New to CB's, advice and wisdom wanted.

Hey everyone, my Dad's truck had a CB in it so I decided to pick one up for when we go wheeling.

I looked around and got a couple items. I managed to get a 3 foot Barjan fiberglass antenna (with cable) for cheap. I also scored a Uniden PRO510XL CB for free. I have no idea how old it is but it's 100% new, it still has all the packing material on it and has never been used. I was just wondering what you all thought of the radio. I've heard it is a pretty good radio for off-road rigs.

So I'm just needing some advice on how to set up my new system. Where is the best place to mount the antenna and how? The CB has wire coming out of it with a fuse, I was just going to attach to a cigarette lighter so I can move the rig to the other truck with the antenna. Also I am wondering where to run the antenna cable.

Just go ahead and spout info, I'm all ears.

Does the antenna have any type of mount on it? You'll get the best performance if you mount it on the roof of the cab. You can use either a magnet mount or a permanent mount (drill a hole in the roof ) You can mount it other places too, but you want to avoid putting it directly behind the cab. Antennas work best if there is nothing right next to them. You want clear space on all sides of the antenna. 3 feet is pretty short for a CB antenna, so you will want a good location to make up for it.

If you're just using it for wheeling and talking with people really close by, then all these things aren't as important. When you want to talk to people a mile or more away, it becomes important.

To get the best performance, and to avoid damage to the radio, you'll need to get the antenna tuned. You do this after the antenna is mounted and the coax is ran. If you change the location of the antenna, you need to get it re-tuned.

exbass94 said:

Does the antenna have any type of mount on it? You'll get the best performance if you mount it on the roof of the cab. You can use either a magnet mount or a permanent mount (drill a hole in the roof ) You can mount it other places too, but you want to avoid putting it directly behind the cab. Antennas work best if there is nothing right next to them. You want clear space on all sides of the antenna. 3 feet is pretty short for a CB antenna, so you will want a good location to make up for it.

If you're just using it for wheeling and talking with people really close by, then all these things aren't as important. When you want to talk to people a mile or more away, it becomes important.

To get the best performance, and to avoid damage to the radio, you'll need to get the antenna tuned. You do this after the antenna is mounted and the coax is ran. If you change the location of the antenna, you need to get it re-tuned.

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I got it mostly for when I am out wheeling, nothing super far or life critical. The antenna came with a mirror mount but since I don't have tube mirrors I was thinking of mounting it on an 'L' shaped bracket on the hood, like how Fx4wannabe has his mounted. How would I go about getting the antenna tuned? Thanks for the help.

Go get yourself an SWR meter. This will tell you if your antenna is tuned or not (and which way you need to go to get it tuned).

All what exbass said is good info. I would suggest a good strong magnetic mount for the antenna and drop it dead-center on your roof.

The 510XL is a great little compact radio. Running it off the cigarette lighter socket sometimes can be hit-or-miss though. If you find it starts to cut out when you speak (or sounds fuzzy or muffled) you might not be getting enough power to the radio and would need to wire it straight up to your truck's battery.

MountainMike said:

Hey everyone, my Dad's truck had a CB in it so I decided to pick one up for when we go wheeling.

I looked around and got a couple items. I managed to get a 3 foot Barjan fiberglass antenna (with cable) for cheap. I also scored a Uniden PRO510XL CB for free. I have no idea how old it is but it's 100% new, it still has all the packing material on it and has never been used. I was just wondering what you all thought of the radio. I've heard it is a pretty good radio for off-road rigs.

So I'm just needing some advice on how to set up my new system. Where is the best place to mount the antenna and how? The CB has wire coming out of it with a fuse, I was just going to attach to a cigarette lighter so I can move the rig to the other truck with the antenna. Also I am wondering where to run the antenna cable.

Just go ahead and spout info, I'm all ears.

Click to expand...

510's are good radios, that's what most of our company rigs have in them.
And if you wanna be able to disconnect it/reconnect it pretty easy, you can clip the ground wire, and the power wire behind the fuse on the radio, run 12 gauge wire from the battery to where ever your mounting the CB, and just attach it with some wing nuts, and then do the same thing in the other rig....just an idea.

I mounted my antenna on the front driver side corner of my bed, not exactly the best place, but I've got out at least 10 miles before....just gotta make sure you have your antenna tuned. All the auto parts/electronics stores around here have SWR meters you can use, so you might wanna check that out before you buy one.

4x4junkie said:

All what exbass said is good info. I would suggest a good strong magnetic mount for the antenna and drop it dead-center on your roof.

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Where would I route the cable for that set up? Am I basically forced to drill and grommet a hole in my cab?

4x4junkie said:

The 510XL is a great little compact radio. Running it off the cigarette lighter socket sometimes can be hit-or-miss though. If you find it starts to cut out when you speak (or sounds fuzzy or muffled) you might not be getting enough power to the radio and would need to wire it straight up to your truck's battery.

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I'll make sure I keep an eye on it and see, shouldn't be too hard to run it too the battery.

willievhook said:

510's are good radios, that's what most of our company rigs have in them.
And if you wanna be able to disconnect it/reconnect it pretty easy, you can clip the ground wire, and the power wire behind the fuse on the radio, run 12 gauge wire from the battery to where ever your mounting the CB, and just attach it with some wing nuts, and then do the same thing in the other rig....just an idea.

Click to expand...

That's pretty a pretty good idea.

willievhook said:

I mounted my antenna on the front driver side corner of my bed, not exactly the best place, but I've got out at least 10 miles before....just gotta make sure you have your antenna tuned. All the auto parts/electronics stores around here have SWR meters you can use, so you might wanna check that out before you buy one.

