Setting Up First CB - Please Help

[TXWELD92]

Yes! Thats the one, thank you!

Heres a closeish picture - I dont have a pic of my rollbar handy on my phone but its a setup just like this one:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...iv-web&hsimp=yhsm-002&hspart=mozilla&type=ios


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[TXWELD92]

Yes! Thats the one, thank you!

Heres a closeish picture - I dont have a pic of my rollbar handy on my phone but its a setup just like this one:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...iv-web&hsimp=yhsm-002&hspart=mozilla&type=ios


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine doesn't have the wooden pallet (?) on the roof that his does, tho


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TheSpaceMann]

Well the top of the roll bar could work, but that's pretty high for a 102 inch whip! How about mounting it to the bed or side of the bed?

 

[TXWELD92]

Well the top of the roll bar could work, but that's pretty high for a 102 inch whip! How about mounting it to the bed or side of the bed?

Wouldnt this affect the ground plane? I thought i read that it must be centered over the cab?


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[jonwienke]

Mounting the whip to the bed will still work, but not as well as the cab. If you mount to the front of the bed, the cab will reflect signal back into the antenna, and you'll have high SWR and subpar performance. If you mount to the side of the bed away from the cab, you'll get better performance, but still have higher-than-necessary SWR because of the less-than-ideal ground plane.

 

[TXWELD92]

PROGRESS!!

Okay, so today I bought a cb-cigerette lighter power cord and got this radio setup in my truck, desperate for seeing any kind of functionality out of this thing. I got it setup sitting in the passenger seat, with my 36" magnet antenna, and went for a spin. I heard almost nothing on channel 19, just the super occasional staticky transmission off in the distance, then I switched it to 17 near a truck stop on the highway and we were in business!

I heard a bunch of traffic, although it took the RF gain being maxed out and didnt sound very good, but it still got me pretty excited!

Now, I'm gonna go take the 102 off the top of my house, weld up some temporary brackets and see if that helps. I'm thinking it will? If I can get it working good on my truck, I'll leave it there, hide the wiring and clean up the install, maybe even wire directly to the battery if you guys think that'll cut down on the interference when I accelerate the engine.

I hope this works!

If it does, I'll just buy a second radio and one of the base antennas for my house. If it doesn't, I'll use this radio and one of the recommended antennas.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!

 

[TXWELD92]

Side note, if you if you guys were gonna buy a CB for a base station, which radio would you get? I have the 29LTD cobra. I'd kinda like something with a scan function if possible. Money's not really that big of a concern for this, within reason... Thanks again!

 

[KC5AKB]

Sounds like the radio bug might have got you! Welcome to the fun.!
Look around a little . I sent you a pm .

 

[prerunner1982]

Perhaps something like this using an additional 102" whip for the counter poise/ground plane would work for your base station.

 

[prerunner1982]

, maybe even wire directly to the battery if you guys think that'll cut down on the interference when I accelerate the engine.

It may. Just depends on how the noise is getting into the radio, power wires or coax. I have had vehicles that don't have any issues with the CB powered via a cig lighter adapter and I have had others that cause RFI. It's best to go to the battery.

Also, running a couple ground straps from the hood to the body of the vehicle can help reduce some of the noise and provide more "ground plane" for the antenna. If you really want to get crazy, run ground straps from the body of the truck to the frame and from the exhaust to the frame, it makes all the various parts of isolated metal into one medal mass. You can get tinned braided ground strap from amazon for reasonable.

 

[TheSpaceMann]

Side note, if you if you guys were gonna buy a CB for a base station, which radio would you get? I have the 29LTD cobra. I'd kinda like something with a scan function if possible. Money's not really that big of a concern for this, within reason... Thanks again!

Definitely one with side band (SSB)! There are a lot of good operators who work LSB, most;ly on channels 33 to 40, and sidband increases your usable range! The Unidan 980 is very popular at around $100. You can check out the reviews on many radios at: CBRadioMagazine.com - The only online CB Magazine in the world