The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[Rick W]

I'm having a bit of a hard time envisioning how you have the antenna connected and mounted.

Is the block that the antenna mounted to attached to the metal in the door so it can provide a base plain for the antenna? Is the antenna directly touching the aluminium block? Without both the antenna connecting to the block and the block connecting to the door, there is nothing providing a ground plain for the antenna and thus why you aren't able to transmit or receive.

On my ball mount for the 102" whip, the center wire of the coax is connected to the center screw of the mount for transmission and receiving. The braided wire connects to the C ring that clamps the mount to body of the truck and provides the ground plain for the antenna both trough the body and for the radio. I don't think the mount and the antenna are electrically isolated, so there is a complete circuit. If the block and the base of the antenna are electrically isolated in anyway, that may be your problem.

Oh wise one….

So here is a picture of the bottom side of the mirror mount/CB antenna mount. (ignore the fat head in the bottom of the picture)

The isolated antenna is in the middle, and if you look close at the left screw in the pic, you can see the braided shield wire folded through two holes and bound in place by that screw. The plastic mirror holder is entirely plastic, held in place by three imbedded (in the plastic) bolts that bolt against the outside sheet metal door skin. Some options:

(1) The easiest thing to do would be to run run a wire from that pinched shield weave wire to one of the three bolts that pinches that assembly to the door skin, making sure I clean it to get a good ground.

(2) To create an even better ground plane, I was thinking of taking a copper wire down one side of that mirror assembly, and a second one down the other side of the mirror assembly and drilling them into the door skin hidden at the far edges of that assembly. Triangle shape.

(3) the other option is to fabricate a thin aluminum plate, the size and shape of the bottom of that assembly, put a screw into the aluminum piece, and have the other side fold up behind that assembly and attach it to the door with a screw at each end. I’d probably put in four or six tiny screws to hold that aluminum plate flush to the bottom of the assembly. Think of a triangle with a fold that goes behind that mirror bracket that is screwed into the door.

And regardless of which option, I am not sure how the door is grounded to the main body of the truck, but I was thinking I’ll run a ground wire at the top of the door and maybe a second ground wire at the bottom of the door. Overkill?

Here’s my question: do you think option 3 is really necessary compared to 1 or 2? Or Will simply running one or two wires from that Aluminum mount to the door skin be adequate enough. Such a fabricated aluminum plate would not be very hard to fabricate from my stock in the shed of miracles….

And thanks again for your help on this.

 

[sgtsandman]

Oh wise one….

So here is a picture of the bottom side of the mirror mount/CB antenna mount. (ignore the fat head in the bottom of the picture)

View attachment 141863

The isolated antenna is in the middle, and if you look close at the left screw in the pic, you can see the braided shield wire folded through two holes and bound in place by that screw. The plastic mirror holder is entirely plastic, held in place by three imbedded (in the plastic) bolts that bolt against the outside sheet metal door skin. Some options:

(1) The easiest thing to do would be to run run a wire from that pinched shield weave wire to one of the three bolts that pinches that assembly to the door skin, making sure I clean it to get a good ground.

(2) To create an even better ground plane, I was thinking of taking a copper wire down one side of that mirror assembly, and a second one down the other side of the mirror assembly and drilling them into the door skin hidden at the far edges of that assembly. Triangle shape.

(3) the other option is to fabricate a thin aluminum plate, the size and shape of the bottom of that assembly, put a screw into the aluminum piece, and have the other side fold up behind that assembly and attach it to the door with a screw at each end. I’d probably put in four or six tiny screws to hold that aluminum plate flush to the bottom of the assembly. Think of a triangle with a fold that goes behind that mirror bracket that is screwed into the door.

And regardless of which option, I am not sure how the door is grounded to the main body of the truck, but I was thinking I’ll run a ground wire at the top of the door and maybe a second ground wire at the bottom of the door. Overkill?

Here’s my question: do you think option 3 is really necessary compared to 1 or 2? Or Will simply running one or two wires from that Aluminum mount to the door skin be adequate enough. Such a fabricated aluminum plate would not be very hard to fabricate from my stock in the shed of miracles….

And thanks again for your help on this.

The door would be grounded to the body via the hinges. I'm not sure how good the ground will be, but that would be pretty much it. You might want to consider getting some of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C7WSMY?tag=959media-20

I have a bunch of those bonding and grounding a bunch of things though out the truck. More to eliminate EMF generation by the truck than needing a good ground plain. The 2011 is a horrible EMF generator.