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.

 

[Rick W]

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.

Man, @sgtsandman, if you were here, I’d give you a big kiss on the lips! (Well, maybe that would be over the top, so maybe some more appropriate expression of my thanks.)

So, I’ve been fighting the CB radio setups in this truck since I first put them in about three or four years ago. Let me interject my CB set ups over the years have always been first class. Not so much with this truck. It’s been probably a half dozen iterations and several different radios. I went from almost no ability to broadcast and receive, to none at all, and then back again. Grounding out the point where the antennas are mounted (I honestly don’t know how I missed that one myself) was obviously the trick. THANK YOU AGAIN!

I just cut some diamond plate to extend my Aluminum insert to cover the entire bottom of the old mirror mount, and then I grounded that to the door with a piece of 10 gauge copper. View from the bottom after, compared to the view from the bottom earlier above.

The two screws in the center go through both pieces of aluminum. The two on the corners just screw into the plastic. If you look at the one in the top left of the picture, again, I drilled two holes, and then looped the 10 gauge wire from one to the other from the top, and then I put the screw through the outside hole that holds it all together. I actually learned that grounding trick from a British guy when I worked for Colgate Palmolive in Ndola in Zambia, Africa, in ‘76 and ‘77. I don’t know if that would make it British engineering or African engineering, but I’ve used it where I’ve had problem grounds for 50 years, and it works every time.

When I left out this morning, I calibrated the antenna/SWR on the overhead Cobra 29 LTD classic. The holy grail TRS-465 single side band mounted by the stick shift does it internally electronically apparently. Starting with the Cobra, when I was able to build up the confidence and overcome the fear of another failure, I broadcast “I’ve got a new radio in my truck & can I get a Radio check?” One guy came back instantly with “It’s working, driver!” and then another sent “Sounds good, what kind of radio is that?” Chatted just long enough to find out he was about a mile and a half in front of me on the interstate, chatting like he was in the passenger seat. YESSSS!

After I stopped for some cheap gas ($4.41), I turned off the Cobra & turned on the Radio Shack SSB. Virtually the same broadcast brought back three responses immediately, basically the same as the Cobra. YESSSS! Soowheeett!!!

Man, it was the perfect shot in the arm after missing entitled woke bitch hit my door on Saturday. Now I can move on to other things I’ve wanted to do, actually moving forward instead of just spinning my wheels.