There are a wide variety of CB antennas available on the market and each has a different installation process to follow. This guide is intended to highlight the steps that are common to the entire CB antenna installation. It will also explain the factors that profoundly impact the performance of your CB Antenna.
1. Choose a location
The first thing to consider when installing the CB antenna is to select a suitable location for it. Before bringing your antenna home, make sure you have selected the point. This will help you to purchase the necessary equipment for the installation. Here are some tips to get this job done the right way:
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Try the center of your vehicle’s roof as the first mounting location for your CB antenna. This is an ideal location as it gives your antenna maximum exposure and a wide ground plane to anchor.
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Try not to install your antenna on the bumper, license plate, or fender as these are the poorest places for installation. Here you will receive half as much signal strength as normal.
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Fix your antenna in such a way that its coil is above the roof line of your car. As the coil is the heart of an antenna and for best reception on your radio antenna the coil should be covered with a hard material like diamond, only this will make your antenna more effective.
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Select an antenna tall enough that it should be mounted high enough on your vehicle.
2. Installing the magnetic mount CB antenna
This process can vary in its level of difficulty depending on the type of antenna you have. If you have a magnetic mount, then the process can be as simple as gluing the mount to the selected location. On the other hand, the door jamb bracket may require technical support to drill the bracket at the correct point. You can get an idea about the type of cb antenna and the antenna installation process in the manual that will accompany the product.
3. Run the cable
Establishing the proper path for the patch cord is the next important step. There is a coaxial cable that will connect the CB antenna to your CB radio. Your job is to set it up neatly and discreetly. Here are the tips you can follow for this:
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Buy a coaxial cable with removable PL259. This connector will help route your cable easily through the smallest holes.
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Try to select the length of the cable that is fully utilized and nothing is left dangling.
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Keep your line as noise-free as possible by avoiding the use of alternators.
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Try not to cut your coaxial cable.
4. CB antenna tuning
Once you have successfully finished installing your CB radio and CB antenna, it is time to tune the system to the appropriate frequencies. This will make your CB experience more proficient and far-reaching and will ensure that you can make the maximum number of contacts from around the world through the CB system without hindrance.
5. Why tune my antenna?
Tuning a CB antenna is the most crucial part of the CB antenna installation process that determines the future performance of your CB system. A properly tuned antenna is required to improve the receive and transmit capabilities of your CB system, despite the constant 4 watt power output allowed for every CB radio on the market. If this tuning process is faulty, you have a communication that is full of interference and broken signals.
6. How to tune the CB antenna
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First, turn off your CB antenna and make sure your coaxial cable is out of the rear port.
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Now take your SWR meter and connect the coaxial cable from the antenna to the port called “antenna”.
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Now take the coaxial jumper cable and connect it to the point from where you removed the antenna coaxial cable from one end and to the transmitter position on the SWR meter from the other end.
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Clear the space around your vehicle and keep windows and doors closed as well.
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Now turn on your CB radio.
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Tune in channel 1.
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Adjust the SWR meter to the “FWD” point.
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Press the talk button to manipulate your microphone and adjust the knob by turning it until you find your SWR meter in “set”. Now let your microphone deactivate.
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Now bring the meter to the “reflect” state.
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Key in your microphone again and observe the reading displayed on the meter. If the reading is low, then everything is ready. But if you are somewhere in the red zone, check your settings again while keeping the CB radio turned off.
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Now follow the same procedure for channel 40.
Adjusting the CB antenna by matching the bandwidth of channel 40
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If you get a reading on channel 1 that is higher than channel 40, that means your CB antenna is too short and its length needs to be increased. On the other hand, if the reading on channel 40 is higher than that obtained on channel 1, then shorten your antenna a bit.
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If the readings on channel 1 and channel 40 are 1.2 and 2.3 respectively, trim your CB antenna to a shorter length. For that purpose, you can adjust the length through the tuning tip or you can trim it straight 1/4 inch and snap it back into place. Be very careful when trimming the CB antenna, as a slightly larger clipping can destroy the performance of your antenna.
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If the readings are 2.6 and 1.3 on channel 1 and 40 respectively, increase the length of your CB antenna. You can simply adjust the length via the adjustable screws or you can use the spring between the bracket and the whip.
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As you adjust, keep going in small steps. During this procedure, make sure that all antenna components are in their correct places and continue to check them after each adjustment you make.
