Cb install problems

any one install a cb and have the swr reading under 3 ? Mine are in the 3 range.
Firestik antenna bolted to bed rail passenger side. Ground wire from bracket to frame. Hooked up to battery.
Any info will be great ..

 

http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Setting_SWR.htm

 

Got mine down to about 1.8. Mine is mounted on the drivers side by the taillight using the existing 2 10mm bolts up top. I made my own bracket out of 1/8 steel plate. Has a good ground without having to add a ground wire to the bracket. Also i have a 4 foot firefly by firestik.

 

3 foot antenna. How do I put a pic up here???

 

Bed rail CB antenna tuning can be a pain. If you want a more no fuss install, there are a few vendors that make antenna mounts that go near the tailgate on the 2 little hex bolts on that inside metal portion near the tail light.

That said I have a military CB antenna setup on my passenger bed rail and my swr is somewhere like 1.4 on channel 40 and 1.2 on channel 1. Best I could get after properly tuning everything.

Do you have the adjustable firestik with the little twisty bolt under the red tip? Have you adjusted that?

 

I red here : https://www.rightchannelradios.com That you need at least 1/3 of your antenna above the roof line, and 1/2 for the best. Your 3' might be too short but I didn't experienced it yet.

 

Also if you have a atandard antenna then you need to make sure there is an area of metal underneath the antenna to act as a ground plane. Had that,problem on military ambulances that had fibetglass bodies. Put an 18" square metal plate under the antenna and all was good. Keep working at it as you should be able to get under 2.

 

My buddies set up was doing the same thing, we found through rightchannelradios.com that his shoulder washer was not in the right spot.



Also, I thought firestik were a NGP antenna and didn't need additional grounding? I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but my firestik doesn't have any additional grounds and it is tuned well.

 

Firestik makes both kinds, NGP and standard. And although the whip itself looks pretty much the same between the two versions, they are not interchangable.

 

Length of grounding cable can also potentially screw up your readings

 

Have you tried changing the length of your antenna cable? Maybe add 25 or 50 feet and see what the SWR does

 

That was a trick back in the day for getting a better SWR. And when I say, back in the day, I mean when the song Convoy came out.
You definitely cannot use a cheap coax for this.

 

Add 50' of cable? Lol..

 

Yup. I knew people who had over 100' wrapped in their trunks to match their SWR.

 

After my initial install, I could not get it below 3. I finally broke out the multimeter and ran a continuity test and it turns out I had installed the antenna stud incorrectly and had a ground.

 

Mine is basically the same setup as 10tacosr5. My swr is 1.6 on 1 and 40, and about 1.1 on channel 19. There is a good chance your ground is too long. Try switching to a braided ground strap and not a stranded wire. Also you want an 18ft coax. And make a loose figure 8 with the extra. If you move your mount to the tailgate you'll use 95% of the 18ft coax.

 

Yea I used an 18 foot coax. Radio is mounted in the center console and I had maybe 3 feet left by the time a ran the coax to the taillight. I decided on mounting at the taillight after reading threads of not being able to get good reception by the cab and on the bedrails. I didn't want to have to add ground cables, I like everything being nice aND clean.

 

I don't have cable looped its pretty much straight. Just looped at bracket with tie. All I can find is 15" braid ground strap . I think coax is 18'. Antenna came as a set. I emailed right channel radio b4 I bought and they said this antenna will work.
The cb radio is from late 80's early 90's.
Found out turn on wipers I get interference .. ughhh

 

Maybe try getting a new radio. I'm using a 5 year old cobra from walmart, lol. I'll be upgrading in the near future for sure.