myCB problems

[Wicked_Sludge]

heres the brace i was refering to:

it runs from the transmission hump toward the pedals. see how just before it dissapears into the dash, i drilled a hole and use a self tapping screw to ground items. i have several items grounded here, the CB is on the bottom of the stack.

heres my mount:

the scratches are from the magnetic mount that i had...which was my primary motivation for removing it. note how wide the base is. i went with the mount because its designed to be used on thin items like sheet metal or fiberglass. it has a huge flat washer under the metal that spreads the force out so it doesnt bend the sheet metal.

the antenna:

you can get perminent mounts with a coax screw connection on the bottom, but due to space constraints in that mounting location, i went with a cut+splice type connection. you simply cut the plug off the coax at the length you want, strip away the sheathing and sheilding to expose the inner conductor, then crimp or solder (i soldered) a normal ring terminal onto it. the terminal then bolts to the base of the antenna mount. its very solid and compact.

 

[htjunkie1]

Coax has to be 18' to get a flat SWR reading. Don't cutthe coax. Some antennas are tunable, meaning that the steel mast can be taken up or down. Some fiberglass ones have a tuning tip on the top of it. The ones that dont have anything like this need to be trimmed. 1/4 inch at a time to get the best SWR reading. If you look, You can see the wire inside the antenna. Also, make sure that the antenna is grounding properly, and on the radio side, try and run the shortest ground possible.Do not "coil" the extra coax that you have. Try and run it up and down under the seats or something. Coiling it will also throw the SWR's off. Hope this helps.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

Coax has to be 18' to get a flat SWR reading.

thats what i was talking about. ive heard that is a myth...and my setup seems to support that theory. my coax started out as 18' and i cut several feet off and i still dont get worse then 1.5:1.

 

[htjunkie1]

You got lucky. I worked at a CB shop for 4 years, and I never saw one that low in with short coax. What brand of antenna and CB are you running? Here's my set up.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

cb is a mid-range midland model (wanted a PA). antenna is whatever the local radio shop had in stock. it uses 2 threaded rings at the base of the antenna for tuning (see pic 2), super easy to tune.

how can a guy get lucky when hooking up a CB? it either performs well or it doesnt. i see no reason someone else couldnt copy this setup and get the same SWR readings

 

[htjunkie1]

I meant lucky cause I've never seen one that low with short coax. Remember when tuning SWR's, Your actually tuning the antenna to the truck, So being a smaller truck, that might be the reason for the low SWR's.

 

[ranger4wd4l]

in my ranger i routed the cb coax through the light in back of the cab. Had to notch the cab alittle bit.. Then just put some putty to make it water prof