2013 T.A.Co. Gathering - Official Thread

yup...lots of variety to choose from..

first page should have all the info you need and more

but please let me know if you have any other questions, or many others will be able to chime in as well with some knowledge

 

Mmmm, you need a ground. You could try running a wire to the frame somewhere. Also, the firering I got had the solder broken and would not give me a good reading. Check the continuity from the + and - at the mount to the coax end that goes to the radio.

 

ohh sweet

 

Okay I will try that. Where does the actual ground hook up to the antenna? Does it matter where it goes?

As it sits from Top to Bottom it goes:

Antenna
Spring
Holder thing confused
plastic Washer thing
bracket on the bed rail
Fire ring
washer
Bolt

 

You should mount that directly to your bed and not the slide rail. You will get a better connection and remove possibly use of losing growing once you get it.

That so utter bullshit that you don't need a ground unless your running an NGP (no ground plane) setup. If you are you would know it. Ground is easy to achieve you can run a grounding strap from you bed to Frame or better idea is to strap from you bed to body (body should already be grounded). Remove the paint from where your mount is and clean the mounting point. I used Noalox in between the mount and body (promotes continuity and prevents oxidation of contact points, btw di-electric grease I non conductive). Verifying ground is as simple as checking continuity. The bottom of your stud mount is your ground. Check continuity from bottom of stud to mount and mount to bed and mount to body. That should clear up your ground issue. DO NOT USE YOUR RADIO UNTIL YOU TUNE IT, you can straight fuck it up if you don't tune it first. It is not the antenna that gets damaged it is the components in the radio that suffer.

I will have my tuner with me down there so anyone that need help with tuning their radio, I will be more than happy to help.

Btw on an off not I was able to get my SWR from 1.3 on 1 and 40 to 1.1 after I put in a Wilson coax. Apparently RG-8x is some awesome stuff to use.

Sorry if that came across as being cross or something. Just see too many people run these things without tuning or anything and it is a good reason why they get very little distance

 

found this nice video of canyonlands exploring...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJL2fl59tk?version=3

and reminds me, i might be heading to elephant hill that friday now if anyone was thinking about heading down there..might have somebody to watch the dog that day so i can check out what i missed saturday of cruise moab..

 

Completely agree!

I suggest reading this whole page and all of the links to full understand your CB: http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

Here is the firering install pic:



http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/mkfr-instl_nohook.htm

In this case, you need to either run a ground cable or mount the bracket on metal to metal on an unpainted surface, or ideally both for best grounding. The first place I would start though would be to check the continuity as I mentioned above to ensure you have good connections in your coax. Once everything is hooked up and grounded properly, you should have continuity from the center part of the coax that goes to the radio to the union bolt that the spring or antennae thread into, and then from the outer ring/shielding part of the coax at the radio to your frame.

 

I can hear people clearly on mine but recently I sound like a chipmunk to everyone else. Used to work fine.

 

Okay so I found some more information. Apparently I have everything fine except for the ground.

Apparently on the fire ring the ground is on the side that the isolator is slightly raised. What I believe I need to do now is 1 of 2 options.

1) Run a ground wire somehow from between my mounting bracket and the fire ring to something that is grounded.

2) Sand off the paint on the bottom side of my bracket so that the ground half of my fire ring makes good contact with the bracket. Then I need to make sure the bracket is grounded.

 

2nd gens have a plastic bed so it won't matter. He will have to run another wire to the frame or something for a ground. That is what I did.

 

finished relocating my axle backwards today! truck is ready for moab!!!

 

ok thank you for verifying that but isnt the bed part a plasitc liner and has a metal outer shell. just wondering about it so i wanna have a look at your bed so i can see how these are put together lol

 

dude.... im wiped, took me like 6 hours and i had a lift!

 

Geometry get you down...

 

That is one of the last few things I need to do. And get a fire extinguisher and a few other safety things lined up, buy and replace fluids and figure out how I will be packing things.

Might have to replace brake pads and shoes

 

Hey what floods are you using for rock lights?