New to forum

[niceguy71]

A little update, my qt80 arrived yesterday. I've been doing some major googling and found a company that makes a mounting bracket that will attach to my center console just ahead of my right knee. I should have it in a couple of weeks. When I run the power directly to the battery, how can I minimize the low power draw while the truck is off? 5th gen rams have issues with batteries. I've been lucky so far. I carry a jump pack just in case anyways.

I mentioned this above... but I'll mention it again.
I would HIGHLY advise you to install a Relay under the hood.... it connects to anything that uses power in the truck.... we'll say the radio.... when you turn your key to on or to Accessory the radio gets power... and the relay will also get power..... when the relay gets power it lets the power from the battery go to the CB Radio........ when you shut off your Key.... the relay will shut off everything too... this way you never forget to turn off the CB... and if your truck has a factory delay.... we'll say the radio plays for 10 minutes after you shut off the key / engine... then your CB will shut off at the same time... my ford shuts off when I open the door
I had Best Buy install mine.... it looked like a royal pain to get the wires to my radio... so I had them run the wires from the Battery and the Relay and the ground... they did an EXCELLENT JOB!.... they actually pulled the dash out to do it... they installed a harness behind my radio so I can just unplug the harness to disconnect everything.. they also ran everything in wire looms..... I am a Total Tech Member... so I only paid $150 including the Relay!!!!... they do a LOT of small stuff for me for free... just great guys and they are always happy I'm a total Tech member ...so I buy anything I need from them if I can.
going to be interesting if you need to do the RF bonding..... Erik From Far Point farms You Tube videos got 18.5 miles on his Tram 3500 with no bonding.... but that was a sub-frame car..... a sub-frame car everything is connected fairly well..... a pick-up has a frame... it has big rubber body mounts between bed and frame.... and the bed and the cab are not connected either...... I would at least RF Bond the hood and the fenders to the firewall/ cab that way hopefully the RF signal may flow down to the hood and help..... I think it made a huge difference in my truck... but I honestly only did one test before the RF bonding on a terrible day in the middle of the day.. and tried to talk to my neighbor on his LiL Will antenna... we got three miles!!!!... then that weekends I did the RF bonding everyplace on the truck and I always transmit over 10 miles when I test now..... sometimes 15-20.... under 15 miles it comes in VERY clear and I can easily talk to my base... past 15 it starts getting a little static so if the noise level is high I may not be heard above it.
I did this test and the conditions were terrible and I had a lot of people in my area on channel 14 the same time I was doing my test.. they were not happy.. I kept waiting to do the test in between them.... they could easily change channels but DIDN"T .. actually I think there were two or three sets of people... but I could not change my channel as I had a cam-corder recording at my Base Station at home... no one to change the channel for me at home.... so I was locked into 14 .. meaning I kept trying to do the test in between them. but with that huge noise floor I was still able to get 16 miles.

 

[Davidbt]

