Best antenna for my cobra 75 cb radio

What I used

 

I actually just used zip ties. They should last longer than tape and easy to replace..

 

It looks like you have the Fire Ring, correct?

I've got that on a CBI ditch bracket and I notice I never get a good ground which wrecks my SWR. When the ground was fresh I had quite good range (6 miles as the crow flies) but eventually corrosion sets in. I had tried to clean up the mating services and pack with electrolytic grease but all that did was manage to insulate the connection from itself. I ran an additional ground wire between my ditch bracket and Fire Ring directly to the body and that dropped my SWR way down again but I noticed the ring terminal is starting to corrode again, which means my SWR is likely way up (I never get a return on my radio check, but I'm not convinced that's just a case of no one around me using CB).

Part of me wants to just rip it out and be done with it, but my inner nerd still wants a radio.

 

Firestik

 

If you mean the cable type yes. I've never had a problem with, good SWR readings. Only had to sand off the power coat on my light bar of course. I installed it like 8 yrs ago I think. I just repainted the light bar a couple of months ago. Surprisingly I had no rust on the light bar where the ring makes contact but than again I live in sunny SoCal. CB stilm working fine like when I first installed it.

The excess cable, how did you tie it up? Need to coil it rather than bunch it up like cables are commonly tied up. As in if you bunch it up like in a S formation then tie it together you may get bad SWR readings. I coiled mine in the largest possible circle under the carpet under my seat.

 

I have it coiled fairly cleanly. My problem is that when I first put everything together I had fantastic SWR readings (nearly 1:1) and great reach. Within probably 2-3 months I could hear talking on the radio so I asked for a radio check and got no response. I didn't recheck my SWR, but I made the assumption that I likely had a bad ground which was screwing up my SWR. So I tore it apart and added in the extra ground.

Maybe I'm just in a dead area. I've been bugging my buddy to get a CB just to give me a point of reference.

 

Ah I see. Around here it seems like weather or maybe just the time of the year affects when I can pick up truckers very well, I don't know. On the trail or highway with a buddy it works perfectly fine which is all that matters to me. Most of my friends don't have CBs anyway so I don't get to use it as much as before.

 

Just make sure you're not coiling it too tight - the coax isn't as tough as it might seem. Doesn't take much for it to develop a break in the conductor or braid (or develop a short to braid). It's typically usually better to sort of do the S pattern thing, but people mess it up when they have tight bends in it, or zip tie it too tightly together causing a pinch.

I've never had particularly good luck with the fire ring connector; doesn't seem to take much for it to start corroding, despite trying to take additional preventive steps (I am in Michigan though). Have always had better luck with just the standard stud mount.

Of course at this point I've sort of given up on CB... not due to issues with my setup, but mostly with others. There's always someone (usually multiple people) without tuned antennas, not replacing broken antennas, or just botched installs altogether, or we just keep running into interference and trying to re-sync on what channel to use. Turns into a frustrating day where "they" can hear us, but when they try to talk back, all we get is static or garble. We've mostly all switched to GMRS at this point (and ham, for those who got there license). GMRS is much easier to get right, and nearly fool proof to setup (even the higher power setups with external antennas). Much clearer comm's, and we haven't really ran into any issues so far. Far less frustrations.

 

Is this the correct cable?

 

Yes, RG8X will work well with cb

 

Routed my cable to right under my drivers seat. People with the cobra 75, where are you guys mounting this box?

 

This is why i hate electrical.. i dont know where to get power from

 

why can't you mount the antenna up front, at the back of theca on the corner of the truck bed....

 

Would be best to run directly to the battery - if you only want key on power, then run it through a relay, and power the relay from something like a fuse tap on the accessory fuse.

 

That would also work just fine, but it's not the ideal location due to the proximity to the sheet metal of the cab. Also consider that if you're going offroad, it's going to be bouncing off branches, which means in that location, the antenna could be bouncing off your cab.

 

Maybe try some Pure Silicone Grease??? That shouldn't interfere with "electrical contacting" and it should also help with keeping the corrosion down.

Also, to anyone reading this, try NOT to bend your cable ends THAT much. It just pulls on the wire/pin connection and will cause problems down the road and wreck havoc on troubleshooting an issue.

Finally, when considering shorter antennas (i.e. 3ft for example), keep in mind that this affects range. Even when tuned, you are still going to affect the overall range of your RF system when TX'ing.

AND, those are some REALLY CLEAN installs I am seeing!!!

To all that serve in the military, OP for example, THANK YOU for your service!!!

 

You may get some brake interference, but you can just do the wires to a dc plug . One under the screen and one in the center console..

 

Thanks for all the help guys. Installed everything perfectly fine. Just had it tuned. They sanded down the mount point and traded me my 3 ft for my 4 ft and it was great.

 

Damn. Wish I had something like that available out here

 

Just to add, for those that have a Baofeng or similar and it's a dual band (i.e. 2m/70cm... 150MHz/400MHz, respectively), you can set your 400MHz side of the radio to, say ch8 of the GMRS/FRS channels. For example:
1) set the 400MHz to: 467.5625 (NOTE: depending on the freq step setting on your radio, you may NOT be able to achieve the 4th digit "5", but it will not have too much affect with comms. You can change your freq step settings within the menu settings...

2) set the GMRS/FRS radio to ch8

3) start communicating... pretty much as simple as that

NOTE: some of the Baofeng units are not "wide open channel", meaning that they might be "locked" in the HAM freq ranges. In this case, the 70cm range is probably locked within the HAM band of 420-450MHz range. If that is the case, you will need to perform a programming, of sorts, to "unlock" with CHiRP software for the Baofengs, for example. You will, unfortunately, need a programming cable, but the software is a free download. The programming cable is NOT that expensive, but you will need one, again, if your radio is locked within the HAM band range.

Anyways, just a thought and way for people with the HAM radios to communicate to the GMRS/FRS units.