Coax length
 

Mounting an antenna on the spare tire bracket, (where you are not supposed to) then going along up to the front, thinking about above the rear view mirror, how short of coax can I get away with, without it pulling tight, 2018 jk 2 dr
looking at a president mickinley ssb cb.
It is recommended less than 13 ft

What you want is the shortest possible length of coax to reach the best possible location (one with a good ground plane, which is next to impossible on a Jeep). I'd ignore the "less than 13 ft" recommendation and just do the best you can. Keep in mind that, on a Jeep the antenna location--specifically the best possible ground plane--is going to be more critical than the length of coax to best radio performance. A foot or three extra coax just isn't going to make that much difference. And, if you run across anything that says you need a specific length (usually 18 feet for CB), ignore that, too. Some folks and one antenna manufacturer have confused considerations for installation of phased array antennas with installation of single antennas.

My background? I spent nearly a quarter century maintaining and flying (as a crewmember) the EC-130E Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center aircraft. During that time I was one of the lead government representatives with Lockheed Martin on the upgraded installation of the 30 HF, UHF, VHF, FM and SATCOM radios. Never at any time did anyone ever ask, "Is that coax the proper length?"

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Great post Mark :2thumbs:

Thanks, one less thing to worry about

Yes, what Mark said !

PS. Mark, for a moment I thought you traded in your Jeep for that 130 :)

C-130s are my former ride. ;-)

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That's me, front and center ...

What an awesome photo (not to mention the amazing memories you must have). A brother of mine was an Airborne Ranger and had a few stories to tell about the C-130. It must be something to be aboard one.

PS. I had a bad one liner about using 17' of rg-58 to the CB in the cockpit but I think I should just let the bad humor pass. ;)

That fellow I have my arm around is an Army Ranger. Our job was to get air support to the Army. He was a liaison, permanently assigned to the squadron. This was after the first combat flight of a JTIDS data link system, which delivered a lot of data to the battlestaff--AWACS radar picture, etc. Mission had been flown out of Italy over Bosnia, back in the very early days of that conflict (supporting U.N., before NATO became officially involved).

My brother was in traffic control in the Air Force,
33rd combat communications, then before he retired he was the tower chief at Tinker AFB, I don't think he knew much about how it all worked, but he talked on the radio a lot

I used an 18 ft coax cable on mine. Has enough of a loop between the tailgate and rear of the roll bar to open the tailgate. Not much extra left over. Works fine.

Woops, that's for my 4 door, I see you have a 2 door so you won't need as much.