so im wiring up my cb. should i hardwire it to the battery? i had it through a cig lighter in my jeep and i got a ton of engine noise. the battery has that nut on it it would be real easy to get it from the battery. if i find a key on source will i get engine noise? i can ground it out underneath the steeringwheel somewhere right?

im gonna be using a mirror mount thats flat and mount it inside my bed on the driver side. so it will be like this



(usaford's truck)

but with one mount on the driver side.

thats a 3 foot antenna, ive always heard that the roof should be level with the tightly coiled center of the antenna (im using a firestik) but some say that the longer the antenna the better signal, and the 4 foot antennas on sale so should i go with that?

 

I wanna get a 4' firestick and mount it on my truck too, I am thinking about putting it on the toolbox

 

just wire it up to the fuse box in the cab

 

Just wondering why dual sticks? Guess for the looks, it may be your problem here. Regular pick-ups are really in no need of dual sticks and I'm pretty sure this can cause some noise issues.

 

i wired mine to the fuse box in the cab aswell

 

Wire it to the fuse box in the cab, depending on what way yours is turned, I have seen some F-150s fuse box turned up/down while mine is turned left/right. (vertical/horizontal) Might be a trim and options thing, my F-150 was a XLT with very basic options, but it seems some loaded XLT's and lariats have the fuse box turned different. and I have only done 2 K.R's

Either way just about any 20A fuse in there will be all time power, I installed CB's in these trucks before as well as the Hands free B.T kits for phones.

The box is on passenger side, hidden in the trim, its pretty much directly below the glove box.

These trucks are easy, its the new chevys and dodges that are a pain, they only have one key switched power in the cab, thats the one cig lighter. Most of the time I have to run power from the under hood fuse box for a B.T kit.

Edit,
be glad its not a police cruiser, those things are a nightmare to work on.

 

I'm not doing duals that was usafords truck
No engine noise when wiring off the fuse box? Do You tap in under a fuse or is there a bolt like on the battery? The fuse box is on the passenger side? Can I ground it there too?

 

Every time i've gone somewhere other than straight to battery, I've gotten engine noise. I've gone from hot wires under dash, from fuse blocks, and from the power distribution block on the firewall of my old 98 F150. The only time I don't get the noise is going straight from battery, but I'm picky about my radio gear. I know for Ham radio rigs they make filters that work in suppressing the noise, but I've never seen a filter for c.b. that has worked well enough for me. In short, I'd just go ahead and run the wire all the way.

There are a couple good ground points under the dash.


.

 

I never had any noise using the fuse box, but I also keep noise filters in stock as well.

i normally run a 5-10A inline fuse as well, you can pull the fuse and wrap the wire around the fuse you want to use.

OR

I have fuses I buy in packs of 15 that have a wire made into the fuse, pull the old fuse out and place the new pigtailed fuse in its place.

The fuse box is on the passenger side, in the floor. you need to remove two covers to get to it, and almost any 20A fuse there will be hot all time, and there are a few 10A's that are IGN that should be safe to use.

I normally drill a ground in the body, if you remove the passenger side panel (the same panel the gryphon uses) but there are so many places to ground it, it should not be a problem.

The panel like this on passenger side.

 

oh so there are empty 20 amp fuses places in the fuse pannel that are hot?

 

no, use one of these.



remove old stock 20A fuse, insert new 20A with pigtail.

Easy power wire!

 

oh so your replacing a fuse with a fuse with a wire on it.

no engine noise?

 

None that I have heard of, I have installed 5-6 cbs that way between chevys and fords.

Now if for some reason you do, raido shack carries (or they used to) inline noise suppresses.

 

Properly grounding your truck will take care of the noise no matter where you wire the power to. I did the bog 4 upgrade and then through 3 ground straps on each side of my truck under the chassis to the frame.

My CB was wired to the battery but after a few new projects I wired it to my cigarette light, peeked and tuned and sounds great. Next thing I'm gonna ground a Wilson magnet mount with a whip and run it out of my 3rd break light. They perform a lot better on our trucks VS regular antennas.

Oh and throwing on a PA system helps move over the slow drivers..

 

I am also wired to the fuse box.