Alright guys I am getting really frustrated here. I have hooked up my Cobra 19 DX III with the Firestik universal mounted inside the rear hatch, fireflex coax and a 4ft. Wilson fiberglass ant. I took my truck in to a CB shop today and spent $50 to have the antenna tuned and the radio peaked and he said everything was fine. He was wrong nothing but static!

OK now that I am done venting. My first question is will this antenna work with this coax and mount or does this antenna have to be grounded? Secondly, where is the best place to ground the radio itself? I have heard it was best to go straight to the battery with both the positive and negative wires (power and ground).

Thanks for any and all help.

Damn I have done SAS that wasn't this agravating.

 

the (static) is backround noise. Are you sure you're in an area where there are other people with CB's. This CB guy didn't check it before he presented you with a bill? You're saying that the antenna "inside" the rear hatch. Having than antenna incased in metal is not good! No you don't have to ground antenna, CB mounted grounds CB coax grounds antenna. That should be all you need. Turn you"re squilsh nob all the way to the right then ask for a radio check. Should hear somethinie talk (I hate 4 wheelers, I hate this I hate that, some spanish etc. haha)

 

What I meant by inside of the hatch is the mount is inside of the hatch. The antenna is outside. It is mounted exactly the way Bob mounted his on the writeup on here with the exact same mount. Could the radio ground have something to do with it?

 

if the mount is metal and screwed into metal, that is your antenna ground. make sure it has good contact. if not, you may need to run your own ground from the mount itself. a good ground in the car for the cb itself should suffice because it eventually gets back to the battery. running the ground to the battery would be excessive if you ask me though it would be the "best" case scenario. Where is your power from? Power should ideally come from the battery itself. You need to find someone else with a CB so you can test. If you turn your squelch all the way to the right and say something, chances are you will NOT get a reply back unless they are right near your antenna. The squelch basically tells the radio how powerful the incoming signals need to be to get relayed to the speaker. If you turn it all the way to the right (aka really high), the radio could be picking up all sorts of signals but none of strong enough to make it through the radio. You want to turn your squelch to the LEFT (all the way down) and say something (channel 19 is truckers) and see if you get anything back, even amidst the static. The most ideal setting on the road when it works is to turn the squelch slowly to the right until the static goes away, then you should be getting the clear signals and none of that background noise. Let us know how it goes

 

yeah go to 19 I just wanted you to turn up squilch to see if you can hear anything at all.

 

OK guys I have tried everything with no good results. I can talk to people that are semi close until I start the truck up then the static takes over. My power wire is going straight to the battery and so is the ground however my antenna mount is screwed to painted metal. Should I gringd the paint off first? Please help. This sucks.

 

The static is only when you start the truck? Does it change volume with the speed of the engine?

 

Yes it does but it is slight.

 

Try a quick test for me, go out and start your truck, and then unhook your antenna is the static gone? or is it still present?

 

When I unhook the antenna the static goes away completely. I have the squelch turned all the way to the left.

 

Ok, what you want to try first is better grounding on your antenna try running a grounding wire right to the frame, chances are that static you are hearing is called RF noise, being picked up through your antenna if you do a search on here you will find a thread where me and a few other people conversed about it in great detail.

 

I agree on a better ground. Especially from the antenna with the problems you are explaining. I am really questioning that CB guy you went to and dropped $50 on and he didnt even check the damn thing! Maybe you go back to him and have him look at your setup, but make sure he doesnt charge you for it!! You got your SWR's checks right?

 

Yea he said he checked the SWR's and they were as good as they could be with antenna in that location ( on rear hatch) .

 

yeah, i missed that... sorry. i know u said you got a 4 foot antenna.... but how far ABOVE your vehicle is your antenna ??

 

Maybe 1 ft. at best.

 

sorry it has taken so long to get back to ya, but not that it matters cause i really do not know what to say, cause i have no idea!! haha, sorry! but if you have not already figured it out, i suggest you post your question on www.cbradioforum.com those guys know thier stuff there. and if u figure it out, will u post it here, or PM me, cause i am still wondering about it.

 

static is normal with squelch all the way to the left, since the radio will pretty much pick up any signal it can find.

 

There's a kit you can purchase at Radio Shack to filter the ground and positive power leads into the CB. This will help.

Also, it's possible your spark plug wires or distributor cap has a crack and is leaking interference.

Lastly, it's also possible to have poor DC coming from your altenator. DC recectiers can fail.

Here's some troubleshooting ideas:

>>>> Use a multimeter or ohm tester to check the ground power wire
impediance to the battery terminal. Should be less than 30 ohms.
impediance to alternator case should be less than 100 ohms.

If impediance is higher than 10K ohms then pull another ground wire straight from the battery.





connect the CB directly to the battery and turn on the engine.
compare the CB static to when the CB was hooked up to the alternator


>>> If there's more static when the CB is attached to the alternator then
you need to have your alternator checked.

>>> If there's no change in the amount of static then consider your spark plug wires and districutor cap suspect

 

thanks for this site hope to be able to help. encryptedmine22re