Hey guys Im about to hook up a Cb in a 2000 xj for trail use and to talk to people. For starters I have a cobra 19 (nothing special) and a 4 foot firestik its the no-ground plane kit. I also just picked up a swr tuner and power meter. I would like to maximise range any tips or tricks best place to mount the antenna. Anything will help, not looking to run a different radio (for now) or to run an amp
(illegal). Thanks in advance

 

if you haven't already opened up the firestick no ground plane take it back and get a regular firestick. it is an extremely narrow banded antenna. You will be lucky to get it to tune on 3 or 4 channels.

what type of mount do you have for the antenna?

 

Do not use the cigarette lighter power or run from the battery, you'll get a ton of engine noise interference. I ran power from the fuse panel and mounted the antenna with a bracket I the right taillight. Currently using a Coba 25 with a 4' firestik antenna on an 11" home made extension.

 

I can post some pictures later when I get time. I've done a couple other things to achieve a near perfect 1:1 SWR

 

With any 2 way radio equipment all should be connected directly to the battery pos. and neg. terminals. The reason for this is electrical noise introduced into the power lead and ground the battery filters this. All radios come with fused power leads and it never hurts on longer runs even for low power CB's to use 12ga wire at the least.

As already posted above ditch the non-ground plane antenna they are made for boats/fiberglass. When you have the right antenna of your choice on an XJ on of the best places considering height and trail problems is on the LF fender. The mount attaches to the inter fender lip between the fender and hood, the antenna mounts just above the hood on the rear corner using the hood for a ground plane. Using the right antenna should be about roof height and have a VG VSWR ratio.

 

Already opened and its the flat mount it is on the website under no plane ground

 

Running of the fuse box with a good chassis ground

 

Please do

 

Yes I have good ground, I've also upgraded the ground cable from battery to chassis, added ground wires from hood to firewall, antenna mount to chassis, and exhaust to chassis.

 

Here is where I get power from, it's on a switched circuit. I used a mini blade fuse adapter.

 

Antenna mount

 

Hey guys sorry i haven't replied but everything helped so this is what i did. (sorry no pics) i decided to just buy a 102'' whip and mount it to the rear bumper, than ran the coax up behind the rear tail light. That going to a cobra 29 powered by the fuse box and a chassis ground. So far i have reached out about 18 miles. thanks again guys cheers