so ive got a midland 1001z radio, the coax from walcott with the removable end, and a 3 foot firestik mounted with one of these

http://www.walcottcb.com/firestik-ss...ath=28_353_432

to the driver side of my bed.



i got an swr tuner from radioshack and another cable and couldnt get my swr below 1.8. i ended up returning this tuner, so im going to get one off walcott. as soon as i put the red cap on the antenna, it goes to like a 2.3.

this setup worked out for a while, i used it some, but i cant talk to anyone over 100 yards away. my friend has a 2 foot firestik mounted to one of the cross rails on his jeep and it sounds better than mine, i dont see how because his isnt grounded, its mounted to plastic, and he can get his swr to a 1.5.

when i transmit it only lights up 2 or 3 lights, not all the way up.

so i played around with a volt meter, and i have continuity between the mount and the truck bed, only if i scratch through the paint and get to the metal.

the cb is grounded underneath the steering wheel on a bolt to the firewall, and the power cord is run to the battery and put on the post. and i still have engine noise.

so ive heard my antennas not working great because my roof is scattering incoming signals, and i know i need to ground the mount.

so my plan was to ground the cb antenna mount to the bed, by runninng a wire to the truck bed, then ground the bed to the frame, get a 4 foot firestik and a spring, a tuner with the 3 foot jumper, and then what do i do about getting engine noise away? do i need to run the ground to the battery too?

any other ideas?

i was considering going to a wilson 1000. do they need to be tuned?

 

maybe this will help you with your trouble shooting www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/swr-trblshoot.htm . if you can mount it on top of the cab where you are mounting it is not a good location as you signal is being reflected and giving you the high swr reading .

 

oh a swr will reflect how well it pics up signal?

 

Ive never had that problem. And ive mounted CB antennas on the plastic deck lid of a car.....


I would think mabey you antenna is bad because I also never check swr waves and ive installed a 3 foot firestick on my old jeep wrangler. I just leave it set whereever it was and it picked up channels from miles away on the interstate.

 

i pick up a couple of the same people who cant hear me, the are very far away but i feel like they have tuned and peaked radios and are almost in ham radio frequencies. when im talking to my friend he can be behind me 100 feet or so, and its perfectly fine, but when he backs off and gets further behind me it just gets to be more and more static. thats with the cap off too. something has to be wrong

 

no swr does not reflect how well you will pick up signals swr (standing wave ratio) just tells you how much you transmitted signal is being reflected and the higher the swr less signal is getting out so to speak. the higher the swr less power your transceiver will put out it does this to protect your final transistors from overheating and burning up. the best antenna you can use is the 104 inch stainless steel whip as its a true 1/4 wave ant. i think you my have a bad antenna or coax i would recommend you take it to a c.b. shop or friend who has done this before after you see how its done its a piece of cake. good luck.

 

Something to remember- almost 99% of CB issues are w/ the antenna, & most revolve around proper grounding.
Your placement & mounting is ok but it's NEVER gonna really get out far 'cause the cab tends to absorb the signal when you key-up.
I currently use a Wilson 5000 mag-mount positioned right in front of the Hi-mount brake light. A bit pricey, but kick-*** receive & output. You'll get almost 1:1 right outa' the box. No cutting of the whip or "tuning" needed. Currently mine operates about 16 miles out on receive (depends on where RF Gain is set on my radio) and generally 6-9 miles on the TX (usually more). Just so you know, this is a really skinny & tall antenna mast & tends to ****-off the bank tellers when it scrapes across the inner roof of the drive-thru.
A Wilson 500 ($59) is also a good choice, as is of course a Wilson 1000,The little Wil you can find in any truck stop for about $29 receives good but doesn't have the ***** to crank out a strong signal if you have a juiced radio.
FYI- the CB shoppes all charge about $10 to tune an antenna to your truck & some do it free if you buy from them.
With regard to grounding your current set-up--try to get a good ground to the frame under the truck bed. Shorter is better.
Tuesday when I was at the CB Shoppe getting my mic repaired-I asked the tech about available pre-filters & line chokes to knock down some of the background whine/hum,etc. Some of these are pricey as well- like $30 bucks!. If you get a good clean ground for your (-) Neg power cord wire you'llbe about 90% home free ---the balance of the whine you'll get is feedback from the electronic fuel pump in the F150'. This is a notorious & systemic issue w/ all Fords & due to where they tap the ground wire in the pump harness to the frame-just rotate your Squelch a wee bit to the right- just enough so you hear 'nothing'--you'll still receive & hear anybody nearby & in the distance, just less static.

