CB Radio Information and Installation

I've been trying to get my antennae tuned. I can't seem to get my SWR in check. I've got a 4' K40 super flex mounted on a firestick p-249 mount stud with a quick disconnect that is like 4" long....on the pass. side of my bumper (Elite front bumper). I've grounded the stud, I've routed my excess coax (ie not coiled), all ran from a 510xl. SWR is hovering at like 3.5 My ant. sticks over the cab by about 6". Is this not enough ground plane? Can anyone help?

 

I am assuming that you have tried to tune the antenna by raising or lowering the little tuning pin on the tip of the antenna. Ch 1 and 40 should be as close as possible, and that will usually put 20 as your lowest SWR.

You may not have a good enough ground-plane, but there are some things you can try first. Mine doesn't have a great ground plane, but does fine.

-Make sure you drive out into a large open space and test there. Being right next to a wall or inside a garage will show some reflection.

-Make sure your ground is good. I use a simple light-style tester for this; hooking one side to the battery and the other to the ground wire of the antenna.

-It might not be high enough over the cab. Though since it's on the front bumper, I don't think it should affect SWR too much, just transmit range; still worth checking though.

 

Am I understanding this correctly? You have the antenna mount ON the front bumper? How did you ground the stud and to what? What year Tacoma are you talking about? It's possible that the bumper is electrically isolated from the rest of truck. I also have to be honest - I don't think your antenna mounting location is the best choice because it puts the antenna so close to the engine - a major source of noise. Is it possible for you to post a photo? This will help us see what you have and troubleshoot the problem.

 

I have tried to tune the ant. What I'm gonna try next is upgrade my ground wire size and see if that helps. Right now its only a #16. Thanks for the response.

Yes, you are understanding correctly. The bumper itself is powder coated so the stud is in fact isolated from that. What I've done to ground is I've got a #16 ga wire wrapped around the stud, in between the bumper and the stud, sandwiched. I soldered the end, made an eyelet, and placed in between the two pieces of the stud..then tightened. Ran the other end to an existing ground in the engine bay. I'm gonna try upgrading my wire size, AND running that right to the frame. As for antennae location....I feel that you may have a valid point BUT, I see many ppl on here running it in the same spot with no issues. My question would be then, whats diff about my truck that would inhibit my signal in the same location. Thanks for the response, I'll post when I get it figured out.


Would toying with the internals of the radio cause the SWR to be out of whack? I've had this radio for many years and the last person to use it was a buddy I lent it to. He said he had "tuned" it but I'm skeptical at this point.....

 

You are right, other people do run it on the bumper and can get it tuned down to under 2.

The radio shouldn't have an effect on SWR, unless the SWR meter you are using is built-in. Those built in ones don't seem to work very well, unless it's a high-end model.

#16 wire should be fine for ground. If grounding it directly to the frame doesn't lower your SWR, it means you are likely getting reflection from somewhere else in the setup.

I can't stress it more: make sure you are in a large open space when testing.

Also, triple check that ground, sometimes what should look like a good ground, turns out to be not so good.

I hope you get it figured out!

 

Explain the stud grounding. The stud is RF hot and can not be grounded where the stud and the SO239 meet is not but it is not easy to ground it there other then the bracket it's self. If your mount is grounded, wire, mounting, what ever your fine. The radio needs a return path from the coax so the ground is important but there is little current so replacing your ground wire with a piece of welding cable will not help your best ground wire would be a short braided wire. Where it is mounted leaves a lot to be desired but it will work if any of the extensions you have are conductive they become part of the antenna making it longer there by lowering the resonate frequency.

 

Have you checked your SWR without the disconnect?

 

Yes. It was ineffective. SWR was the same with and without.

 

Ok, thanks guys for your responses on this. I think I got it figured out last night. I ended up removing the stud mount from bumper and just grinding off the P.C. where the stud would touch the bumper. After, I verified continuity between the bare steel and frame ground... .02 ohms. Reinstalled everything, verifying continuity to ground at each step. Took it back out into the wide open area and measured SWR again. At first I was at 3.5 on ch 40 and 3 on ch 1. I took the quick disconnect off and it dropped to 1.5 and 2. Tuned the ant. a smidge and whoila.... 1.6 on ch 1, 1.7 on ch 40, and 1.5 on ch 20. Think I got it. Thanks again.

 

Personal opinion, if it was a Jet Stream or Workman disconnect they are absolute junk. Also if it was long it in it's self could detune the antenna. If you need a disconnect buy one that screws on they work far better then the bayonet type.

 

I mainly got the disconnect for the added height to clear the cab. It's apparent now that it was a complete waste haha. The antenna still clears the cab, just not as much. It is just as easy to screw the antenna on and off each time I need too as well.

