CB radio coaxial cable length for an '01 Tacoma

Hello, I have been working on getting a Cobra 19 Ultra III CB radio installed in my 2001 Toyota Tacoma, so far all I have installed is the Cobra 19 itself and a 50 watt PA speaker (which works perfectly by the way). I just finished purchasing an Astatic SWR meter which came with a 3 ft coax cable to use as a jumper along with a four foot Firestik Firefly antenna. As of now, I am thinking about mounting the antenna on existing holes that run along the walls of my truck's bed, I can take some pictures if anybody would like to see them. Regardless, the real question I would like answered here is how long my coaxial cable should be that I need to purchase to link my antenna to the CB radio. I have been looking at some on eBay which range from 12 ft to 20 ft; still I am not all to sure how much wire I am actually going to need. If anybody could give me some advice, I would appreciate it greatly.


Thank you,

asianfromthecongo


Also, as a side note, if anybody could give me some mounting advice that would be helpful as well as I still have not decided nor purchased an antenna mount; thanks.

 

The average length is usually around 18 feet. It's hard to say what you will need though since you don't know where you're mounting your antenna.

 

either way if you have too much coax do not coil or roll up the extra. it acts as a choke and you lose distance.

 

Alright, thanks for the information LUSETACO and jake72. I have been looking at an 18 ft UHF cable on eBay for $12.49 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-ft-Mini-8-RG8x-Coax-UHF-PL-259-Male-to-Male-Gray-95-Shielded-/281114739555?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Coaxial_Cables_Connectors&hash=item4173be8363) and i'm seriously considering buying it right now.

Is there anything that I could with extra coax cable if I end up with too much slack in my connection?

Thank you again,
asianfromthecongo

 

One more thing before I head out...

I have these holes along the walls of my '01 Tacoma's bed and I have been wondering if I could use them to mount my 4' Firestik Firefly antenna somehow.

If anybody has any ideas and/or has a mount that I should consider, please tell me.

Pictures of the holes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3FZCkSmB8qlOENwaUllNlhWb3c/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3FZCkSmB8qlTWtycUc3SEs2bnc/edit?usp=sharing

 

That coax would work fine for your application. Did you not receive a bracket with the Firestik? Any run of the mill bracket will work in the bed where those holes are. You will need to scrape that bed liner off to bare metal though. Also don't forget the stud to go along with it.

 

Thank you for the run up response LUSETACO! I have a few more questions...

Does this mean that there isn't anything bad about having some extra cable left over? jake72 advised me not to "coil or roll up the extra [coax]" because "it acts as a choke and you lose distance."
What should I do with the extra cable if I have any, just tuck it away behind something?

Also, I haven't gotten my Firestik delivered in the mail yet and i'm not sure whether or not it came with a bracket. However, either way, do I really have to scrape of my bed liner to the bare metal? or can I just mount the antenna on top of it?

I'm looking to do the least structural modification to my truck I can while still installing this CB radio.

Thank you again,
asianfromthecongo

 

Any extra coax can be randomly coiled. Just be sure not to coil it tightly, that's when there are issues. You won't have a good ground if that mount is not metal to metal, so yes it is important. If you hadn't bought the Firestik already I would have suggested a mag mount. Much easier and less invasive.

 

I have a 01 and got 18 ft. Of coax and it was just enough no extra to worry about coiling

 

A few tidbits I've picked up along the way and can only assume they are valid......at least (min) of half the length of the antennae should be above the cab and preferably near center. Excess coax to form either a large circle or if space is limited, circle eights. Helps to run an additional ground wire from the mount to the frame.
All of the above is second hand info but has worked well for me. In the hunting woods we often have to communicate over long distances.......sometimes miles

 

The length of your Coax should be a function of the specific antenna you decide to purchase. The idea is to have the electrical length of your antenna be a multiple of the frequency wavelength you are transmitting... Been to many years sense I shopped CBs and antennas to tell you the right combo now, back in the day I ran a k40 with the stock cable that came with it. I also ran a power amp that added 150 watts of power at times...

 

has anyone tried less than 18ft of cable and measured their SWR? What were the SWR results with cable length of say, 10ft or there abouts? My cable length is at approx 18ft, but had to coil the rest. My SWR, measured to the best of my ability given the terrain averaged between 1.3 and 1.6, which is pretty good and typical. I want to get rid of the extra length coil, but don't want to "redo" the whole cabling if I "jack-up" my SWR So I guess my question, does anyone have roughly 10ft of cable and still have roughly 1.5 for the SWR? That "I" know of, the better your SWR the more "efficient" your power out of the radio is to the power out of your antenna (i.e. 4W out of radio is roughly 4W transmitting out... very minimal loss of transmitting power... thus, giving max range). Just wondering before I go tearing up my cabling Finally, what is your approx cable length that you guys ended with and still have decent SWR?

I also know this much, which is why SWR to me is so important, if your SWR is NOT good, say 3 and above, you will eventually damage your radio

 

Coax length will have very little effect on SWR. Also you shouldn't coil excess coax. Just loop it around randomly. Why do you feel the need to get rid of the extra cable?

 

I have it bunched up under the dash in a "coil". That I know of, it hasn't affected range? I will uncoil and loop randomly then. This will be interesting have cable just seemingly endlessly going everywhere I mean, I have like around 4-6ft (approx) left over. I have a reg cab Taco and mounted the antenna mount in the middle just behind the cab. It comes along side the bed rail (i.e. next to the cab), goes through a rubber boot, alonge the passenger floorboar/door jam (under the plastic door jam), then around the passenger side foot area (under the dash), and finally to the CB where the cig ashtray used to be. Pretty clean install, but the extra cable was quite a bit. I'll take a picture if anyone wants to see it? Either way, that is the reason of getting rid of the extra cable. I still am working on the mount actually as well, but for the most part it is done. Oh, also, the extra coil length, actually gets in the way of how I have it and I didn't really know where else to put it So, I just coiled it... fairly lightly... and shoved it under the dash and tied down with zip ties in certain spots That's the only, not-so-clean, part of the install I didn't like Anyways, I think you get the idea.

Thank you for responding. I will uncoil and see what I can do and/or where I can randomly loop the cable. Take care.

Interesting on SWR? I read... somewhere... that the cable length MUST BE no less than approx 18ft and, if I remember right, SWR would get pretty bad. Not those exact words, but I do remember the 18ft being pretty important I must have misunderstood somewhere along the lines (no pun intended... LOL)

Thank you Luse!!! I will try this and see what I come up with.

 

The whole 18 feet and multiples of three for coax is a load of BS. coax length will not effect performance or SWR. If you really have that much extra just cut off the unneeded amount or buy a shorter length.

 

Cover me, I'm going in

Thanks Luse. I figured the feed line length shouldn't affect too much I mean, an antenna, in an ideal world, should be approx 50ohm (well, in this case) and the output of the radio is approx 50ohm (that I know of for my radio)... thus, if the cabling has very little loss, it is "matched"... so-to-speak. Then you have capacitance issues the longer the run... anyways... not trying to make too big of a deal here. Just wanting ideas if anything and I think cutting the cable to a little bit of shorter length would be okay to do. I know how and have the tools to crimp a connector.

Thank you Luse and I agree.