I mentioned this above... but I'll mention it again.
I would HIGHLY advise you to install a Relay under the hood.... it connects to anything that uses power in the truck.... we'll say the radio.... when you turn your key to on or to Accessory the radio gets power... and the relay will also get power..... when the relay gets power it lets the power from the battery go to the CB Radio........ when you shut off your Key.... the relay will shut off everything too... this way you never forget to turn off the CB... and if your truck has a factory delay.... we'll say the radio plays for 10 minutes after you shut off the key / engine... then your CB will shut off at the same time... my ford shuts off when I open the door
I had Best Buy install mine.... it looked like a royal pain to get the wires to my radio... so I had them run the wires from the Battery and the Relay and the ground... they did an EXCELLENT JOB!.... they actually pulled the dash out to do it... they installed a harness behind my radio so I can just unplug the harness to disconnect everything.. they also ran everything in wire looms..... I am a Total Tech Member... so I only paid $150 including the Relay!!!!... they do a LOT of small stuff for me for free... just great guys and they are always happy I'm a total Tech member ...so I buy anything I need from them if I can.
going to be interesting if you need to do the RF bonding..... Erik From Far Point farms You Tube videos got 18.5 miles on his Tram 3500 with no bonding.... but that was a sub-frame car..... a sub-frame car everything is connected fairly well..... a pick-up has a frame... it has big rubber body mounts between bed and frame.... and the bed and the cab are not connected either...... I would at least RF Bond the hood and the fenders to the firewall/ cab that way hopefully the RF signal may flow down to the hood and help..... I think it made a huge difference in my truck... but I honestly only did one test before the RF bonding on a terrible day in the middle of the day.. and tried to talk to my neighbor on his LiL Will antenna... we got three miles!!!!... then that weekends I did the RF bonding everyplace on the truck and I always transmit over 10 miles when I test now..... sometimes 15-20.... under 15 miles it comes in VERY clear and I can easily talk to my base... past 15 it starts getting a little static so if the noise level is high I may not be heard above it.
I did this test and the conditions were terrible and I had a lot of people in my area on channel 14 the same time I was doing my test.. they were not happy.. I kept waiting to do the test in between them.... they could easily change channels but DIDN"T .. actually I think there were two or three sets of people... but I could not change my channel as I had a cam-corder recording at my Base Station at home... no one to change the channel for me at home.... so I was locked into 14 .. meaning I kept trying to do the test in between them. but with that huge noise floor I was still able to get 16 miles.

Some how I missed the relay part. There's a very good stereo shop here that has done some work for me before. They've done cb installs and I was thinking of having them run the power for me. They just don't do any tuning. When I'm finally able to get out and about on my own again, I was planning on talking to Best Buy also.

 

[niceguy71]

Some how I missed the relay part. There's a very good stereo shop here that has done some work for me before. They've done cb installs and I was thinking of having them run the power for me. They just don't do any tuning. When I'm finally able to get out and about on my own again, I was planning on talking to Best Buy also.

In the old days installing a CB or even a car stereo wasn't to bad.... Today everything is so tight..... Next to impossible to get wires from engine bay into the cab..... All the plastic trim breaks if you don't know what your doing or have the correct tools ... If they charged you $200 bucks and you didn't have to deal with the headache... It would be worth it .... Also if you snap or crack any of the dash moldings or trim or drill into a wire ... It will cost you big money to fix it

By the way seems like you want this done once and down right..... May I suggest magnetic microphone holder.... Very expensive and it has to be screwed into the metal braces behind the dash ... But I like it..... I never take my eyes off the road to hang up the mic .. just get it close to the holder and that powerful magnet just about yanks the mic out of your hand and that's where it will stay until you forcefully slide the mic off the magnet.Magnetic mic holder

 

[KI4ZNG]

Davidbt I wish you a speedy recovery. Enjoy your new radio!

 

[Davidbt]

Davidbt I wish you a speedy recovery. Enjoy your new radio!

Thanks. Things are going really well on the healing process. I hope to have the radio in my truck by mid October.

 

[Zjdre]

Hello everyone I just wanted to introduce myself on the forum I have been creeping through the different discussions and figured I should sign up as I have some questions about CB radio that I have been unable to find answers to.

 

[Davidbt]

Welcome to the forum. I got into gmrs a couple of years ago and decided to get back into CB myself. There's quite a few people on here that are usually very happy to help. I've gotten some great advice so far.

 

[Davidbt]

Update, I finally got my QT-80 installed into my truck. I had a shop run the power through my firewall and got everything hooked up. Tram 3500 is in the middle of my roof. While trying to adjust the swr's, the needle on the meter jumps to the right and then goes all the way to the left and cannot be moved with the tuner knob. My radio also displays swr HI. My truck is a 2021 Ram 1500 crew cab. I've checked the meter with my QT40 and it and the radio agrees with 1.1 on channels 1 and 40. On channel 16, it is 1.0

 

[WSAC829]

The QT80’s / 6666pro’s have this known swr hi “bug". To fix it use the programming software to disable the swr protection. The error should go away, and you’ll be able to check swr with an external meter like normal.

