CB coax into cab....?

If I mount a CB antenna somewhere rear of the cab, where will the cable be able to enter the cab without having to drill a hole if possible?

2006 Access cab.

 

What about those vents between the bed and cab? Every year Tundra has them.

You can always run it to the engine bay and come in with all the other wires or hood cable.

 

I've been wanting a coax in my Tundra also for a ham radio install. I was thinking of going through a grommet on the fire wall that my electric brakes are using (drivers side). I would run the coax under the cab along the frame and up if I use a lip mount on the rear door, or maybe a lip mount on the left hood edge and then just into the engine bay.
Here's a pic of the place the wires are getting through the firewall.

 

I'm planning on an L-bracket attached to the side of my toolbox.

 

Should work fine. Drop the coax down between the cab and the bed and secure it along the frame and run up to that grommet and through. Some pre-made coax assemblies have a pl259 that comes apart and makes the diameter to pass through a lot smaller. Re-assemble once through. Or just solder or crimp the connector on after you poke the coax through. That's what I'm planning. My biggest hang up is what lip mount to buy. They're pretty pricey. Good luck on the install.

 

I have a rubber plug in the bottom of my passenger side cubby hole under the back seat, I have a few wires running up through there. Not sure if it's still there on the newer trucks though but worth a look.

 

All of my exterior wiring in run through the grommet under the carpet in the floor on the left side. It opens up right at the frame so you can easily run wiring along it.

 

Okay, another question. Sorry, noob here. Does the antenna mount need to be attached to a grounded location? I want to attach it to my aluminum toolbox. What are my options here?

 

Why not just ground your toolbox to the body of the truck? Aluminum is still conductive and yes, a monopole antenna needs a ground plane to help prevent unpredictable behavior and act like a dipole antenna.

 

If your toolbox is bolted to the bed and you attach the "L" bracket to the tool box you should be good to go. What kind of antenna are you using? Base loaded, center loaded, or a 1/4 wave whip? I think this is for a CB radio? A 1/4 wave whip will be the most efficient, but the downside is it's going to be about 97" long on 11 meters. A good center loaded antenna is a good option too without the length of a whip.

 

Should be getting delivered tomorrow, but I'm waiting on a Firestik fiberglass antenna, 4 feet long.
https://www.rightchannelradios.com/products/firestik-fs-cb-antenna

I keep hearing conflicting things regarding mounting to the toolbox. "You'll be good to go", "You'll need to ground the toolbox", etc. I'm just going to mount the L-bracket straight to the bed rail. I just want to be able to route the coax into the cab in the cleanest, neatest way possible. I've got a lot of good suggestions here as well as other places. Its just a matter of me getting under the truck and looking all around for the various entrance points and deciding what is best.

The way I see it, I really want to do the antenna and coax as best as I can. Because the radio I'm using is the inexpensive Cobra 19 mini that will plug into the cigarette lighter port. And if it works out and I start to get into the CB thing, upgrading the radio will be easy if the antenna is already properly mounted and coax cleanly routed. And who knows, maybe the Cobra 19 Mini will be all the radio I need. Life is an adventure.

 

Easiest way, open your driver's door. Remove the 4 screws for driver's door sill. Remove your driver's kick panel. Pull the carpet back from left front corner towards the seat. There you will see the gromet in the floor that is right above the frame rail. I poked a hole in the gromet and ran my wires through it. It takes just a few minutes to access and allows for a clean and hidden install.

 

That's been mentioned here and I've seen a couple youtube videos showing that. When I get some time this week, I'll take a look.

 

Not exactly sure of your antenna mounting plan. If you mount it to the bed rail that should form a good ground plane, but if the fire stick is now close to the toolbox (alongside it) it will couple with it and cause problems. Try to have the antenna in the clear and as far away from the cab or toolbox. You want the metal under the feed point, not along the antenna itself. If you have seen mag mount antennas, the feed point is above the surrounding metal and the radiating part of the antenna is above it. Some pics of your install would help.