91muddog

i am getting a very poor signal on my cb radio and am not transmitting for anything either.

im running a presidental cb radio and a wilson 2000 trucker antenna

is there any tuning i can do?

Yota82

Better ground?

91muddog

do you mean a better ground as for the antenna?

this is how the antenna is mouned as of rght now

dcg9381

Do a google search for "SWR Tuning" - to get the most out of your CB you need to tune the antenna... MAkes a huge difference.

91muddog

ive been trying to tune it but its not seeming to work.

i get a reading of 7 or 8 on channel 1
and a reading of 3 on channel 40

Baloo

More than likely it is a grounding issue. Frst, make sure the radio is well grounded. You can get braided wire for grounding at any Auto Parts store. I think Radio Shack may have it as well. Make sure wherever you ground it to is has a good connection. You may need to scrap away some paint.

This may cure the problem, but lets go a step further. Take the grounding braid and ground the antenna to the frame. Some even go further and also attach the braid from the coax. In this case, that would be overkill.

Oassionally bodies are not to well grounded to the frame, although that has not been my experience with Toyotas. In those cases, sometimes you have to run brading from the body to the engine or frame. I would not worry about that at this point until you eliminate the other two areas as possible problems.

Your antenna is not really optimal location-wise, so don't expect to work skip on a reeular basis. Adjust the SWR after each step. Your really working the finals with an 8, the goal is to be as close to under 3, 2 preferably as possible. If there is one channel you use pretty exclusively, you can also tune it to that channel to really optimize it.

Yota Tony

MAke sure you have a good RF ground first and then tune it.

krash2k77

I would think that maybe if u have had problems in the past running high swr's can damage the finals in it. U may also want to take to the cb shop. Also how are u trying to get your swr's down?? the wilson has a hex head that u loosen and push or pull the whip in or out, if it has been cut then slide it all the way down till it bottoms, if that doesn't work then u may need to get another whip. Also the coax is a great place to start, get 18ft or past that from what it looks like but 18ft is a great amount. If u still have problems take the radio to a cb shop..

Ganoid

If your SWR's are high on ch1 then your antenna needs to get longer (loosen the set screw and raise the stinger up).
If they are high on ch40 then the ant needs to get shorter (loosen the set screw and lower the stinger).
Once you get to the point where your SWR's are the same on both 1 and 40 you'll want to check them on 20 (it will probably be lower on 20) and you are as good as you can get with the antenna in that position.
When you think about the term SWR it means "Standing Wave Rejection" the bottom 1/3 of your antenna is parallel to a steel surface so you may never get your Standing wave down to the ideal 1-2 but if you gotta run 3-4 to keep it in your mounting location its not the end of the world. I run a Wilson as well and the best I can get with a similar mounting location is 2.

MMA_Alex

Just fyi SWR stands for Standing Wave Ratio. Bumpers tend not to be a good place to ground things. always ground to the frame. A lot of people have trouble with trailer wiring because they ground to the bumper/hitch when putting together their trailer wiring.

Ideally you should try to get the swr down to 1.5:1, but i'm not sure if you can manage that with the cb.

Ganoid

I guess I missed that one? I thought the retired navy radio tech that explained things to me told me it was rejection? ratio sounds right though as its always X.X to 1. Humm learn something new everyday. Either way SWR's are affected by the environment surrounding the antenna as well as good ground. Ideally a flat metal surface with a good ground will yield very good results. If I where to move mine to the roof the SWR's would be spot on but I just settle for a little higher than ideal to keep my mounting location.

MMA_Alex

Thats correct. Also the groundplane is important, which is why its recomended that you mount the antenna in the middle of the roof. I doubt on the bumper you'll get as low as 1.5:1, but 8 is way too high

91muddog

ok. ive been digging for my good ol swr meter since the built in one isnt working for anything.

when i first set it up the other day i heard a driver talking out in concord, a pretty good distance away, i could only hear him and he could not hear me.
since then ive had it on allll day and hear nothing!!

this is probably a ground situation bvut when driving, as the antenna sways back and forth the static cuts in and out. does anyone know why that could be?

CapeFear4Runner

also with the swr's make sure the coax connectors arefully tighten. If radio is used make sure the mic is working proerly . Also the 3 prong plug in the back is in properly. also ground to the frame always. I'm swinging 1000w on 18v of dry cell. The static cutting in and out isn't from the swaying but having an almost zero ground plane.

ovrrdrive

Your best bet is to go to a CB shop...

If I drive 10 minutes either way on the interstate I can hit about 4 of them. Those guys work on this stuff all day and can tune it in about 10 minutes for you or tell you what's wrong and why they can't tune it.

While you're there have them tune the radio too.

CapeFear4Runner

or....what he says!!!

pepsibluefloat

I ordered a CB and antenna a few weeks ago, and will mount it when i get back from Korea. I was planning on mounting it on the rear bumper, but that doest seem like the best place to mount it from waht you'al say. A 4 foot antenna sticking off the top of the roof may get in the way though; any other ideas for mounting? Maybe run a bracket on the side from between the removable top and fender on my 4runner? How do u think that would work?

NaeSLaS

I'd do what the military does. Put an antenna on the roof, and tie it down when you're in the city.

CJM

Ground it to the body right behind the taillights if you are mounting it on the rear bumper.

91muddog

thanks CJM

i ran a ground wire from the antenna mount to one of the bolts for my licence plate and now it works great

i was just talking to a trucker clear up in fresno, 130miles