 

[Davidbt]

The QT80’s / 6666pro’s have this known swr hi “bug". To fix it use the programming software to disable the swr protection. The error should go away, and you’ll be able to check swr with an external meter like normal.

I remember you mentioning that to another member. The problem is I don't own anything more than my tablet. I saw that I can turn the protection off through the menu, I think. There was three settings.

 

[WSAC829]

Hopefully it does. Otherwise borrow a neighbors or family members computer for 15 minutes. ;-)

 

[Davidbt]

Hopefully it does. Otherwise borrow a neighbors or family members computer for 15 minutes. ;-)

Thanks. I'm not a technical person at all, I'm very computer illiterate. I barely know my way around my tablet 🙄 I don't think anyone will be brave enough to let me barrow their computer or laptop.

 

[Davidbt]

Today I moved the ground wire from the battery to a ground bolt on the fender. I turned the swr protection off in the menu and was able to get the meter to work. The meter is a cheap Astatic Amazon meter and was hitting the 2 in the red range. With the antenna plugged back in, and before I turned the protection back on, the radio was showing 6.0. Prior to installing the radio, I did add a short extension and 90 elbow to help with installing the antenna.

 

[slowmover]

NEG always goes to shortest distance DC Ground or BATT fenderwell connection.
Not to BATT itself.

Glad it’s a help. “Radio” is problem-solving via details.

.

 

[Davidbt]

NEG always goes to shortest distance DC Ground or BATT fenderwell connection.
Not to BATT itself.

Glad it’s a help. “Radio” is problem-solving via details.

.

Thanks, it's still running very high swr's.

 

[slowmover]

Thanks, it's still running very high swr's.

Stick with external meter. Get comfortable with settings. It’s E-Z to be “off”.

Some of us have to take the long way around.
You’ll get there with perseverance.

.

 

[Davidbt]

So, with some great tips and help from @niceguy71 I was able to figure out my antenna swr problems. Basically the magnet was not able to sit flat when sitting at the middle of the roof of my truck because of the ribs sticking up. So I moved the antenna to the back of the cab and the magnet can sit flat. The swr's went from 6's to low 2's. Channel 1 was 2.6 and Channel 40 1.5. So moved the antenna up 1/4" at a time and now have 1.5 across the AM band. I sent some roof pictures to Steve as he is willing to post pictures for me. This forum seems be as good as the jeep wrangler tj forum for helpful folks!!

 

[niceguy71]

So, with some great tips and help from @niceguy71 I was able to figure out my antenna swr problems. Basically the magnet was not able to sit flat when sitting at the middle of the roof of my truck because of the ribs sticking up. So I moved the antenna to the back of the cab and the magnet can sit flat. The swr's went from 6's to low 2's. Channel 1 was 2.6 and Channel 40 1.5. So moved the antenna up 1/4" at a time and now have 1.5 across the AM band. I sent some roof pictures to Steve as he is willing to post pictures for me. This forum seems be as good as the jeep wrangler tj forum for helpful folks!!

pictures from Davidbt

 

[Davidbt]

pictures from Davidbt

Thanks so much Steve, you've been very helpful. I got the swr's between 1.3 and 1.5

 

[niceguy71]

Thanks so much Steve, you've been very helpful. I got the swr's between 1.3 and 1.5

PERFECT!!! I love that Tram 3500!

after your sure the antenna works well for you in that location... put the coax down into the bed... in the corner of the bed is a plastic drain cover drill out a 3/4" hole through the cover....and buy a few 3/4" grommets from Amazon .... then go in your cab and find a reference point make sure you can drill through the cab and run the coax permanently.
after you drill the hole make sure you paint both sides so it wont rust... I also put silicone the holes to keep out water and to keep the coax from moving.
I bought these Grommets ... not sure if I used a 1 inch hole... you can figure out the size of the hole... but I kind of think it was 3/4 inch