Click to expand...

Do you have any pics of your routing for the coax, I'm still not 100% sure on how to get it out of the truck. What place would you recommend to ask about lending an SWR meter? Like NAPA or somewhere, Because of my location I am kind of limited in shop choices.

Also, when tuning it, I'm cutting the antenna to get some setting lower. Can one of you elaborate a little bit? I'm not sure I get who cutting the antenna affect anything, or why I'm even chopping up my brand new antenna.

MountainMike said:

Do you have any pics of your routing for the coax, I'm still not 100% sure on how to get it out of the truck. What place would you recommend to ask about lending an SWR meter? Like NAPA or somewhere, Because of my location I am kind of limited in shop choices.



Also, when tuning it, I'm cutting the antenna to get some setting lower. Can one of you elaborate a little bit? I'm not sure I get who cutting the antenna affect anything, or why I'm even chopping up my brand new antenna.

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Right behind the driver seat, i unscrewed the plastic piece beneath the back seat, unscrewed all the carpet and pulled it up, there is a hole under there, maybe it was drilled by the PO, but it looks like it came there. I then unscrewed the plastic along the door holding the carpet down, and ran my coax through there...gotta make sure you don't screw into the wire though when you put the plastic back on. I mounted my CB right above where my right leg would be when I'm driving, so I ran the coax above where my feet are, gotta get a little creative to keep it up outta the way. I'll get pics tomorrow when I go over to my parents, sorry, it probably sounds confusing.

The NAPA around here, I just asked them if they could tune my radio, and they did, same with the guys at like Radioshack.
I don't think you want to cut your antenna, there is a screw at the top, under the rubber cover, that you turn in order to tune the radio. They do make 2 foot fiberglass antennas, but I would stick with a 3'. I've hit plenty of branches and other things with mine, and it hasn't broke, or even came near, and I don't have a spring.

Mounting an antenna is always a trade off. The very best place for performance is right in the middle of the roof. From there, the performance falls off.

Mount it on the left side of the vehicle, and it will have better transmission to the right, due to the groundplane effect. Mount it on the bumper, then it'll transmit forward with very little to the rear, and vice versa.

Routing the coax requires that you don't make any coils (this includes running multiple runs of the coax behind the seat or along a trim panel.) , since this will cause a "choke" and affect the ability to transmit.

chazzone said:

Routing the coax requires that you don't make any coils (this includes running multiple runs of the coax behind the seat or along a trim panel.) , since this will cause a "choke" and affect the ability to transmit.

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But I've always heard/read to make a figure 8 with thhe excess coax....

willievhook said:

The NAPA around here, I just asked them if they could tune my radio, and they did, same with the guys at like Radioshack.

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Cool, I'll have to make some phone calls tomorrow.

willievhook said:

I don't think you want to cut your antenna, there is a screw at the top, under the rubber cover, that you turn in order to tune the radio. They do make 2 foot fiberglass antennas, but I would stick with a 3'. I've hit plenty of branches and other things with mine, and it hasn't broke, or even came near, and I don't have a spring.

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I don't know where I heard cutting from but for some reason it stuck in my head, turning a screw makes a lot more sense. I think the 3' should work alright for the purpose I am going to use this CB for.

chazzone said:

Mounting an antenna is always a trade off. The very best place for performance is right in the middle of the roof. From there, the performance falls off.

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I know this isn't optimal for performance but I am not a big fa of a big magnet on my roof, it has a dent in it (don't ask me how it got there) and I've noticed the metal flexes an awful lot. I was going to mount it opposite the regular antenna on the from fender using a bracket from the hood slot, maybe a little bit forward to get it away from the cab.

chazzone said:

Routing the coax requires that you don't make any coils (this includes running multiple runs of the coax behind the seat or along a trim panel.) , since this will cause a "choke" and affect the ability to transmit.

Click to expand...

So zig-zag the excess coax?

Here's my mount Mike. It's the same as Shane's (FX4wannabe01) except mine isn't cut down like his is. I can get a better picture if you'd like.

To get my coax into the cab, I ran it through an existing rubber grommet in the floor. It's right behind the door and there's one on both sides of the truck. I mounted my antenna in the driver side rear stake pocket.

Toms984x4 said:

Here's my mount Mike. It's the same as Shane's (FX4wannabe01) except mine isn't cut down like his is. I can get a better picture if you'd like.

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That is a great idea for a mount ! I am doing the same dance around my truck trying to figure out where to mount mine.

I would love to see some pics with the hood up.

Also i didnt see a coax coming out the bottom of ur antenna?

RangerSkate28 said:

That is a great idea for a mount ! I am doing the same dance around my truck trying to figure out where to mount mine.

I would love to see some pics with the hood up.

Also i didnt see a coax coming out the bottom of ur antenna?

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Some more pics would be killer Tom. I'm trying to find the mount that Shane has but do you know where he bough it from?

RangerSkate28 said:

That is a great idea for a mount ! I am doing the same dance around my truck trying to figure out where to mount mine.

I would love to see some pics with the hood up.

Also i didnt see a coax coming out the bottom of ur antenna?

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In that picture, I was waiting for the coax and CB to arrive. I had the mount and my old antenna so I installed it. I will take some pictures with the hood up so you can see where I routed my coax.

MountainMike said:

Some more pics would be killer Tom. I'm trying to find the mount that Shane has but do you know where he bough it from?

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I don't remember the part number but he said it was for a 99+ F250 IIRC. I bought mine from him. He cut his down so it's not as big. I left mine "stock" so it sticks up a bit. I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning so you can see it better.