How to tune your CB Antenna for the best SWR and Range 

I know this video is old, but I’ve been watching all your antenna/cb/pirate radio stuff and you are just a gem. So kind, thorough, great attitude, just extremely helpful all around. Thank you so much 🖤

Always good to see honest & easy to understand old school advice and information, even if it's 4 yrs old.

I don’t know how I came across this video yours out of all the “how to tune” a cb videos I’ve watched. Your magnet mount truck with those little Allen’s and explaining the grounding solved all of my issues I was having thank you so much!

Hands down, best and most informative cb setup video on the net. Great job!

Of all the cb videos your video was the most detailed and understandable. I appreciate the Cb lesson. Your the man!!!

I've been thinking about buying a cb radio and watching your videos is actually very encouraging. Now I just need to look for a good deal and go from there. thanks for taking the time and sharing your knowledge, greatly appreciated! 👍

Ohms/ resistance is the Omega symbol. The arrow with a line by it is actually the diode test. The number you see is the voltage it takes to open the diode. When testing a real diode, this will only work one direction, hence the symbol. Great video on cb, I hope you're still in it, you've inspired me to get back into cb. I want to teach the kids about radioing, and cb is where I started, so, thanks!

Very informative. I learned a lot this evening. Thanks!

All great advice, good job, to add to what you shared, be sure to avoid ground loops by tying all your grounds together they can be very dangerous. I found out about ground loops the hard way on my first job by laying my arm across a tele co frame ground and the buildings cabinet ground which shot a 180 volts ac across my arm, I was very lucky.

I absolutely love running the 102" SS whips! I run a 21' coax and get almost a perfect match. Mounted on top of the bed rails just behind the cab of my pickup. Thank you for your videos

I really appreciate your videos. It has been 25 years since I have run a CB, but looking at your videos decided to get back in the game. Ended up with the bearcat 980 SSB and The Antron 99. Went with the Wilson 1000 magnet on my pick up.Thank you again.

I'm running a Cobra hand held CB in my Jeep Grand Cherokee with the included Firestick stub antenna. I took your advice and moved the magnetic mount to the center of the roof and it improved reception exponentially!

You just made me decide to buy a cb radio, very informative video, thank you

I just found your channel, and will be up all night now watching your videos lol.

Eric, great video. One of my longest CB conversations was from here at the NJ shore to an oil rig off Louisiana and to Kentucky both from using a short RadioShack mag mount antenna on my water heater and stock radio the same week !

It has been a long time since I had a CB. Got it on order Uniden Bearcat 980 and it will be a base for now. Thanks for the great video. I hope to see more.

Great vid. I just bought a Tram 300 mag mount for my vehicle. Decades ago I ran an Ugly stick and also a skip shooter

Ran a 102 since the 70s. Put washers under it to raise it for your SWR's. If lightening is coming, unplug the equipment from the wall, disconnect the coax and put the end, INTO a Jar(Fruit Jar) , till the storm is over.

Thank you for all the information! I'm thinking about getting started with a cb so I really appreciate all you have shared with us.

Thanks for all the great, useful info.

Thanks for taking the time to make these great videos

I super appreciate the education and helping guys get started

Hey Eric thank you for sharing have a great holiday man yeah SWR is very important to me

Very nicely done! Made a lot of sense even for a newbie.

Thanks Erik for a great video !! Great job on the grounding wire. It can’t be over emphasized. My guess is that 50% or more people don’t have a ground wire and stakes in the ground. It’s a major issue and everyone should have proper ground set up. Thanks again for excellent presentations. Good luck and I’ll keep watching you!! God bless.

This is Jim your videos on cbs are great keep keep up the good work.

Keep up the detailed videos. My attenna is finally under 2 swr. Thank you.

Hey, thanks for making these vids and sharing information. It's very helpful.

Yet again, an awesome video, rife with excellent information. You have inspired me to set up a CB base station. I've recently found my fathers' vintage Pace P5453 SWR meter made in Harbor City, Calif., USA. Thank you. A+

Thanks for sharing this video with us.

Another great video! Thanks again!

You do a great job explaining!

I found that mobile CB antennas work best in the middle of any vehicle ( except motorbikes 😀). The settings ( readings from the swr) tends to be quite low & the transmitting & receiving is as good as anyone can get. Anywhere else on the vehicle & I personally found i had nothing but, trouble from it & I ended up advising others to do the same thing with their mobile antenna. Many already had done it but, there was quite a few that had problems with finding a suitable place for it. & I will always highly recommend the middle of the roof of the vehicle. YES! it can be very awkward if it is a high sided van or soft top ( convertible). But, were possible top middle is definitely the very best place for it. The reason for this is the signal will radiate equally out. If it is fitted anywhere else on the vehicle the signal will be oval or uneven in some way. This is one of the consiquences of putting the antenna elsewhere on the vehicle. But, that is upto that person's own personal choice of location of their mobile antenna. & also a very uneven swr reading.

