CB Coax Next to Vehicle Wiring Loom

[rocknbil]

Greetings all,

Running RG 8 coax for a CB antenna in my pickup to a regular GP antenna Firestik FS.) As one who does not like drilling holes in/hacking up a fairly pristine stock body unless absolutely necessary, on the driver's side under the rear seat/jack storage there is a nice fat rubber grommet for the rear taillight loom exiting the cab. I'd like to slide the coax through the grommet to enter the cab, which will put the coax right next to the loom.

Knowing what (little) I know, every electrical wire generates a magnetic field and I'm concerned putting the coax through the same hole as the wiring loom may cause interference, but in my 3 hour research this A.M. I found many articles/posts that say since it's DC current it shouldn't cause a problem.
Can anyone confirm or deny this? My other option is to drill another hole a few inches over and put a new grommet in it. I'd like to avoid that if I can.

I can get a pic if necessary.

 

[prcguy]

There could be computer cables, power wires feeding noise generating motors, etc that could radiate RFI within the CB band, etc. With that said I have never had a problem picking up RFI in the wiring channels along floorboards, etc.

You mentioned using RG-8 and I think there is no benefit using that unless your going to run more than 1kW of power. Its big and hard to hide in a vehicle. Instead you might consider LMR-240 which is nearly the same loss as RG-8 at 27MHz and its double shielded which will reduce the amount of RFI pickup when running along side noisy cables. I would also use a good 1:1 choke balun at the antenna to strip off RFI riding on the coax shield on the way to the antenna.

 

[707ways2Sunday]

RG8 I keep hitting the x but nothing shows up. My keyboard is throwing a dead key so to speak!!!! But what do I know LOL 😆

 

[slowmover]

LMR-240 has a pretty good following among those wanting 11M mobile high performance (number of recommendations).

In my vehicle installs there’s generally been “less” vehicle wiring on the starboard side versus port. Pickup or big truck.
.

 

[rocknbil]

There could be computer cables, power wires feeding noise generating motors, etc that could radiate RFI within the CB band, etc. With that said I have never had a problem picking up RFI in the wiring channels along floorboards, etc.

You mentioned using RG-8 and I think there is no benefit using that unless your going to run more than 1kW of power.

Hey, thanks . . . it's just the taillight loom. I guess I will know for sure if I get static when I hit the brakes.
RG-8: I knew someone was going to ding me on that. :-D I'm pretty sure that's what came with the kit, I am probably wrong, but it's not that important.

RG8 I keep hitting the x but nothing shows up. My keyboard is throwing a dead key so to speak!!!! But what do I know LOL 😆

Are you sure the computer is turned on?
I just ran the cable under the carpet (had to remove seat and some hardware) and it went way faster than I thought, very rare occurrence. I'm looking at this tempting grommet and thinking, if it does create a problem it won't be a major overhaul to pull the coax back in from the rear and put a new hole in later. Here's a couple pics of the progress so far and the grommet in question. It looks too small but is very stretchy, rubber is not cracking (amazing for a truck over 20 years old.)

 

[mmckenna]

It's pretty hard to do a radio install in any modern vehicle and not have the coax cross paths with existing wiring. I've never had any issues with it. I don't run coax adjacent to existing wiring any more than I need to, and do my best to keep them separated.

If you can get the coax through that grommet, do it. It'll be fine. Don't run the coax next to all that wiring any farther than you need to.

If you do run into issues, there may be ways to solve it.