Buyin a CB Radio. Which one?

Place the fuse between the radio and positive battery terminal.

... your radio should have the fuse in-line already.

 

Yes it does. It has one with the power cord, i heard all do.

 

A) Use a fuse somewhere in there. I suggest fusing both the positive and negative leads, but the positive only will suffice.

B) Any low Z ground will suffice no matter what it is in the vehicle.

C) Don't buy crappy coax. Coaxial cable is shielded and can be run alongside any cabling without worry. DC power doesn't induce hum. It's AC from the Alternator and Ignition you have to worry about.

 

Well I have crapy one i think. K30 antenna and wire is hard wired.

I had wired this thing like 5 times, trying to get rid of all static. Now I do not get any. Just saying what helped me. I do have a fuse btw.

 

Usually static picked up in a CB comes from things like the fuel pump, ignition, or the alternator. If it's "coming through the coax" It's usually RFI coming through the antenna. 95% of noise problems actually come through the power side. A Mix 31 ferrite bead helps pretty good with this.

When I had a HF radio in my previous vehicle, I had to ground the tail pipe, ferrite bead the fuel pump, and use a capacitor filter on the radio to remove most of the noise. I even ran a remote battery in the rear with a custom charging/filter system. I still had noise on 80 Meters from the ignition.

If you really want a radio to reach out, go get your Amateur Radio license and a 2 Meter radio. Much more useful than a CB when in the wilderness.

This is a good article:
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

 

what size firestik antenna, or other brand antenna if you have any suggestions, should i get off their website? 3 or 4 foot? i have a stock 2004 dbl cab prerunner and am looking at getting a cobra 29 or 25 ...

 

Get the 29 it has a built in SWR meter. For the antenna, you want the majority of it over the top of your truck, so mount high and get a short one or if you mount i low, get a tall one.
I have a k30 mag mount and i get guys pretty far off, that is if i have it on the roof.

EDIT: I have heard wilson 1000 mag mounts are amazing.