 

I never lived in a big city until now, so I never had to worry about this, but my antenna got stolen a few months back.

It was pretty banged up from offroad anyway, but that's another reason I don't buy the very expensive ones, it was just a wilson flex.

I thought about a disconnect, but removing it each time was tedious. So I JB welded it to the mounting bolt. Now it someone wants it, they have to cut the mounting bracket off. Doubt they will go through the trouble.

And if I have to replace it, I just buy the mounting bracket too, which is not expensive.

 

Subscribed

 

I am down in Stafford and about 2 years ago I had TC's down in NC install my Superstar 121 and Wilson 1000 62 inch whip antenna and it worked great until recently. It has a built in SWR meter and either I just don't know how to use it anymore or I am off the charts.

With that I would love to meet up or just discuss my set up. I just bought the BAMF tailgate mount and need to do something different as far as antenna bases go as I had the big magnetic roof mount which will not fit anymore.

Also, great write up!

 

Frogsauce (really like that handle),
Hopeing for some information in regardsto CBs and/or other radios.

I have the following:

• • Garmin Rino 655t GPS which has the following specs:

- FRS and GMRS
- Channels 22
- Squelch codes 38 (CTCSS); 83 (DCS)
- Transmit power 0.5 watts FRS, 5.0 watts, GMRS

• • Midland GXT-550 (four radios) with the following specs:

- FRS and GMRS
- Channels 22
- GMRS/FRSFREQUENCY CHART (MHz)
- CH.No CH. Freq. CH. No CH. Freq. CH. No CH. Freq.
o 1 462.5625 9 467.5875 17 462.6000
o 2 462.5875 10 467.6125 18 462.6250
o 3 462.6125 11 467.6375 19 462.6500
o 4 462.6375 12 467.6625 20 462.6750
o 5 462.6625 13 467.6875 21 462.7000
o 6 462.6875 14 467.7125 22 462.7250
o 7 462.7125 15 462.5500
o 8 467.5625 16 462.5750

- WEATHER(WX) RECEIVER FREQUENCY CHART (MHz)

- CH.No CH. Freq. CH. No CH. Freq.

o 1 162.550 6 162.500
o 2 162.400 7 162.525
o 3 162.475 8 161.650
o 4 162.425 9 161.775
o 5 162.450 10 163.275

- PRIVACYCODES FREQUENCY CHART (Hz)

- CodeFreq. Code Freq. Code Freq. Code Freq. Code Freq.

o 1 67.0 991.5 17 118.8 25 156.7 33 210.7
o 2 71.910 94.8 18 123.0 26 162.2 34 218.1
o 3 74.411 97.4 19 127.3 27 167.9 35 225.7
o 4 77.012 100.0 20 131.8 28 173.8 36 233.6
o 5 79.713 103.5 21 136.5 29 179.9 37 241.8
o 6 82.514 107.2 22 141.3 30 186.2 38 250.3
o 7 85.415 110.9 23 146.2 31 192.8
o 8 88.516 114.8 24 151.4 32 203.5

• First question, does this CB/SSB below allow me to access all the frequencies noted above for my noted radios:

Uniden BEARCAT CB Radio (WithSideband and WeatherBand (980SSB)) http://www.cbradiomagazine.com/Uniden%20Bearcat%20980%20SSB%20CB%20Radio%20Review.html

• If it doesn’t, is there one that does?
• My Tacoma build is located here (note the shell and I really don’t want to be drilling holes in it or use a magnet mount that would scratch up my roof) - http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/301096-arrowshots-build.html. I have a CBI Bushmaster Bumper with a swing gate being built (http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/products/2nd-gen-toyota-tacoma-products/bushmaster-2-0-base-swing-away-tire-carrier) and asked that they include a CB antenna mount on the left side of the bumper. Provided the CB/SSB radio I listed above works recommend an antenna that would work best for me.
• My intent is to use this radio as a “base station” and for our hunting trips in conjunction with the other radios and to get as much range as possible out of any potential set up. Would appreciate any comments or suggestions in regards to what I am trying to do.

Sincerely,
Arrowshot

 

Not really. There is a huge difference between frequencies.

 

Thanks I'll sub for future reading. I plan on putting a cb back in my truck. I had one but u could never reach out only receive.

 

Is this a good antenna to use?
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/wilson-flex-cb-antenna.html
With this cable?
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/firestik-cb-coax-cable.html
This mount?
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/firestik-flat-universal-cb-antenna-mount-pl-259.html
And this CB?
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/uniden-bearcat-pro-520xl-cb-radio.html

 

The Bearcat CB radio is AM/SSB the FMRS radios are FM and way above the CB frequencies. So no it is not compatible.

 

Cool