http://www.k0bg.com/

 

you said it your self a ground will kill your out put and mess up the finales in side you radio

 

i figured that could be an issue but sometimes ill get transmitting power. there are little lights that show how much its putting out and instead of the normal full 40 ill usually get like 30. im going to play with it this weekend, maybe rig up a grounding wire and see if that helps.

 

check coax and see if it has a ground if it dose then get a new one use a om meter check from main conductor to outer shield and to chaise you need to check it from both ends (radio and antenna ends) if you get some reading on antenna end of coax but not the radio end of coax your rodeo is bad remember to hook up the other end before you check the end your on good luck!

 

I have a radio shack CB that has been peaked and tuned. I have a superstar echo mic and w wilson 1000 mag mount. I get about 7 miles or range and 40 watts of output. my friend with a galaxy that has been peaked and tuned and with the same wilson gets 9 miles, both 1000s have been tuned also.

 

love me some Wilson 1000 but tend to use a Lil Will and have got a 1 to 1.1 match and when i use my 148w from the 80s i can talk about 8 to 10 miles depending on the weather if i use my midland 40 with upper and lowers that has Ben tweaked and peeked with that Lil Will can and have talked up to 15 miles and if i put it in my 52 ****** with a Francis 4' fiberglass ill get 10 to 12 miles with a dead match of 1 to 1 so dose it matter what rig or areal you use i say no! dose it matter what your radio as Ben through yes and who did the work on her so don't let some kid with a dad who has a tv shop work on it give it to a pro!!!! and you will see that a antenna is not all that special till you add power to the radio ! now i know that some like whips but i say a magnet mount that can be removed for that clean look will be the best for me but maybe not for you like my gramps said to me once hay if we all liked the same thing there would be a line of men at the front door trying to marry your grandma ha ha no teeth he said so there you go

 

For those of you w/ a Firestick (or the like) mounted to an aluminum tool box-How did you ground it? Run a ground wire to the frame?

 

i have 2 firestiks but right now i dont have them grounded as i dont have my toolbox yet

when i do get my box my plan is to run a wire on the bolt goin into the tool box to the bolts i am goin to use to secure it to the bed

i hope that it will be enough and this way there is no extra visible wires

but you can run a wire from the bolt on the outside down the front of the bed and put it to the frame somewhere too

 

yea i ran a wire from the mount to the frame on my explorer when i had the antennas mounted on the tail lights. but i have a metal box so it just grounds being connected to that

 

Ive got a cheap Cobra cb radio from walmart with dual fiberglass whips and I do have an external swr box that I have used to tune the attenna for the radio.

But my question is, is it supposed to have a constant static when no one is talking when I have the squelch all the way down?
Because if you turn the squelch up too high to stop the static then I will lose transmission with everyone talking.

So what am I supposed to do to have a clear signal so I can hear people talk about being any static and distortion?

 

The squelch will have constant static with with it all the way down. Its supposed to cancel out unnecessary noise. But those CB users who are in range to talk with you, you'll hear them regardless of the squelch position. Static will usually come from loss of range, or a bad connection on one of the users radio. I have 2 wilson 2000 antennas mounted to my tool box hooked to a Texas Ranger model F150 ( the model fits the truck perfectly) peaked, tuned, and boosted. I'll get static if somebody is close to me. This is what truckers call "burn out". But if you have two CB radios that have good connections and are still in close enough to be in range, you should have limited static until out of range.

 

hey red you could try a filter but i never had luck with one and if you really want to get in to it you could try noise canceling plug wires but herd the same they only work a little the best bet is run the squelch just to a point where you here some one a mile away when they key up butt don't here the static when they unkey and a talk back mic will tell you just how much of that static is from your radio! find a dead Chanel and key it up and just listen to see how much you get from your own mic you will be surprised

 

I would like to comment on a few things you said, and hopefully this will help you out.


First, what model Cobra do you have? If it has an ANL switch (Automatic Noise Limiter) turn it on.

Second, that SWR box is just a measuring device. It does not lower your SWR's. Only antenna adjustment can do that. The "Calibrate" **** on your box is just calibrating your meter to the power output of your radio.

Third, ground EVERYTHING! Run an extra ground strap from your battery to your frame, and from your frame to your bed (if you have you antennas mounted on a tool box, ground that too!)

The REALLY cheap CB's like the Cobra 19's or the Uniden Pro 510XL's will have lot's of static anyways. You get what you pay for...


I hope I didn't come off as condescending, it's just that I've learned all of this from personal experience

 

I have this 69" open coil cb antenna. the coil is stationary and then a whip antenna allen screws into the top of the coil it is amazing
http://www.cbradiosplus.com/shop/pc/...&idproduct=936

 

There is a ton of mis-info in this thread. If you want a setup that works, you better listen to Eddie, I dont know him but from his posts, he knows what he is talking about. The FCC regulates CB output on AM to 4 watts and 12 watts on SSB. ANYTHING above that is illegal. Now with that said, if you dont act like a moron, chances are slim to none that you will be caught. The best antenna out there is the 102" whip. All others are shortened versions of it. The shorter antennas are achieved by coils, which shortens the antenna electrically. A properly tuned antenna will work better than one that has not been tuned. SWR is the amount of power reflected back into your radio and if an antenna is not tuned properly, ovr time the reflected power will burn up your fancy new radio and itll cost you more to fix it than its worth.