and the sky. Do I need a longer antenna? I think the mount sits 81" off the ground so the antenna and mount measure about 49 inches; so I can legally go about 33" more in height. Along side the antenna in its 90 degree position the mirror is directly to the left and the door panel is directly to the right. with about 4" spacing give or take on either side. For my final question I would like to know, can I still use the firestick II and just fabricate a 24" Shaft from copper pipe or something?

[dirtyjob]

Welcome to the site

tilting the antenna messes with the swr because it is changing the relation of other obstructions to your antenna, What would i do..."I hate fire stiks with a passion " I would toss that 4' firestick and buy a better antenna, I have friends that are drivers , they run Peterbuilts and they both use the wilson trucker line "10" Shaft and 49" Stainless Steel Whip" of mirror mount antennas without issue.

[9RC69]

Sounds like it could be a counterpoise problem caused by bad grounding to the door, mirror or truck body. For a quick test you can clamp one end of a booster cable to the antenna bracket and the other end to the frame of the truck and see if you can improve your SWR. If you notice and improvement, check to make sure the mirror and door are grounded to the chassis and frame the truck.

['Doc]

"...with about 4" spacing give or take on either side..."
I would think that's the biggest problem. When you tilt that antenna forward you are moving it away from those metal thingys it's next to. That will change the SWR (input impedance) of the antenna. Antennas would rather be above metal than beside metal.
- 'Doc

[mickeyrat]

Hello gentlemen,

Came to this site seeking solutions I couldnt find elsewhere

This thread most closely fits my issues. Only exception is my truck is a 2014 Cascadia

Assigned truck so I shouldnt be moving at all but need to set it up to have quick uninstall. Currently have the bird perch mount just for my Sat radio antenna. That mounts up high on the fairing bolts a few inches above the roofline.
Will a shortish CB Ant work up there as well and not have the Sat ant cause Cb interference?

Thinking though my best course of action is to get the C base two bolt mirror mount being sold for this truck.

Next question, if I am on the right track, is then of course which antenna to buy? and cable. Does the length really matter? In a daycab and excess cable is too cluttered IMO.

Really seek to use to use my radio as the tool it can be for my work(traffic jams etc) Start there anyway.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated and will certainly be passed on to those I work with running into the same issue.

[MDYoungblood]

Hi mickeyrat,
Welcome to the forum. Once you get the mounting location and brackets needed figured out you have quite a choice of antennas, I wouldn't use anything shorter than 4 feet, normally shorter antennas don't tune well and not a distance antenna. I like the Everhardt CB Antennas myself and they would probably do well for you. Check them out on the sponsors sites, Cb World is the largest carrier of them. They also carry mounts, coax, and just about anything else you need. You will see a bunch more answers on this topic for sure.

3's

Greg

[mickeyrat]

Hi mickeyrat,
Welcome to the forum. Once you get the mounting location and brackets needed figured out you have quite a choice of antennas, I wouldn't use anything shorter than 4 feet, normally shorter antennas don't tune well and not a distance antenna. I like the Everhardt CB Antennas myself and they would probably do well for you. Check them out on the sponsors sites, Cb World is the largest carrier of them. They also carry mounts, coax, and just about anything else you need. You will see a bunch more answers on this topic for sure.

3's

Greg

thanks for the suggestion on antenna. Guessing then I should be patient in the parts I purchase and avoid if possible the truck stop gear? I just used points for meter and speaker at a Pilot, looks like the price was comparable for the speaker. kinda got took on the meter by 6 or so dollars. Oh well, company "bought" it any way.

Have a question about cable length. I have a bird perch mirror mount on the way, next I need to get the bracket antenna and cable. looking at 9 feet or less from mounting to radio back. Plan to enter at passenger door hinge , run up between dash and interior A pillar and just lay across dash well alongside Satellite cable. Satellite cable wont affect it at all , will it? If it isnt needed to run it , whats the point in 18 feet of cable? Just a standard length in many applications?

If 9 feet works best for my setup , does type matter? seeing " 8 mini " etc?

Looking to do inexpensive yet decent quality with reasonable rx/tx for traffic backups etc....in a stock radio. At least to start. Company driver so I dont want to get very involved at this time.
if I have burnt some components up would there be an odor associated with that? Radio worked ok in other trucks but fear I may have attempted too often to transmit in its current state with the cascadia issues.

