Ok I got it all hooked uo in the driveway and adjusted the squelch and gain and did several radio checks and got great reception. On the drive over to visit the family I had so much noise from the alternator, no matter where I turned the squelch/gain, that any transmission that I recieved was covered buy it.

I hooked the CB (Uniden 520) up to a constant hot so that I'd be able to use it if I lost my keys or the ignition busted. Is there a "thing" I can buy and put in line that will eliminate the noise? Can I splice into the stereo harness at the hot wire for the stereo and hope that there is a factory "noise stopping thingy" already in line that stops the noise before it gets that far?

Any help would be great.

 

do you have a good grounds on the antenna/cb?

 

As far as I can tell yes. We grounded the CB to the frame work under the dash and the antenna is grounded to the cab via the mounting plate that came with it. The antenna is a hard mounted wilson little wil 1000.

 

I know that radio shack sells a little box that you can wire into the power wire on your cb to help eliminate "noise" from all the other electronics in the truck. My cb does the same thing! I don't use it enough any more so I never installed my little black box!

 

Thanks bigblue. I'll see if I can pick one up tomorrow. I'm also wondering if I can just ground the CB to the negative post on the battery since the wire is long enough. Would this be the best way to ground the system?

 

Sure, I don't think that it would hurt any. Just short cuts having to travel thru the frame! I wish I could remember the name of that box thingy for you. I tried searching for it on radio shacks www, but I HATE their site-the worst search EVER.

 

ground everything to the frame or one location on the vehicle, and ground the cab to the frame. and make sure that the antenna cable is not running next to anything that has a substantial amount of power through it. if you have to ground the antenna yourself, its a pain but it is doable. the more things are grounded the better it is. i work with radios in the military, we pour saltwater on the grounding rods to get the best ground possible. ridiculous i know but hey if thats what it takes, then so be it. thats just my opinion. but for all kinds of good CB info check here http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

edit: that firestik website is full of useful info, like this;

17. If you are hearing whining noises from your radio while your vehicle is running, it is probably due to "dirty power" being supplied to the radio. Under dash power may be more convenient, but the "cleanest" power will be found by running the radio's power leads straight to the battery.

-wyo

 

if it's alternator whine (varies in pitch with rpm) then it could be a ground loop.

wyorunner's suggestion is a good one - esp in car audio, ground loops are a common cause of alternator whine. ground to one location, and grounding everything should help.

having power and signal cables running parallel in close proximity could also be a source of noise. use shielded cable for best results. i think the wilson coax that come with their antennas is pretty good.

i think people are referring to noise filters. they can be helpful as a last resort.

 

So running the power directly to the + post on the battery is the best way to supply power and running the ground to the - post on the battery is the best way to by pass a "ground loop"?

I'll give it a try.

 

The antenna cable is up in the head liner and where it runs under tha carpet to the CB there isn't anything around it, no other cables or wires.

As far as grounding to one location I'm going to try and ground the CB to the - on the battery today.

 

Well I can't find a ground loop isolator to save my life. All of them have RCA jacks on them for radios. So I pulled the ground wire through the firewall and attached it to the negative terminal on the battery and noticed a vast improvement. I still have some noise when listening to a weaker transmission (i.e. someone who is farther away) but it's clear up to 4 miles. I did a road test and got clear reception up to and including distances of 4 miles on the interstate. I'm hoping that after I get the isolator found and installed and peak/tune the 520 I'll be able to reach out about 6 miles on a good day.

I'm guessing 6 miles is about the minimum distance you want in a CB??

 

if you're going to have a "golden screwdriver" do the peak/tune, you might want to inquire as to what that entails.

don't want someone to just go in there and clip limiters and turn up the pots to max power and modulation (or overmodulation, as the case may be with clipped limiters). you could end up with a radio that is overmodulated, hard to understand, and bleeds over adjacent channels.

if you're looking for more modulation, you may want to consider a power mic like the astatic. very clean, even at stupid (read that illegal) levels of power.