Alabama thread!

black them out. plasti-dipping them takes no time and looks great

 

WabFab Offroad
http://www.wabfab.org/

 

Are you using the built in SWR meter or outboard SWR meter? Also, and I can't stress this enough, DC ground as read by a volt meter, is not the same thing as RF ground. If you've got a piece of 12ga or some variety of stranded copper wire as a "ground" it's just becoming a radial as part of the antenna system. If it does actually help tune the antenna, it's not functioning to bond the antenna to ground, but rather as changing the electrical length of the antenna. If you want to actually bond the antenna to ground, you'll need to use a braided strap. You can strip the braid off of a piece of coax and use that as long as it's less than about 10" or so. Any longer and you're back to using it as part of the radiating antenna.

Brian is going the right direction by fabbing a mount for the hood. The hood is electrically bonded to the firewall and fenders, and it's dramatically easier to get the antenna to tune at resonance. If you put braided ground strap between the hood and the firewall near each hinge, it is even better.

That's a lot of info, and I know most people don't really care a whole helluva lot about CB'ing, but the bad rap it gets for performance is generally due to improperly installed and tuned antenna systems. Resonance doesn't just help transmission, it also helps reception. For instance, on my HF ham radio I've got a remotely tunable coil antenna that some of you guys saw on my truck. The whole point is to tune it up a <1.5 SWR so I don't cook the radio. 200w reflected back into the finals will do some serious damage to a solid state radio. However, if I'm on say 3.750 mhz, and the antenna is tuned for 28.350 mhz, if I can even hear a station transmitting, it will be very weak. If I then tune the antenna to match on 3.750 mhz, the station comes in 2-3 S units higher. That doesn't mean anything to most people, but it's a 12-18dB increase in signal. 16-64x received signal strength. (dB being log scale and 3dB doubling the signal) It makes a big difference.

 

Using the built in swr meter would I get a better ground connection if I moved my mount to the truck bed by the tail gate n off the tool box to run the braided wire straight to the frame

 

Yeah. If you can mount it near the tailgate / back of the bed / d-rings, there's subframe under there that you could bond to with braid. I'd be willing to bet you'll have a lot easier time tuning it up there. My HF antenna is mounted directly to that subframe through the hole where one of the D-Rings used to be.

Also, beware the built in SWR meter. They're notoriously inaccurate.

 

OK I'm going to move the mount to the back and see how that works as a good ground

 

Here's a really good source of information on grounding for mobile radio equipment. The HF portion of the ham bands is around the same wavelength as CB (10M vs 11M) so the physics principles still apply.

http://www.k0bg.com/ground.html

This guy has TONS of information on his site, and succinctly put, knows his sh..tuff...

 

What does "not reading" mean? Are you sayinng the needle on the SWR meter is deflecting all the way into the red or the needle is not moving at all? For the former, check the radio connections (+ & -), coax, connectors, antenna, and antenna ground. For the latter, check the position of the switches (FWD/REF, SWR, etc), test using various channels (1 & 40), and try another meter.

 

Thought I'd stop in and wave a hand to my fellow neighbors..

 

Well, hello yourself and welcome, Jonathon. We're not very formal here in this thread, or anywhere on TW, so feel free to jump into any topic or discussion as you see fit.

 

No it is reading in the red all the way in th red n says antenna failure on cb

 

Well for one, it depends on what you mean by "around" Montgomery. In some areas of Alabama "around" could mean within 60 miles! lol. What specific work are you needing done? I own a shop in Marion, which is about 80 miles from Montgomery. Yes, it is a drive from there, but my shop is an ASE certified facility, and I have over 20 years experience in the field, and I am capable of all manners of diagnostics and repair for most every make out there. I also am able to install lift kits and aftermarket accessories. I don't have a tire shop here yet, though, and I don't expect to have one anytime very soon either. The market here doesn't support the competition.

 

what city?
EDIT: my smilies are messing up

 

This ^^^ What part of Alabama you from?

 

well guys i have some AWESOME NEWS!!!!!! my identity was stolen this morning and my bank account completely has been completely drained!!!! SO F'ING AWESOME!!! apparently while working a 24 hour shift yesterday and still up at the fire hall today working overtime til 6 tonight someone used my debit card information to purchase airline tickets in singapore, booked a stay in a fancy hotel, and went on a nice shopping spree......fucking fantastic......

 

yall have a good meet last sat? cold as hell wasnt it?

 

Caleb, have you talked to your bank? Many banks theft protection insurance for this type of thing. All your money may be covered. Also, I hope you have talked to the authorities.

 

We froze our balls off. But it was fun, none the less.

 

spent all morning with the bank on the phone. looks like ill get my money back. still would like to know how it happened to prevent it from happening again.....

 

Don't mind me but mine are still attached! Lol