Finally a video I’ve been looking for. I’m having the exact same issue. I’ve tested everything and I’ve come to the conclusion that must be my antenna.
Yes, you must lengthen or shorten you antenna based on whether your swr is higher on 40 than 1. You want 1 and 40 to be the same number as much as possible.
1st Never check your SWR inside a garage. Second In your situation I recommend the K-40 Magnet mount. Also on the good antenna you tested. 1.1:1 on ch 1 and 1.5:1 on ch 40. Toy can improve that by shortening your whip section. Also your fiberglass whip is mounted too low and reflecting off your roof line. Keep in touch if I can be of any help.
I did end up measuring SWR in the middle of a open field but it did have much of a impact. My fear with magnet mounts is that they get pulled off on the trail if I hit the roof with a low branch. I ended up getting a 4’ Wilson flex antenna. It’s got about 80% of its wire wraps in the last 12” which gave me 1.5:1 in its current setup.
Just got a new cb and magnetic mount antenna off of eBay. It's mounted in an 88 Chevy van with the antenna close to the center of the roof. I had the exact same problem. High SWR (over 3) on channel 1 and 40. All test meter checks came out fine just like your tests. The antenna I got in the kit was a cheapie center load that I figured would be fine for the small amount of use the set up would be getting. My guess is the antenna is the problem so I ordered a Wilson Little Wil base load. I hope the result is as successful as yours! Thanks for posting your video.
Good stuff man. I have a new 48" firestik that won't tune below 4 swr and just like yours everything else is good to go. I have never been so aggravated with something so simple! One way or the other both my TJ and my f350 will have tuned cb's. Btw, i subscribed. Jake
I don't know if it's to late, but you need a good ground on your antenna. That should get your SWR down below 1.5 You should shoot for a 1:1 but anything below 1.5 is ideal.
Thanks for your time! The plastic washer can never be on the bottom of the bracket, and I would take the metal washer off and the stud that you are using is one of the worst to buy.
I had a quick peruse of the comments (but it's late at night and I'm tired, so I only glanced through them), but I wonder if anyone mentioned to you that there's an enormous difference between DC ground and RF ground. "Grounding" the bracket to the negative terminal of the battery is absolutely pointless, because whilst it might very well give you a great DC ground (and undoubtedly did), RF largely ignores it (other than in the case of, say, a direct short in the coax or suchlike). For proper RF ground you MUST use braided copper..... the wider the better, but preferably no narrower than about 1 inch..... RF runs along the SURFACE of conductor so a thin bit of rounded wire is just about ignored! People often talk about "grounding an antenna", which is accurate, but grounding with regular wire is just about pointless. I'm no videographer, but I sort of covered this, merely by example with a clip of a series of still photographs (kind of like a slideshow) to do with bonding (earthing). I've also driven big trucks and installed CB radios, Amateur Radios and Commercial radios in those big trucks for well over 40 years. Many of those trucks has fibreglass cabins (particularly in the 80's) where earthing was really problematic! You're welcome to view this, or ignore it, as you see fit. I am not concerned whether you comment or not .... it just is what it is! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wOEQY55F0XY.html Kindest regards Indy
Also , for your radio to match the antenna should be located at center of mass on the roof . These new cars have a lot of plastic 😬 and will throw you reflection off . And your swr meter off .
Get your self a wilson "little will" mag mount with a adjustable whip, 1.5 on see meter on channels 1/40/20 and may have to cut off your whip a little at a time very little till you achieve 1.5 or below on your meter acrossed all channels
The lower the swr the better on any channel. Antenna placement is an issue and antenna type. The best placement is on the roof with any antenna. Running the external wire along the roof for ground as you did is not a good idea, with it being Insulated from the body of the car that wire will act as active resonant part of the antenna as well. I suggest moving the antenna to the corner of the vehicle and not in the middle unless its on the roof. With antenna on the corner, the whole length of the side of vehicle is "visible" to the entire antenna making a much better groundplane to radiate from. This comment is long enough. Hope you enjoy the CB radio. I've been doing it since the 5th grade. 713 SDS-1 North Dallas mobile.
james craghead great advice man. Thank you. I’m a newbie when it comes to CB radio. I totally agree with you. Mounted the antenna on the corner would been the best option but my fear of dragging the antenna and the mount against a tree got the best of me. And actually a couple of months after making this video I rubbed a tree next to the taillight where I was going to mount everything so dodged a bullet there hahaha. My plan is to move this setup to the corner of the rear bumper/tire carrier. Which should a little farther out and up from where the antenna is at now. It should increase it’s visibly and give it a better ground.
@@TheOffRoadCorner lol yea you do run the risk of wacking it off more when on bumper. Im just glad to see another tinkerer, that's what cb is. Fiddle till it works best on your application. Have fun and safe 4x4'n
@@SDS-1 So question (it might be a dumb one). How do mag based antennas get their ground? I haven't seen anyone knock the paint off their roof and place a mag base down. It can't ground through the paint, can it?
@@TheOffRoadCorner its called magnetic coupling. With the antenna above the ground surface its much easier for the foil on bottom of magnet to couple to ground. If you run an amplifier on your CB you will notice the mag will get warm on the contact point and the swr's start to climb when it gets heated.
First off, any metal antenna bracket such as the one you used on your Jeep should be mounted directly to metal. Using the license plate screws (which incidentally screw into nylon/plastic nuts on most vehicles) is isolating your bracket from ground. So if you had mounted that bracket completely above your license plate into the sheet metal of your liftgate you would have had a good ground without running an extra ground wire.
Joe Schnell I here you for sure. I actually had plans to replacing those plastic screw insert deals with a couple of riv-nuts. To be honest I don’t even like the fact that it has to ground through the liftgate hinge.
Also you can go online and if you talk to a ham radio operator they’ll tell you how important mobile antenna grounds are. The shorter the length of the ground the better, thus direct mounting to sheet metal is the best.
@@joeschnell544 hey I asked James Craghead this same question. Both of you guys suggested the mag mount antennas. How does mag base antennas get their ground? they don't ground through the paint, do they?
The Off Road Corner yes they do through the magnet. It’s some sort of magnetic coupling and if you ever get a bad swr it would either be a cable issue or an antenna coil issue. Why do u think you got a good swr with the mag mount you tested?
My test leads aren’t long enough to check each side of the coax for continuity could I put some alligator clips or something to get the extra length? I’m not seeing any extra long test leads for my Klein
You could find a way to connect the center pin and shield on together on one side. Then connect your meter between the center pin and shield on the other side. An alligator clip would work.
Cut your antenna down 1/4 inch at a time. Get u some good snips, try the swr, than write down your swr on both channels so u know how much to cut or how much to adjust the antenna. Also more wire to the antenna the more signal and power you lose.
Your readings are not right by any means since you are inside that garage. Further a magnet mount antenna will not really give you a great reading since you really cant ground the antenna
patrick thompson i agree with you. I ended up getting a longer antenna which brought more of the antenna above the top of the jeep. Plus the Wilson 4ft antenna i got had more wire wrapped towards the top of the antenna which helps.
I’m not real sure thats. The computers on this jeep communicate of the CAN bus but that’s a closed wired network. I doubt that could interfere with cb unless you some how tapped into the two wires for that CAN bus.
