Hi!

I am looking at installing a CB antenna on the Freelander 2, to use it with a portable CB station. I would prefer to install a fixed antenna (or fixed mount, the antenna itself can be taken on/off) but I have no ideea on where to put this on the car. I would prefer this over the magnetic mount option as this can be easily fly off the car in a forest.

Anybody here installed something like this? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Do you have roof rails on your FL2, the ones that run front to back  ______________________
2011 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8
2012 FL2 SD4 Auto HSE
2013 Kawasaki Versys 650

No. But I intend to buy some horizontal ones (Thule) and a roof rack (also Thule). These will be installed without the roof rails.

Use a magnetic antenna, placed on the centre of the hood/bonnet.
In this way the antenna wont be so high and for sure can't fly off, especially on the forest.
If, for some reason, the vegetation will remove the antenna, for sure that vegetation will stop into the windshield...
And it's easy to route the cable through the firewall.
When is not mounted, the base of the antena could rest easily in the space between the two firewalls.
There is an access point (for the AC pipes) through the top cover, in front of the passenger.
Have a look through there and you'll see the wide space and the rubber grommet through where you'll route the cable.

I'm another advocate for a magnetic mount! There are very strong magnetic mounts available these days and it certainly would not be knocked off, especially if you mounted it it on the side, to one of the rear panels with a swivel mount, allowing the cable to be fed through the tailgate.
That way, you would have to knock off one of your wing mirrors before getting anywhere near the magnetic mount and as Alex has mentioned, the antenna would not be too high 'being side mounted' and less vulnerable than if mounted on the roof.

Thanks all!

The reason I would rather go for a fixed mount is that I had previously a magnetic mount on another offroad car and I was not satisfied with its performance. From my experience, what happens when offroading (which is where I would mostly use the CB station) is one of the following:
- then antena tends to cling into branches and gets pulled from its location. It's no problem if you hit a soft branch with the windshield while going very slowly, but the antena clings in it and gets pulled.
- if you have a rocky terrain, from all the bumps the magnet tends to get loose and the mount can come off. This is how I lost my previous antena.

For this reasons, I would preffer a fixed mount where I can attach the antena.

odd suggestion maybe but on a towbar? with an extension similar to a bike rack At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Not odd at all CG, a few years back, well quite a few years back I had a quick release for my towball manufactured. The only thing is the 'ground plane' is directional because the metalwork of the car is off centre so to speak, so signal strength/performance will be dependent on which way the car is facing.

Being at the back on the 'ball' will keep the base of the aerial protected from branches etc and what gets hit should flex OK.

tow ball mount sideways to give ramblers a good twang as you drive past  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

they bloody deserve it an all

chicken george wrote:

odd suggestion maybe but on a towbar? with an extension similar to a bike rack

Sounds interesting, but the reason I have not mountet a tow bar yet is that I believe all of them will reduce the departure angle when offroading... Plus, I don't have anything to tow

If you did have the roof rails then RLD (uncle Ray) on the D3 sister site does an antenna mount that bolts onto the rails. If you're getting roof bars then there are antenna mounts out there that fit the roof bars.

http://www.4x4cb.com/public/menu.cfm?Category=457


Dave ______________________
2011 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8
2012 FL2 SD4 Auto HSE
2013 Kawasaki Versys 650

Hello MihaiB, Out here, it's very common to fit extra UHF aerials on a small tailored stainless steel bracket that slots under the edge of the bonnet, often secured via a wing mounting bolt, with the aerial mounted out side the bonnet, and the lead feeding under the edge of the bonnet to the receiver. If you go to www.cellit.com.au and then follow the links to 'brackets and cables' and then 'quality stainless steel Z antenna bracket', there's an illustration that is much clearer than my explanation! Hope it's of some help.

i use a mag mount on the roof with a thunderpole antenna thats the one with the big coil spring on it has worked fine for me in all conditions  rainy-city
xs

egipp wrote:

Hello MihaiB, Out here, it's very common to fit extra UHF aerials on a small tailored stainless steel bracket that slots under the edge of the bonnet, often secured via a wing mounting bolt, with the aerial mounted out side the bonnet, and the lead feeding under the edge of the bonnet to the receiver. If you go to www.cellit.com.au and then follow the links to 'brackets and cables' and then 'quality stainless steel Z antenna bracket', there's an illustration that is much clearer than my explanation! Hope it's of some help.