CB Help

[MStudt]

Hopefully this is going to be something that is fairly simply for someone. I recently installed my Cobra 19 and though that everything was good. I can hear people talking with no issues, but they can't hear me at all. Is this as simple as grounding the CB to a new spot? Do I need to ground my Firestik KW-3 somewhere?

 

[IBallEngineer]

Hopefully this is going to be something that is fairly simply for someone. I recently installed my Cobra 19 and though that everything was good. I can hear people talking with no issues, but they can't hear me at all. Is this as simple as grounding the CB to a new spot? Do I need to ground my Firestik KW-3 somewhere?

All the years I've been using CB radios they still piss me off. I have had every problem imaginable come my way, some I've solved, some ended with broken parts. I use a Cobra 25 in both my Motor Home and my truck, turned out my mic went bad so I was able to swap it to confirm. I always say I'm going to study the CB issues to become proficient at solving them, but it never seems important til I'm out on the trail and it won't work.

:couch2:

 

[MStudt]

All the years I've been using CB radios they still piss me off. I have had every problem imaginable come my way, some I've solved, some ended with broken parts. I use a Cobra 25 in both my Motor Home and my truck, turned out my mic went bad so I was able to swap it to confirm. I always say I'm going to study the CB issues to become proficient at solving them, but it never seems important til I'm out on the trail and it won't work.

:couch2:

They suck to work with, that's for sure. I know that I don't have the cable coiled up anywhere, so that's not an issue. I just don't know if I should ground the antenna or the mount. I've read about people doing both, but none of them were with the Firestik KW-3 antenna.

 

[vm_boy]

I was having the same problem with my 19 in Gilmer. It was my first time to use it and I hadn't tuned it. I thought close enuf would have been fine for talking on the trails. I could hear everyone else just fine, but other people were saying they couldn't understand me. I guess they could hear something so they knew I was saying something, but it wasn't very clear. I only use the CB for offroading anyway, so I'll probably just wait until later to get it figured out. I'm interested to know what you figure out, though.

 

[MStudt]

I was having the same problem with my 19 in Gilmer. It was my first time to use it and I hadn't tuned it. I thought close enuf would have been fine for talking on the trails. I could hear everyone else just fine, but other people were saying they couldn't understand me. I guess they could hear something so they knew I was saying something, but it wasn't very clear. I only use the CB for offroading anyway, so I'll probably just wait until later to get it figured out. I'm interested to know what you figure out, though.

I discovered this issue at Gilmer as well. The difference is that they couldn't hear me at all. I was told by someone else there that it was my ground. I order a new mount yesterday, and a Firestik Firering. I'm going to pull my CB out and find a better ground. I might run a wire into the engine compartment and ground it to the fender.

 

[geohil]

Had almost the same issue - ran a ground wire from my antenna mount just down to my frame rail. Problem solved.
I will say that like others in this post people could hear a little bit of noise when I broadcasted, so don't rule out failure of an electrical component in CB itself.

 

[snivilous]

Grounding issue. Some of my buddies have had this happen by having the nylon isolating washer not set correctly.

 

[TheeMikeB]

You need to tune your antenna. Get an SWR meter or find a friend with one. Right Channel Radios has a video explaining how to do it.

 

[sportrunner2001]

I remember my buddy had problems with his CB a long time ago and it turned out he just had the washer on the antenna on the wrong side of the mount. so he flipped it back the way it should be and all was well. How old is the CB or mic your using?

 

[MStudt]

I remember my buddy had problems with his CB a long time ago and it turned out he just had the washer on the antenna on the wrong side of the mount. so he flipped it back the way it should be and all was well. How old is the CB or mic your using?

The CB is about 6 months old. I know I have the washer in the correct place, so I know that's not the problem. I'm not sure how I'm suppose to tune an antenna like the Firestik KW3 which is non-tunable.

 

[sportrunner2001]

The CB is about 6 months old. I know I have the washer in the correct place, so I know that's not the problem. I'm not sure how I'm suppose to tune an antenna like the Firestik KW3 which is non-tunable.

Ta-da!


I found this little chart on how to tune the type of antenna you have. I don't know much at all when it comes to tuning and properly setting up CBs. I would try a different mic first if you know someone that will let you use theirs to test it out.

 

[MStudt]

Ta-da!


I found this little chart on how to tune the type of antenna you have. I don't know much at all when it comes to tuning and properly setting up CBs. I would try a different mic first if you know someone that will let you use theirs to test it out.

That's funny! I just found the exact same thing on a Jeep Forum. I'm going to get my new mount on, ground the CB itself to a better location, and test it. If I'm below 2 I think I'll let it go.