Thanks. Learning lots from your efforts.

Good stuff. I've been going down the HAM road, but just dug my CB out of a drawer for the car. I even had a K30 in there. Who knew it was a decent antenna??? For my HAM work, I have a Rig Expert 230--an antenna analyzer. I needed to move the dip to the right on the graph significantly. I had to take almost 3/4" off. Now I'm in the sweet spot of the CB range. Thanks for the help!

You're like the EricTheCarGuy of CB radio's. And your name is Eric! Haha great videos man they have helped me alot!

many thanks for this video, i'm waiting on my cb/antenna and swr meter to arrive and found your video really good as a study ahead of actually trying. subscribed :)

OuachitaJack, keep the good videos coming.

Great videos, I just found you and I watched 2 videos and you make them very easy to understand ,I also hope to see some of your auto Mach videos , so from Pittsburgh take care.:)

Great vid man. Lots of useful information. Keep the vids coming

Outstanding work. Just subbed. Currently battling with the cobra in my apt.

Imo i think the k40 steel whip mobile antenna works very well. Swr is excellent and reception is great As well as transmitting. Also the k40 both dual steel whip and fiberglass twin antennas too..

You're a Nice Guy! Thanks!

An excellent video well explained. Thank you Sir. A+ Greetings from Washington State. We are also freezing our B***s off here during Winter.

Great Information/vid. I didn't hear you mention about location with mobile unit when you set SWR. I understand you have to be in a clear area to set it (like away from trees / buildings ect.)

If it's better at the low end but not good enough, it's a bit too long and trimming can help. If it's better at the high end it needs to be longer. One antenna I used to have was useless with a range of a few hundred feet! A base load with short whip.I replaced it with a 9'' helical whip which was awesome. Years later, I opened up the base, reversed to coil wires, and it worked flawlessly. (a factory "oops")

I tend to use a lot of mag mount antennas. But whatever type of antenna you are using, unless you have a specific reason for doing so, you want the SWR to be exactly the same on CH1 and CH40. You should then get your lowest reading on channel 20, which is next to 19, which is what people use on the road. Your SWR will change as you change channels. The reason for that is that an antenna can only be perfectly resonate on one frequency. The further away from that frequency you get, the higher your SWRs will be, and the less efficient your antenna will be. The old 23 channel radios were easier to get a low SWR on across all the channels, because you had fewer frequencies to cover. IMO, anything over 1.5:1 is unacceptable. No, that is not high enough to damage your radio, but you are losing most of your output signal. At 1.5:1 you are transmitting under 3 watts instead of close to 4. That's a huge loss. IF you operate mostly on SSB, on the higher frequencies channel 35 -40, then you may want to tune your antenna to work better on those higher frequencies. But remember if you do, you will have an unacceptably high SWR on the low frequencies like channel 1. With CB, (and ham) everything is a compromise.

so this is what Negan does outwith the Walking Dead.... Great videos!

Great Videos man, I am a NC Native myself.

Thanks for this!

When you said on the trucks antennas on the toolbox or somewhere else, I put mine on the mirrors (my mirrors are West Coast).

Great video Eric on the proper way to set up and ground an antenna. Now get back in the house and get next to the fire and get warm. LOL.

You explain so well i thought you were a teacher :) Keep up with the good work and hope you get a new camera in the future :D

Awesome video

Enjoyed the video!

I’m just getting into CB and you have been the most informative person I’ve ran across. I can’t find any shoes that sell ANYTHING to do with CB or HAM. I sure can’t find a SWR meter on eBay for $10-$15.....Let’s talk about PA speaker under hood of my truck. I was able to buy a 15 watt, 105db speaker. It’s mounted and factory 35mm cable ran to cab where sits my Uniden pc78LTW ready to go but I don’t have a mobile antenna!!! So I haven’t turn it on yet to try speaker because I believe you said it can harm my cb I just stole for $40 on offer up. I’ve got brand new Silverado, suggestions???????

Back in 1976 when I worked at a CB store, we would charge $5.00 for what we called "matching" the antenna and radio.

