I just bought a Cobra 29LTD from cartoys.com for 90 bucks with free shipping.... which seems like a good deal.

I am going to install it soon and need to buy cable/antenna. I am going with a 3 or 4 foot fire stick and prob mount it to the license plate bracket with a ground.

I need to buy some antenna cable and was wondering how long of a cable i would need to run it from above the rear view mirror to the back of my jeep?


Thanks in advance

 

So should i get a 5 footer then ...if its just over the top then the extra foot would be better i assume

I will not be running a lift or parking in garages so having one thats to big is not an issue..i just dont want it to look stupid

 

yea good idea..... ill prob tape something on and see how it looks....

any idea about the length of cable to run?

 

I just picked up a Cobra 75 and am looking at mounting the antenna on the license plate as well. I had been looking at mounting it on the gate, but the more I think about it, the less I want to mount the antenna somewhere that puts the cable through lots of flexing on a regular basis.

Anyway, Cool Tech LLC sells a complete kit for mounting the antenna on the license plate holder. If you hit their web site, look under the Jeep section for the Ultramount Kit. It comes with a welded bracket that fits inside the license plate holder, a 4' FireStik, an 18' FireRing cable with all the proper connectors, and a grounding strap so you don't have to worry about grounding through the body. It may be a bit pricey at $89 + $10 S&H, but it's an all-in-one kit. By comparison, you can get all the parts aside from the mounting bracket from Amazon (or rather, a 3rd party selling from Amazon) for around $50 shipped.

As for cable length, 18' is apparently long enough to run from the license plate bracket to underneath the glove box even on a 4-door. I don't know about running it to above the rear view mirror though. Since I've got a 2-door, 18' is going to be a bit of overkill for me.

 

Mine is a 2 door as well and i might even run it along the inside of the roll cage padding or just along the roll bars instead of through the floor. I will prob just make my own bracket and pick up connectors at the local shop...so i guess i might just run the 18' and see how it goesalthough if its alot longer i might have to route it a longer was so i dont have a coil of coax somewhere....which is not good for your rf.

 

You've got a point there... It might be worth it to take a string and measure out the cable path first.

 

yup another good idea.

Ill probably get a tunable fire stick....and hopefully somewhere at my work will have an SWR meter.

I'm and engineer and work with alot of electrical guys so im sure we got somethign like that kicking around

 

I was also looking at the Wilson Flex as a possible alternative to the FireStik. From what I can gather, the FireStik can pull in a better signal, but it's quite rigid. The Wilson Flex (supposedly) doesn't pull in a signal quite as well, but you can bend it nearly 180 degrees. While I'm not sure it'll be necessary, having the antenna being able to give rather than snap if something hits it might well be worth a little sensitivity. I guess the value placed on that depends more on the type of trails you run than anything else.

As for the SWR meter, you can pick one up at any truck stop for $20~$30, or order one online for $10~$20. The guy who sold me the CB sent me a SWR meter as part of the kit, so that was one less thing I had to worry about.

 

i wont be running trails in my jeep. i have an old truck for that...the one in my avatar...79 f-100 ranger short bed ...putting a 460 in it next weekend....hell yea nothing like a 7.5 liter big block

 

My setup used a 17' cable and everything works great. I've provided a link with more information from my photo album below.

Midland 1001Z with Firestik M2 Side Mount Antenna Kit

The kit provides for a very clean installation on a JK rear license plate bracket. There are no exposed wires. The 17' cable that comes with the M2 kit might not reach the destination you are looking to reach though.