Hope this helps.

p.s don't forget to tune your ANT on both Ch1 & Ch40 to get best SWR & PWR readings on your meter. Then double check to see you have the same SWR/PWR Reading on Ch20 before you switch to 19 or you fav local channel.

 

FiveSpeedSteed- I just looked @ pics of Midland radio you have.
Have you tried different variations of the ANL & Noise Blanker switch positions? I'm guessing you'll find w/ with both "on" you'll really cut back on the signal strength & the distance (received) from other radios. I keep my ANL switch at the mid-position (choice is- off/mid/full), MAX your RF Gain (turn full CW), rotate the the SQ **** CCW 'til it stops then CW slightly to eliminate background static-will most likely be a hair beyond 8 'clock position for optimum.
Because of all the solar flare activity this summer you may be adjusting the SQ frequently. OR just crank up the I-pod volume!

10-4. I'll be 10-100 & copying the mail.

 

good advice guys. so either get a wilson and call it good or get a 4 foot ant to get it over my roof some and ground the mount pretty much?

dognutz my little midland isnt going to put that much of a damper on my range is it?

I dont have that anl switch mine looks like this

http://www.walcottcb.com/images/prod...001Z/1001Z.jpg

theres a version or two of my radio. ive already got this cb mounted nice in my truck so i can upgrade the radio but it cant be much wider.

 

fivespeedsteed- i sent you a PM to answer your question. should make you laugh

 

i think im just going to get a Wilson 500 and a tuner. what are my chances i do that and get a 1.5 to 1.0 swr off the bat? they aren't tunable right, you have to cut them to adjust them don't you? i know the 1000 is tuneable but i dont know about the 500

 

When I put the Wilson 500 Mag Mount on my truck it was about 1.8:1. I used it that way for a while because my radio has built in SWR meter & can compensate for some mis-match. Later decided to cut the mast down a little to better the SWR. Before I broke it it was less than 1.2:1.
With the Wilson 5000 I got a few months back it was 1.1:1 right out of the box!
Have a Wilson 1000 on the F250 & didn't cut that one either--again because both my Cobra & Uniden radios have internal meters to tune SWR.
A fairly good article on how to tune antenna:http://www.ehow.com/how_4600425_peak...-cb-radio.html IGNORE the title-the guy is a crackhead not a CB'er!
Best way to cut the stainless steel mast is with a Dremel tool using a carbide blade--just be certain you have the mast secured in a vise or pair of vise-grips 'cause it hurts a whole bunch if the Dremel slips & cuts you.
Good luck & happy motoring!

 

Another thing to think about is your coax. I've had some bad luck over the years with low quality truckstop coax. They can have loose connectors and most are just plain high loss coax. Also on the coax note, if it's too long, don't roll the excess up in a coil. That will create a "balun" and cause problems as well. and screw with swr's big time.

Has your radio been juiced up by a radio shop? I wouldn't even consider putting a stock c.b. in a vehicle of mine.

And, I'll echo the ground the mount idea.

Mag mounting an antenna on top of the cab is most certainly the best place to put an antenna. However, if you do that be ready to deal with it everywhere you go from now on. garages, banks, drivethroughs, etc... It can become a huge pita. You have to really want it there for sure.

 

not worried about drive thrus and such.

the coax i got is from walcott and it is coiled. so i think im going to order a wilson 500 and a tuner and i should be set. where do you guys put your excess coax? run it under the seat? i use underneath my seat allot is there a way i can staple it underneath or something in an maze pattern. just dontwant it laying around if i can help it. im loosing a foot by going to a wilson 500 too.

should i try to find a better ground for my radio under the dash or just run it right to the battery?

 

instead of throwing a bunch of cable under your seat get some connectors and cut the cable to fit.