General CB Radio advice.

[LittlePearl13]

Well I got it all done and installed. Here's a few pics, but I also am uploading a video on where I installed it right now, should be done uploading in a while, 'll post the link then. Anyway, I think edzaar had some really great advice, so I went with a roof mount mag mount instead of one in the bumper. And to be honest, I haven't tested it out yet, because I can't find an SWR tuner in the area, and I don't want to wreck the radio. Anyway, enjoy!

 

[ezdaar]

Nice install...

Bud, with the tiny 3 watts that radio is producing, you wont hurt it..

But you will see a significant increase in your receive and transmit when you get your SWR's as low as possible..

BEFORE you trim the base of that antenna to lower SWR's (if needed), move the cable around as Cable placement can affect SWR's as well.
Besure to clean under that mag mount requently, as in like every 3 days or so until you get a feel for how long it takes to dirty up.. it will ruin paint fast if you dont..
Also, clean that stinger (steel antenna) with steel wool from time to time..

Now ya just need to take it and get it tweaked and peaked,. while your at the shop see if the RFX75 (think its RFX) mod will work with that radio..
Basically its a onboard 75watt amp that gets mounted internally in the radio..
It works very well! and when you decide its time for a footwarmer (big amp), it will drive it real nice and produce alot of power.

When you save up some pennys. the Lil Will will do wonders for ya and its realy cheap.

Gratz on the CB! now go pick on some truckers..

One term to know is "Lot lizard" this is a truck stop ******. :****:

If you have a lake or river near, get some form of un shielded cable, small chain, wire, etc... Drive near water, hook wire up to vehical chassis ground and toss the other end as far into the water as you can.
This effectively turns that body of water into your ground plane. you will poop yourself when you realize your talking to ppl in cozumel, australia, etc...
We used to back a 4x4 S10 up near the beach and walk out 2 60 foot chain out into the surf.. it was like instantly going from deaf to super human hearing!

Or find a really tall parking garage, with a galvanized metal railing arounf the roof parking..
pick a spot near center of one side.. take some 60 grit sandpaper and sand around the pipe aprox 2" wide.. now wrap that same chassis ground wire, chain cable Tightly around that pipe, and listen to the world. You will be directional towards the farthest side away from you.

If you get brave and have a low bridge over large lake, stop and toss wire over side. middle of lake is AWESOME!!!! for ground plane! just be rdy for the police, they no like that kinda thing.




I am so going home and installing my gear tonight! nuthin like hiding off down the creek drinkin some cold beer talkin smack to the truckers!

Btw, they CAN figure out who you are on the road very fast..
They can figure out what parking lot your hiding in very fast..

Always talk smack in a lot with another vehicle that has CB antenna! that way you have cover when you do your escape.

LOL the joys.. O man!

 

[LittlePearl13]

Hahaha thanks Edzaar x) Luckily I don't need to trim this antenna yet (I think). This one is nice and easy to tune. On top of the spring there's that little cone piece where the antenna sits. This model has a little screw drilled into the side to keep it in place, and in theory I should just be able to loosen the screw, adjust the height for tuning, and then tighten that bad boy up. I'm really excited to get it working. Also looking forward to finding a PA horn so I can yell at all the pedestrian freshman at school! Hope I don't get caught though... I life in California, so I can get in big trouble with one of those.

---------- Post added at 03:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 PM ----------

Oh, and here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkZcNvBU5bM

 

[LittlePearl13]

Hey Edzaar, looking for some advice. I got my SWR Antenna tuning meter in the mail, and I spent all afternoon tuning it. I wound up cutting almost an inch off of the antenna, and I think my ratio is like 1.1:1.4. I was getting great service, but now I'm not getting any signal at all. I'm going to go out tomorrow and try again, but if that doesn't work, any ideas what the problem could be?

 

[ezdaar]

you cut how mutch off???

bud, check your cables. cutting that mutch is.. well ALOT. Like way to mutch.

you have something bad going on.

Did you zero that meter out?

 

[LittlePearl13]

Yeah, it was close to an inch. I don't mind though; it was this ****** little one the came with the mag mount. I'm going to upgrade to a Firestik eventually. But actually, I took my truck out to the dunes by the beach today, and retuned the antenna. I got it all working again, and better than before! I have it matched at 1.2:1.2 even with as much as I cut. I'm getting great reception, and I'm hearing all 40 channels clearly when in a decent location.

 

[ezdaar]

good deal.. Glad its working out for ya..
now grab some cable and go try it out with the ocean as your ground plane

 

[LittlePearl13]

I would, but I had some issues with it today.

So for starters, I went on a few errands today, and was sitting in the parking lot earlier on playing with my radio, and it was working great. It was doing fine all day, until one of my errands took me up a steep hill and I didn't change gears; my transmission felt like it was doing fine in Auto OD (it's an automatic). When I got to the hill, I started smelling something hot, almost like rubber burning. I stopped and got out, and checked all my wiring, and it looked fine. Just last week I swapped out both my serpentine belt, and my muffler. I checked both of these, and they smelled sort of hot, too. I assumed it was the new parts, and thought nothing of it, and went about finishing my errands. But later, I tried to use my radio again, and it wasn't working. I would flip through all 40 channels, and get static on all. Just earlier today, it was working perfectly fine at a ratio of 1.2:1.2. And it was the same level of static, it didn't change at all. So I busted out my tuner to check, and both channels 1 and 40 were WAY >3. So I found a good spot and tried to retune the thing, and I made no progress. I managed to get it to 1.4:1.4, but I still only get static on all channels, but this time it's a milder static that changes in volume a little through the channels. When I was tuning it though, I tried moving the cable. I also moved the base of the mag mount around to help tuning, but I don't think it worked. And now I've lost my sweet spot on the roof. I thought I placed it in the exact center, but is that the best place for optimal reception?

Anyway, I'm stumped, and I'm getting sick of re-tuning this movable base all the time. Help me edzaar, oh master of all things citizens' band!

 

[psfr311]

i mounted my antenna on the right corner of the rear bumper with a teardrop/gumdrop mount. looks clean

 

[TigerEyz3]

I'm not EZDaar, but the sweet spot on our vehicles is not dead center... it's about 18-24" from the rear brake light.

As far as your tuning issues, sounds like you might have a bad ground situation on your hands - since you mentioned that the SWR changed and that the static changed with RPM.

I currently have a roof mount (yes, I drilled a hole) with a Wilson1000. However, prior to that, I ran a Li'l Wil (magnet mount) which worked very well until the antenna coax was compromised - inadvertently sliced the shielding and deteriorated the signal quality. This is also a significant reason why I switched to a roof mount - no worries about coax degradation from the elements or mechanical wear from door.