I believe the maximum wattage limit should be raised to 25 watts to 50 watts. An old amateur radio operator showed me the difference long ago. He tuned a 10 meter frequency and transmitted out on 15 watts he had a bit of trouble getting a contact but did get one the other operator was very accommodating and stood by for the experiment. The other operator said the signal was clear but low. The operator on my side then switched to 40 watts and asked for a clarity report again and the other operator said the difference was incredibly good. Then the operator on my side went to 5 watts and the other operator said the signal was almost lost in the background noise. He asked the other operator to go to channel 40 of the CB band and switched to LSB. The test was then from 12 watts to 1 watt. The difference was evident again. The 1 watt was not even heard on the other end.

Bought at truck stops. like piolet, loves, flying J, and Chevron stops. Meters, antennas and radios.

as always, very informative and a pleasure to watch and learn. Regarding the chassis ground on the back of the base station.. where does one attach the ground that leaves the radio chassis?

Good video!

Nice Video Man!!

Good info!

Thank you trying to get one install in the truck and home

Knowing how I was 20 years ago. I should have learned more about radio communication before I pressed that PTT. I don't remember how many CB Radios I had, but now that I think about it, my antenna was a joke, I'm surprise that was able to talk on the radio.

I love your CB radio videos. Can wait to see your low power FM radio station videos. Any chance of GMRS radios videos

There is a way to adjust a 102 inch whip but most can't do it! There is a fitting for the whip to adjust it, and different size springs to use with it. Most only the pro do that. To keep good condition put silicone grease on connection. I have worked for years on radios in Lighting Alley South Florida. YOU CAN NOT OVER GROUND! You are right about grounding things! The better you ground the safer you are! If you happened to be talking on the radio when lighting this Near! And you didn't ground things YOU WILL FEEL IT! most of the time you will Not get hit but anything with in a 1/4 to 1/2 mile can do damage to an ungrounded radio and could hurt you. Years working on GE and Motorola mobile and base radios. A drect hit will burn all the wires out of your coax and may leave the rubber looking OK! I saw that once. The radio was well grounded and it had very little damage.

very nice video.

I'am Your Newest Subscriber Great Videos

Eric Just saw you Video on CB radios great Video man I really Enjoyed the Video Looking Forwards to other Videos more on other options on Communications things you may know and I may not know? But keep up the good work Man Love your Videos and Yes there are some really Nice People watching you Videos thank you and Aloha from Hawaii LOL

If you run a 102” whip you can set your swr by trimming the coax cable. Cut your coax in 108” increments of length and your swr should be good.

Hey eric...first off ur channel is great...keep it goin...i have a question about grounding ur antenna...i understand that the copper wire goes from the grounding rod 2 the antenna via clamp...but how does the copper wire attach 2 the antenna itself...any help with a reply or video would b greatly appreciated...

Did some of the CB units come with that built into it or did you always need separate tool? Thanks for another helpful vid Eric. You answered my question in the vid. I had couple times with bad alternator whine, used filters and all too.

low swr does NOT mean best signal out....Resistance and resonance is decideing that..swr is pretty much telling you how much of the radios outgoing signal is being reflected BACK into the radio..Radio is grounded through its power/ground wire..Ant ground in a car is the metal UNDER the antenna.

Chrysler use to put extra ground straps on the hood of there vehicles to help reduce the back ground noise ,would doing something like this on the trunk help for a magnet mount antenna

Your video is way better then the other ones I've seen. I was definitely worse off after seeing them until I seen yours which you explained everything very well and made it easy. So I'd like to thank you for that. But I do have one question. How do you adjust a whip antenna? Like a fire stick or something similar?

you mentioned in your video about grounding the radio , what gauge wire should i use to get the best ground when grounding radio

Back in the day, late 80s to mid 90s, i was taught the CB range of channels 1-40 was basically the three meter band, roughly 9 feet for the full frequency of transmission signal. So having an opened Cobra 148 (shhh) i used the base station coax, RG8? as opposed to standard RG58 sold with mag mounts? Anyway, thicker cable. Got in 9ft length so used 18ft. Standard trunk lid mount (what brand was that?) and a nine foot steel whip with cheap coil spring from radio shack. Always ran between .5 to 1.2 SWRs, running about 5 watts. Able to talk skip from Long Island to South Carolina and Maine. Local, receive 30 miles, trans 45. Talked from my job in Hicksville NY, many heard me, but only pulled in from a friend's base in Selden. Those were the days!! Any rig can do good if you match the frequency- 3 meters or 9 feet. Get your coax in 9,18, 27 etc increments. Good antenna and talk yer skip. I tell ya, now I want to dig out my president Jackson and scan the channels. Keep the shiney side up and the greasy side down.