 

[vm_boy]

Ta-da!


I found this little chart on how to tune the type of antenna you have. I don't know much at all when it comes to tuning and properly setting up CBs. I would try a different mic first if you know someone that will let you use theirs to test it out.

I have a FireStik II like "Illustration #1". That illustration doesn't point it out, but there's a lock-nut kind of thing at the bottom. To lock the top nub in place, you have to tighten down the lower nut, otherwise the nub will just fall back down or loosen itself up. From the factory, that nut is as high up as it will go and I think it interferes if you leave it all the way up.

 

[MStudt]

I've been talking with Firestik this week to help me make sure that I'm wiring everything up correctly. This information should be used by anyone who is use a Firestik KW model antenna.

From what I've been told by Firestik, this needs to happen. I obviously need to ground the CB itself to the chassis (already knew that). Route the cable to the rear where my mount is located, and do not coil the coax along the way (knew this too). For those of us that are using powder coated or painted antenna mounts. That mount needs to be grounded. You also need to add a ground wire between the antenna stud, and the stud adapter. Obviously, the better the ground the better off you're going to be. Installing a CB should be so hard, guess I just took the difficult way about it. The KW series antenna is ground plane dependent. Meaning the mount needs to be grounded to the chassis. They does offer other antennas that are not ground plane dependent, and these might be easier. I'll try to get some pictures of what I'm doing as I fix everything this weekend.

 

[SilverRidgeRunner1]

Make sure your Dynamic is all the way turned up u will hear ppl talking but they won't hear u that the most common issue. Also distance plays a big roll if your listening to skip then unless u have a big base station u won't typically be able to reach them anyways unless u have some power behind that box.

 

[having fun]

Grounding, ground plane for antenna(location of antenna), tuning of antenna, all have to be in place or your wasting your time or messing up the finals in the radio.

You will be able to receive others at a distance, you need to have power to transmit distance for them to hear you.

 

[MStudt]

After messing around with this for a couple hours on Saturday. I've finally got things looking pretty good. I moved the ground wire for the actual CB radio itself to a better spot. I made sure the CB antenna mount was grounded to the hatch.

Now to the results. I tested out a 3' and 4' antennas. I also tested out a medium duty spring. I ended up with an
3', no spring- SWR 2.9 on Channel 1- maxed out on channel 40
3', spring- no change

4', no spring- SWR 1.4 on channel 1- 2.2 on channel 40
4', spring- no change

Anyone have an ideas on what I can do to improve this? When I placed a ground wire between the antenna and adapter stud the SWR went up.

 

[IBallEngineer]

After messing around with this for a couple hours on Saturday. I've finally got things looking pretty good. I moved the ground wire for the actual CB radio itself to a better spot. I made sure the CB antenna mount was grounded to the hatch.

Now to the results. I tested out a 3' and 4' antennas. I also tested out a medium duty spring. I ended up with an
3', no spring- SWR 2.9 on Channel 1- maxed out on channel 40
3', spring- no change

4', no spring- SWR 1.4 on channel 1- 2.2 on channel 40
4', spring- no change

Anyone have an ideas on what I can do to improve this? When I placed a ground wire between the antenna and adapter stud the SWR went up.

Got a picture of how you did this?

 

[MStudt]

Got a picture of how you did this?

No, I forgot to take any as I was doing this. I'm kind of wondering about the mount itself. The Fire Ring is supped to be able to ground itself by contacting the ground plane. However, when I looked through the mount it doesn't look like the grounding point is contacting anything. I might try putting a ground wire between the bolt and the Fire Ring.



I'm using a Fire Ring cable (mounted under) and was told by Firestik that I wouldn't need to put a ground between the antenna and adapter. My mount is a hatch mount with 4 set screws to secure it to the hatch. The top and bottom most set screws are in contact with the metal of the hatch. Per manufacture, this is the ground for the mount. I've got a good ground by the CB itself, so I'm not worried about that.

 

[gs300tt]

After messing around with this for a couple hours on Saturday. I've finally got things looking pretty good. I moved the ground wire for the actual CB radio itself to a better spot. I made sure the CB antenna mount was grounded to the hatch.

Now to the results. I tested out a 3' and 4' antennas. I also tested out a medium duty spring. I ended up with an
3', no spring- SWR 2.9 on Channel 1- maxed out on channel 40
3', spring- no change

4', no spring- SWR 1.4 on channel 1- 2.2 on channel 40
4', spring- no change

Anyone have an ideas on what I can do to improve this? When I placed a ground wire between the antenna and adapter stud the SWR went up.

CB Antenna Tuning Instructions | Right Channel Radios