I was looking to mount a ball type mount for a 102" whip, but i dont want to drill into my body of the jeep. I want to mount it on the hard top back corner. My questions are........What, how should i ground it? I was thinking of using the hard top mounting bolt to ground it on the inside. The reason for mounting on my hard top is it's already seen some carnage. Ill attach pic of where i want to mount and where i think i can ground. Also will i get good signal. My cobra has been tuned peaked. I just dont mind drilling a hole in the top. But the paint is still pretty.

 

I would not mount on the side. The back seems better to keep it out of the way (branches and stuff like that).

 

I thought about mounting it on the back. Although its double thick there. And im jusy plain tired of hearing it smack on my wiper. I currently have it mounted on a piece of 1/4 in. aluminum i bent and drilled myself to the tire carrier bolts. I think my spare is severely interfering with my antenna. I cant key up and talk loud without getting an antenna warning on my cb. I can hear everyone awesome like i always could just cant talk without warning popping up. Is this just bad ground? I'll post a pic too. BTW my swr when keyed up goes from normal 1.2-.1 all the way to 3.3 it jumps up and down without moving or even engine running. This is the whole reason for wanting to move my antenna really. Ive just used a tennis ball to make the smacking my antenna on wiper go away. Im really frustrated and didnt want to go to the cb shop and have em charge me $ to tell me anything. Lol

 

Sounds like a grounding problem.

Getting the feed point of the antenna out of that crevasse will only help you as well.

 

If your antenna is really close to the tire there is a good chance that all the steel in the tire, and the wheel itself, can be reacting to the antenna. Nothing wrong with attaching the ball mount to the hardtop there on the side, other than what was mentioned.....hitting bushes or branches and such. Your signal will be somewhat directional is all. Then ground it with a good ground STRAP to a bolt. You may want to add another strap from the body to the frame as well. As long as you have continuity from your mount all the way to the frame you should be good to go.

One thing to remember.....A 102" whip has a lot of torque. EVEN if you use a heavy duty spring. I would suggest putting as large of a steel, or aluminum plate on the inside of the hardtop to attach the ball mount bolt/s to. I wouldn't count on just the fiberglass being strong enough to hold all that antenna and mount. Maybe you've already thought of this?