Provided your antenna mount has a clean connection to metal of the gate, you don't necessarily need to attach one end of the strap to the antenna itself. In layman's terms all you are doing is ensuring that the gate and tub of the Jeep are tied into each other electrically. I would take a few feet of the strap, attach one end to any bolt on the gate, another on any bolt in the Jeep. Keep the run as short as possible. The pictures show how I routed it, and there are several options to choose from as far as stock bolt locations.

The strap provides a critical part of your antenna installation, the ground plane. The more metal you have on for the ground side of your antenna the better it will perform. For lower frequencies this is particularly important. Sometimes gate or trunk hinges provide an inadequate connection, so the antenna performs poorly (high SWR, poor range, etc). The strap is bonding the metal of the gate to the tub, and anything welded or wired to the tub itself. I have more straps running from the hood to the firewall, the battery to the motor, exhaust to the frame, all in an effort to bond as much metal as possible. You don't need to go overboard, I'd say try the gate for now.

I get the strap at a local electronics specialty store, kinda expensive but the physical characteristics of ground straps vs wires provides a better connection. Keep in mind that this may not solve your problem at all. Things like a bad piece of coax or an antenna tuned to another vehicle can be just as much of a problem. Check these first, and at least a few times a year once installed.

With all of that in mind, I still would bond the gate even if I had a really low SWR, just good practice when installing radios operating on a lower frequency.

 

Don't forget about antenna placement. That spare tire wheel and the gate itself reflects the transmit radio wave back to the antenna and right back to the radio. No amount of grounding / bonding can fix high SWR from bad antenna placement.

 

Cobra 19 mounted to the dash bracket under the glove box. Wired straight to the battery with external speaker hidden in the rollbar padding and a PA speaker mounted in the engine compartment. Mic bracket is the Cooltech Versamount II

 

I like it under the dash like that. When selling or trading, I wonder how much that panel would cost to replace. Plus, gotta make sure it doesn't smash into the passenger's legs in case of a frontal crash. I suppose the overhead mount is safer...though it is close to the head.

 

I think I'm going this route.. They work great on the trail


Sent from my i5 using just one thumb and tapatalk

 

75WX mounted in armrest and control box behind the rear power window panel.

 

Made my own mount really fast, easy and cheap. I also think it looks very clean, all wires are hidden behind the bracket. I used the stock mounting brackets that I got with the radio, a cobra29 lx which is a pretty big cb. I am 6'3" and the radio only breaks the leading edge of my rearview when im sitting completely upright. I was also concerned with the radio blocking my view but its really not much of an issue.

 

this is similar to how I've got my 2 meter radio mounted. I like it out of the way and not interfering with passengers feet or legs.

 

Were you able to mount it to the dash bracket with the stock CB bracket? Did you need extra hardware? How did you route to the battery? Good setup!

 

I looked into that mounting location with mine, but it seemed to hit my leg. I'll have to look and see if I can mount it farther back since I don't want people to bounce their leg off of it. Also, any problems with the glovebox opening in that spot?