Also make sure that you have a good ground where your antena is mounted. Don't depend on the coax shielding ground. Check it directly from the battery ground.

 

Grounding to the chassis isn't enough huh?

 

Grounding a CB to the chassis usually causes interference from engine. Creates a whine through the speaker that changes pitch and frequency according to engine RPM's.

 

I'm gonna take them straight to the battery. Couldn't get the Wilson 2000 to work, switched to a 36" mag mount and it's working great!

 

^ The antennae should be OK grounded to chassis, it's the CB unit that should be grounded to battery.

 

I had the Wilson 2000 grounded to the chassis, never could get it to work correctly on the fender mount. Tinkered with for hours and it would not tune and threw the warning light every time I keyed it up.

There's a truck stop with a CB shop. As it turns out he drives a lifted ZJ, and was more than happy to help me solve the problem. He suggested using a mag mount. We threw a 36" and a 60" up on top and it worked like a champ with both. I elected to go with the 36", I figured the 60" would hang up to much on the trail.

Channel 20- SWR of 1
Channel 40- SWR doesn't even move
Channel 1- SWR of 1.8

I got the antenna free with the radio, and traded it to the fella at the CB shop for the Mag mount. Pretty happy with the whole deal.

All that's left is to install my PA speaker and I'm set!

 

the problem you where having with the Wilson is where you had it mounted, the issue is called "reflect". basically your signal was being reflected back into the antenna causing your high SWR's. the perfect situation is where the loading coil will be well above the body of the cab. yours was way to low and too close the the body, you would have never been able to adjust it to get a good match. the littleWill you have now will work good, but only downside is if you hit it good enough on something, not only will it knock it off, but will damage it, and if its damaged it can burn out your radio.

IMHO, get a stick antenna and a GOOD HD spring. if you want i good stick antenna i recommend the Wilson 4ft 5/8's Silver load antenna. a good behind the taillight mount or a 90* mount to mount it to the hood. and don't skimp on the spring, the cheap $8 springs from the truck stop will snap the inner conductor strap on the first tree you smack. a really good HD spring wont do that.

Me personally i run a Gunny pucks mount on my roof with the exact antenna i mentioned above. i beat the living dog ***** out of it and it hasn't failed. hope this helps.

 

By stick antenna do you actually mean a fiberglass antenna? I was hesitant about the mag mount, however it tuned so nicely and it's working so good I don't wanna mess with it. Perhaps I'll just order an extra whip and keep it in the truck in case I damage it.

 

yup, fiberglass. yeah its not the whips that get damaged on those little Will's its the load coil on the bottom above the magnet.

i see your local, if you ever go to Frank Raines or la' grange you'll find out and up in FR and some parts of LG there is no cell reception so if you're rolling solo and it gets pop'd, you could have some problems. i can snap a few pics of my setup if you wanna see it.

 

I would love to see your set up, thanks. I've been to LaGrange more time than I can count, I've never been to Frank Raines though. I ran a 4' mag mount whip on my tacoma for several years till I totaled it, it worked great. However I'm not married to any idea and willing to experiment.

I have read performance will suffer with the fiberglass antenna though.

 

You are exactly right, the plain below the antenna is called the ground pain and it has to have a good grounded or it will give you a false SWR reading.

It is recommend that no less than 2/3 of the antenna be above the ground plain or highest point of the vehicle to work properly.

 

not if its setup right, mine is a 4Ft 5/8's wave, witch is allot better performance wize then the lil will. it being mounted on top will make it omni directional where as off the back it will be very directional, if your going car to car and under 2 miles it really dose not matter, i go for the long run, sometimes we are 15 -20 miles apart or more. sorry for the potato phone pics.


Antenna and mount

CB & 2M/440 antenna

Radio's

full back shot

Antenna Flex

Edit: the antenna mount i have is solid. it has a 6x6 mounting plate on the bottom, ill rip the top of the jeep off before it will come off.

 

Hard to argue with that flex, where did you get the mount?

I have mine on top in a similar location to yours, and it tuned very nicely. I may have to get a setup like yours, I'm a big fan of durability!

 

i actually came up with 90% of the design and a buddy of mine had the resources to make them and improve on it, he sells them along with a bunch of other mount related stuff for CB. keep in mind if you do get one you can't be scared of the hole saw lol, if you do get one tell him hi-tech sent ya.

www.gunnypucks.com

 

Is he a local dude?

I work in a sheet metal shop, totally not afraid of a holesaw! Everything is repairable!

I never considered making a mount like that, so simple!