rockdoon

Hey everyone I recently got a new cb antenna and mount... I just installed everything and when I went to turn on my radio I got nothing not even static...

Here's a picture of my setup







Any ideas?

Kris smith

guy at the ham radio outlet helpped me a lot and told me the springs change th elength of wire in the antenna by adding distance from the coax causing it to be either barly in the bandwidth or just out could cause an issue, what radio ar you using? make sure you have your squelch and gain adjusted so you can pick things up. i get terrible reception on mine and it mounted on the roof. make sure all your connections are good and tight.

rockdoon

Squelch was turned all the way down... No static at all and I've also tried without the antenna and I get the same issue

Kris smith

Is the coax fitting in well in the rear of the cb ?

bulrid8

If that is an aluminum bracket, you need to run a ground wire. The antenna needs a good ground. Also may have damaged coax somewhere.

rockdoon

Ok how do I go about running a ground for an antenna

rockdoon

Ok I tried sticking a magnet to the mount and it sticks so I'm guessing not aluminum and the antenna work when not on the mount (not well but works) so it's only not working while on the mount

bulrid8

Attach a ring terminal, big enough to slide under antenna mount, to a ground wire. Ground that to chassis.

Search cb antenna ground and you will find pictures

Crashed1

Make sure the switch is on cb and not pa... I may have known someone who did that before!

rockdoon

Yes it's on cb lol was the first thing I tried

Crashed1

I did that once and it took me a good 30 minutes to figure it out! Didn't know my little helper played with it!lolol

rockdoon

Could the antenna stud be trucking the mount? Lik the screw touching the wall of the hole... Could that do it?

sluggy

just a silly question, but the cb speaker is working isnt it?

rockdoon

Yes... If I remove the mount and have it set up as coax>stud>antenna I get static and can here a few voices so it works just not well... But when I add the mount I get no sound... Even with squelch all the way down

Badmunky

You have a bad RF ground. In a radio there are two types of grounds. Power and RF.
You can have a good power ground but a bad RF ground.

You need to add a ground wire to the mount.

How much of the antenna is above the truck? Should be 60% or more, or at least 2 feet. 3 feet is better thou.

Also check to make sure the ground on the CB is good. If its weak it can cause problems as well.