One additional recommendation when it comes to having a good ground: if you install a strap or not, use transparent silicon glue around the antenna/bumper contact area. It will keep oxygen, moisture, and dirt away from the connection. Remember that "rust" occurs, even if iron/steel are not the metals. All metals "rust", and the involvement of electricity/power will cause "power" radiated by the antenna to be reduced by the rust. Everything that can be used to prevent "oxidation" (rust) should be used. Get all metal as "bare" as possible before connection, and do everything you can to protect the "bareness."

Still use my Uniden PC122xl. Great little radio on SSB. Was paired with a Falcon 2400 diapole antenna and sounded great for a homebase setup....then I moved and lost the antenna...😕

Resonance is more important than SWR. That meter will put you roughly in the ballpark, but will not put you right on the money.

To adjust the102 is washers like tuning rings, or trim length on tip

Where does the grounding wire get attached on the base antenna? BTW another great video thank you.

Yepp. Thats. Really. Great. Match.

Hi, like the video. I am thinking of installing a set on my Tacoma. I have a fiberglass shell on it that is even with the cab height. I don't want to mount the antenna on the hood, shell or on the rear quarter panel. I park it inside my garage, so I can not mount it to it's full height unfortunately. I want to mount it on my rear bumper so I can it a decent ground. I saw Firestiks " No Plane plane" antenna". What are your thoughts / suggestions. Thank you Farpoint Farms :)

Could you do a video on where exactly the ground connection is at on the base antenna( and zoom in for me) also on the back of your cb you just mentioned in your video please, thanks

Excellent video I have one question though will look brown work well if it has been spliced

I am getting ready to install and tune a cb. I could only get a 9foot cable to connect the tuner. Will that change my info. Also I got a magnetic antenna. That doesn't need a ground if is attached dry to the roof. Thanks for the videos👍

Hi Eric, I always get confused as to where you actually attach the ground wires. Do I stick the wires directly to any part of the antenna or to the mast itself and into my ground rod? If lighting hits my antenna, won't it travel through the coax cable? Please help. Thanks. By the way my mast is directly sunk into the ground, does that also help?

I have a question I installed my Cobra 29 above the rear view mirror in my Jeep Wrangler JK. I went direct to the battery for power and ground for the cb, i have a rear bumper antenna mount that I added a ground strap to the frame to the antenna mount. Ive tuned the SWR on channel 1 and 40 and its pretty low around 1.5 The cb picks up incoming transmissions no problem. It's the second I key the mic while the engine is running my gauges in my jeep go nuts, the wiper goes off and my dash lights up like a Christmas tree. I cant figure out why this is happening. Have you come across this problem? Any help would be great.

If u elemanate the spring from the 102 whip it will give u good SWR on 10 meter ham band. If u have a license.

Ya cb was fun in the 80’s and 90’s when radio shack was booming in the radio business. Now it seems like nobody can hear my radio. That’s why I got my ham license. Fm is way clearer and repeaters can shoot your signal 100 miles in every direction and more if it’s a linked system

what would you suggest grounding the radio to ?? Sorry I am a first timer and setting up a Uniden bearcat 980 ssb in my home. Thanks

Ok I want to make sure I’m correct , I have a 4 door cab pick up. I was going to set the Stryker towards the back of the cab right in front of the 3 break light, I was thinking I should have it centered as close as I can on the vehicle. I was told I should center it on the cab roof not center of the entire truck , what are your thoughts?

Hey Eric, great videos! I was wondering if you could tell me if its ok for the swr meter to show above 2 in the mid range channels like ch 18 through 22 for example? I'm under 2 on channel 1 and 40. Thanks and merry Christmas!

Great video, was very well done. I have a Uniden 787 that has a swr meter. Is it accurate enough or I am better off with a stand alone swr meter?

What are my options for the ground on the lug for the back of the mobile cb radio that I’m using for my base station?

I have a question Hope you have an answer I have a uniden bearcat 880 hooked up in my garage to a Browning flat coil 1500 watt miramont antenna wip. I run my antenna diagnostic on my radio at channel 40 it says pass once I get the channel 16 or lower it fails SWR on channel 1 is about 1.7 SWR on 40 is about 1. I have also stuck ground plain wires on the antenna that is on my roof the browning coil antenna. I just don't know why antenna diagnostics on lower channels gives me a fail upper channels pass can you help me with this.

The standing wave on a 102 inch whip is dome by the coax linkth

im new to radio, just got my tech license .. KD9GRP, was looking at this cobra and the Galaxy Dx 979F in your opinion does one stand out above the other... and on ebay there is a guy selling the galaxy with a clarifier mod....locks your TX/RX together, is this a good option??? Just getting ready to buy a cb, and wanted your input, i am currently operating a icom 5100 d star. Thanks for any advice 73s