Once you achieve a suitable SWR level for your CB system, you can disconnect the SWR meter from the system or keep it there for future testing.
1. Rent
In the process of installing the CB antenna, location is important. We refer to the area where you will tune your cb antenna. This place should be open ground more preferably or at least it should not be crowded. Also keep your car neatly packed with all doors and windows properly closed.
2. Shorts
In a CB antenna installation, when a CB antenna is shorted to the ground, you will experience a very high SWR level for your CB system. You can expect this short to occur on the CB antenna bolt or on the coaxial cable.
3. Coaxial
In the antenna installation process, when the shield comes into contact with the conductor placed in the center of the cable, it is short-circuited. This can happen for many reasons, two of which are a natural crack in the cable from the time of purchase or a manufacturing defect. To make sure your coaxial cable is working properly, first disconnect it from the CB antenna and CB radio and then test it with a multimeter. This meter will help you find out if there is any continuity between the center conductor and the shield. If there is no continuity between the two, your coaxial cable is perfectly fine. If not, you will need a new coaxial cable for your system.
4. Stud
In antenna installation, if the antenna coupling bolt and nut come into contact with the antenna bracket, there is a great possibility that the antenna bolt will short. By placing the nylon washers carefully, you can prevent that from happening, but that requires special care. This type of contact actually completes the main purpose of the antenna bolts, that is, to keep the antenna positioned high above the ground with a distance between the two. You can now use the multimeter to check the condition of your antenna bolt connections. If you find that the nut and bolt contact the bracket, readjust the nylon washer to fix it.
5. Poor electrical ground
This is different from the ground plane that we all know. First of all, make sure your antenna mount is properly grounded to the chassis of your vehicle. If you have a metal count, you can ground it by putting it in contact with the metal surface of the vehicle. For ease, take a multimeter and test whether your place on the ground is good or not. You can test this with a light or multimeter just as you would any vehicle on the ground. The easiest way to overcome this obstacle is to remove some paint from your vehicle to expose the metal underneath for better grounding. You can also use the grounding trap to ground your CB antenna. If you have a magnetic mount then there should be no problem grounding as the magnet is grounded through capacitive coupling quite easily.
6. Coaxial spiral
In general, when you have a very long coaxial cable, there may be a long way to go even after all the installation and routed cable is complete. This extra coaxial cable is often twisted or twisted like the antenna coil. If that happens, then your system will face a signal feedback effect. To avoid this situation, select a longer route to run your cable to the CB radio.
7. Insufficient ground plane
We all know by now that an antenna requires a wide metal ground plane as a must for a perfect CB antenna installation. First, select the ground plane with the widest metal coverage. If you are going to mount the antenna anywhere on the sides, keep the bracket close to the main body of the vehicle. For vehicles without metal chassis, use CB antennas without ground plane.
8. Obstructions
Your CB antenna will malfunction if the environment obstructs it. This often happens when you mount your CB antenna somewhere very low on the vehicle such as on its bumper. This reflects the signals at the antenna and achieves a high level of SWR. To solve this problem, keep the CB antenna well positioned above the roof line and give it maximum exposure by placing it at the highest point.
9. Broken antenna
Usually CB antennas have a fiberglass pole on the inside that has copper wire wrapped around it. Any defect or crack in this cable can render your antenna useless and obtain very high SWR levels. Check the continuity between the tip and base of your antenna with a multimeter. You can use the multimeter probe for this purpose in case the tunable tip is absent. In this case, if you cannot find continuity between the antenna tip and the base, then you need to replace your broken antenna. Also, make sure there are no capacitors connected to the system that could fool the multimeter.
10. Short or poor quality CB coaxial
If you’ve tried all the other solutions and your problem is still not resolved, try replacing your coaxial cable with a longer, better one. Select a cable from a good brand that provides high quality.
11. CB antenna length
Most CB antenna manufacturers assure you that the antennas are preset and you will not need to retune them. Even if you trust these claims, you will find that these preset specifications will not work well in all mounting situations. If after trying everything else you still want something great to solve your problem, consider changing the length of your antenna as one of the last resources. Sometimes it may be necessary to trim the antenna 2 ” to achieve the required SWR level, but that is a very rare case. Always be careful when changing the length of your CB antenna by cutting, as you can easily cut more than necessary. The safest way to do this is to cut out a small portion of the antenna and measure the reading on the SWR meter. Do this side by side with each cut. This will ensure that you do not exceed the required ROE level.