[wjm1129]

I slipseat in a Cascadia daycab. I have a c type bracket and 102 inch whip mounted to the drivers door with a 5 inch shaft. I have tethered the antenna with a tarp strap with one hook removed and slid down on the antenna and the other end hooked to the roof air dam bracket. I also have a piece of heavy string attached to the fender mirror support to keep the antenna from banging into anything while driving down the road. I had to put a 3 ft piece of rubber hose on the antenna also to lower the swr because of reflect from the door and A pillar. The swr on ch 1 is 1.5, ch 20 1.3 and ch 40 is 1.2. This is with an out of the box Uniden bc880. I run my coax in the gap between the hood and front of the door, then through the firewall grommet next to the clutch fluid reservoir. After it enters the cab it runs up the left side of the dash then across to the radio. This setup works pretty well for me and have gotten good radio checks. You can't hardly beat the 102!

[MDYoungblood]

I see you are going to use a bird perch so it will be a mirror mount on the passenger door. That is good, the door being used would eventually pinch the coax, something you need to watch out for. Get a quality coax, doesn't have to be the super big stuff unless you plan to run boo coo power. Coax length doesn't matter unless you are using a no ground plane antenna but you have no need for one, if 9ft works then use it, if you need longer get the 18ft and you can cut it to length. Make sure the door is bonded (grounded) to the rest of the body, it would be a good thing to do it to the whole truck. Just a couple suggestions and I see "wjm1129" has a similar truck so I'll let him run the topic.

3's

Greg

[mickeyrat]

I slipseat in a Cascadia daycab. I have a c type bracket and 102 inch whip mounted to the drivers door with a 5 inch shaft. I have tethered the antenna with a tarp strap with one hook removed and slid down on the antenna and the other end hooked to the roof air dam bracket. I also have a piece of heavy string attached to the fender mirror support to keep the antenna from banging into anything while driving down the road. I had to put a 3 ft piece of rubber hose on the antenna also to lower the swr because of reflect from the door and A pillar. The swr on ch 1 is 1.5, ch 20 1.3 and ch 40 is 1.2. This is with an out of the box Uniden bc880. I run my coax in the gap between the hood and front of the door, then through the firewall grommet next to the clutch fluid reservoir. After it enters the cab it runs up the left side of the dash then across to the radio. This setup works pretty well for me and have gotten good radio checks. You can't hardly beat the 102!

I'll be running the opposite side but what length for what you describe are you using? I may just run through the door opening. I'm the only driver and not too often am I in the pass door for anything. I will look and see whats possible though on that side of the engine compartment.

[wjm1129]

Mickeyrat 9 ft should be enough but I wouldn't pinch it in the door, might cause high swr. There is a rubber grommet on the right side of the firewall you can run the coax through. Split it with a knife or remove it and put the coax in the hole and replace grommet. You will have to fish the coax through the panels inside but it will go.

[mickeyrat]

Perch arrived yesterday. Had a peek today at the engine compartment. The grommet on the passenger side looks to be the one I will use. On the pass foot well, there is a panel at the bottom that can be unscrewed or fish the cable and cable end through this slotted vent right where it appears the grommet is located on the firewall.

Have some crap on the floor there so I will look more thoroughly tomorrow. or I will take the glove box out to fish it up to the existing hole for the factory installed cable if I can. hidden all the way!

IF that works, I'll just leave the cable in place when I am reassigned or leave their employment with a note to the next driver its there and why.

Now, which antenna to get.

---

May 19th, 2014, 5:11 pm

Okie dokie.

Well , the glove box removal revealed , a bunch of stuff behind it. So It was more work to me to try to route cable totally hidden to the hole under CB Pan where the stock cable exits. Instead , I removed two (of 6) screws on a panel under the glove box. It doesnt remove the entire panel but it does give ok access to the firewall and unused(on my company truck) grommit. comes out at about 3-4 inches above floor pan. Cable now ran. Used 12ft mini 8. length is perfect.

Thought I had the right bits to remove the mirror bolt but I did not so perch will get installed tomorrow on my 30. I went ahead and bought that road pro center load helical air coil antenna. 30 bucks. no great loss if I change out later. tops out at 54"(?) seems like 6 feet once put together.