Sorry [MENTION=228124]JSS16[/MENTION] for my late reply....somehow I missed this!
everything on amazon is china you think that's ok also do you think I should go 8x?
Naw, run is to short to need 8x....I happened to have a piece already laying around with a 259 on one end.......here's why you don't need it......in short, the longer the run of cable and the higher the frequency of transmission, the greater the need larger diameter cable......think of it as going from P metric tires to heavier trail rated tires....next time you pass a cell tower, look at the large black things going up the tower.....thats cable feeding the antennas - long run and high frequency = less loss of transmitted power. So for our uses, RG58 is plenty. Quite frankly for a short 10' run, at 27 MHz, RG174 is fine.
now using a stranded center conductor, that is a must! Why, solid copper will work harden over repeated bending by opening the hood and eventually split.
as to antenna I will use use my old antenna that is pretty much new.....
one member said that bracket does not have good ground and you can't add one to make it better which I am confused about that....forsure the hood bolts are grounded can you share your thought on this issue??
He is right about the Rago mount not having a ground (nor do any of the lip mount brackets by Diamond, etc)...but you still can do it.....grounding is most important to keep the transmitted power or what is called RF (radio frequency) off of the vehicle ground system and secondarily to provide a ground plane or reflection system to launch the RF into the air.....this sounds almost contradictory.....just like our 13.8 VDC truck batteries have a + and -!
However, I have used many different magnetic mount antennas, and they are not grounded.....they work just fine.
When I installed my Rago mount, I noted the same grounding issue.....but that's not a problem.....most likely at @3 watts transmitted output on CB (5 watts input = @3 watts output), just don't worry about it...it won't make much a difference.....however, there is a very remote possibility that RF could enter the in-dash radio unit...my guess is that it would be very rare if it did....I purposely bought the drivers side mount to run the coax through the firewall and to a sperate head unit under the drivers seat.....really short run and short run to the tap a fuse under the dash....if RF does get in your radio, simple fix....or if you're super proper about everything, then try each of these, in order -----
1. Make a coax braid jumper to ground. Get an extra length of RG58, strip the rubber off the outside and remove the white insulating material with the center conductor. This is easy to do a couple of inches at a time.....push shield back a couple inches exposing a hole in the braid and push out insulating material and center conductor....you want to end up with just the shield.....solder this shield to the shield at the base of the NMO....seal with a good silicone material. Then connect this flexible material to a ground in the engine compartment.....keep it flexible to open the hood, but as short as practical.
and/or
2. Inside the cab, connect a ground wire from the CB radio to a ground screw. Again, keep this as short as possible.....make sure to use a continuity tester to check your ground screw against the PL-259 connector's shield to ensure you are really grounding it!
BUT, quite frankly, I really don't feel the above is necessary. I did not do it and will not because I have not found any trouble running 50 watts output on 146 and 444 MHz. I might put another hood bracket on to run a screwdriver antenna for 3.5 to 28 MHz at 100 watts and I will definitely ground it as I described.
Hopefully, I did not confuse you. I have run ham radios in cars and trucks since the 70's and never had a problem. And, I only grounded 1, that one when I ran 500 watts output on 14.2 MHz.
Let me know how it turns out!
Bob
