HawkFanatic

I have a Wilson antenna, mounted in the stock radio antenna location; it is grounded to the bolt on the window wiper.
The cb wires are run through the drivers side to the power junction on the drivers side fender, and grounded to the ground bolt right next to the junction.
I get a lot of noise when the engine is running, that increases with RPM, but even when the truck is in the ACC position, I can hear the window wipers in the cb.
I know it has something to do with the antenna, because when I unhooked the antenna wire to the cb, the noise was gone.
I also have high SWR numbers… in the 3 range. I have tried tuning the antenna with mixed results…
Tell me what I have wrong…
Thanks

Tacoma Dude

This is a really good resource:
http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

Sounds like most of your concerns are addressed there.

Tacoma Dude

About your background noise... I forget exactly what it is but if you don't have your power hooked up directly to your battery you'll get that engine, window, power lock, etc noise. Removing the CB antenna or the corresponding wire will silence the CB regardless of background noise. Whatever you do, don't key the mic on the CB when the antenna is off. You run a high risk of burning out the CB and you'll have to buy another one.

rngrchad

Run the power and ground off your battery. If you still have noise try running the ground to the side of the block (that's what i do) However sometimes it is incredibly difficult to get rid of wiper interference and electronic window interference. If your running a wilson antenna, that is the antenna recommended for just these situations. Center loaded antennas cut out most of the noise. So if all else fails run a wilson trucker series w/ a center loaded whip. Good luck.
my cb setup:
400 watt palomar/galaxy dx99 and lotsa headlight dim'n power.
Yota167 central buckeye. Am16. 102"whip

rngrchad

ps- a last resort may also be to run a ground strap from your cb cover to a bolt on your firewall or floorboard.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Add a noise filter to the power feed:



And consider running a dedicated power (and ground) feed from the battery to the radio, twist the wires as they run back from the battery to minimize noise. May also want to check the grounding on the antenna, sand away the paint where it attaches and/or add a ground strap to a good solid ground point. Poor grounding can cause noise AND high SWR readings.

And possibly pop for a better radio. I find inexpensive radios are noisy, better radios are quieter and will also have "Noise Blanking" and/or "Automatic Noise Limiting" type functions that will cut out most engine/ignition noise. I used to run a combined AM/FM/CB radio in my 4Runner but it was just too noisey with the engine running. Solved that problem by moving that radio to my diesel (no electrical noise at all) and got a better radio for the 4Runner (EFI is noisey).