CB grounding??

[Quadracer18]

I got a cb the other day. I spliced the red(hot) wire to my cig lighter. and the black (ground) to the ground on the cig lighter. I then mounted my antenna next to my radio antenna and cut a small hole in the firewall for the coax cable. I then connected the cable to the antenna. My question is, do i need to have a ground that touches the metal at the bottom of the antenna and connects to a ground such as the frame or no??? Im getting very confused with the grounding of the antennna.... please let me know! thanks, josh.

 

[rizzjc]

Unless you are fabricating your own antenna, you should just follow the manufacturers recommendation. Is it a mag mount, or does it mount on the lip of the hood, or something else? If you drilled a hole in your body to mount it,then Just make sure that the proper part is insulated, or you will blow out your CB, if you ground the actual antenna.

What antenna are you using?

 

[Quadracer18]

i have a firestick mounted to my hood with a bracket. there is a plastic washer that keeps the antenna from touching any metal. Do i still need a ground?

 

[rizzjc]

No. The bracket is grounded by the fact that it is bolted, or screwed to the metal vehicle. The washer keeps the antenna from being grounded. You should not need to do anything else. Here is a link they have to an installation they did:
http://www.firestik.com/Instl-Text/ford174.htm

 

[Sandy]

I got a cb the other day. I spliced the red(hot) wire to my cig lighter. and the black (ground) to the ground on the cig lighter..

IMHO, the only way to hook up a CB is to wire it directly to the battery.
Red (+) and the black (-) wires should be twisted (ten turns per foot) and add fuses to both wires as close to the battery as possible.
If the CB already has a fuse in-line close to teh CB leave it.

I then mounted my antenna next to my radio antenna and cut a small hole in the firewall for the coax cable. I then connected the cable to the antenna. My question is, do i need to have a ground that touches the metal at the bottom of the antenna and connects to a ground such as the frame or no??? .

First off... mounting the Antenna on the front makes most of your signal go to the rear of the vehicle, per say losing some of the forward signal.
The ground thing... IMHO the ground is the most important part of the CB System. Without a good ground the best Antenna and CB will not work to its full potential.
If there are no insulators between the Antenna Mount and the body grounding point then you may get by with just getting to bare metal.
If there are separations between the Mount and the Frame/Ground Point then run a Braided Strap from the Mount to the Frame, getting to bare metal at the connecting points.

Im getting very confused with the grounding of the antennna.... please let me know! thanks, josh.

As I said above, IMHO Grounding is the most important thing you can do for the CB System.
Use a Multimeter and see if there is a good connection between the Antenna Mount and the Frame of the Vehicle.
Also, using the Multimeter, check the ground from teh CB Chassis and the Body/Frame.
If low readings or no readings then add a good ground.

Don't forget to Tune teh Antenna for lowest SWR, not really needed for receiving but a must for Transmitting.

ltr,

 

[n1count]

First never use the cig lighter. too much current draw on the tiny wires. always run direct to the battery, fused of course.

second never place two antennas within two feet of each other, more space is recomended. also higher is better. mount on the top of the vehicle if possible, that places the antenna higher about ground (the frame) and give the signal a better take off angle. Also mounting it in the center of the vehicle make it less directional.

I am a ham operator with about 10 differant antenna's mounted in verious places so i speak from experiance.

 

[rizzjc]

I'll agree with you for ham radio, which is a lot higher power, but a CB is what? 4 watt max? I don't think that the cig lighter is a problem really. It's been a while since I've had a CB, but what's the inline fuse? Maybe an amp at most?

 

[DDEBEXP]

The only problem I've found with having the wires tapped to the cig lighter is that there is a lot of unnecessary noise that comes through the radio, and even more when you use a device through it. I ended up wiring it to the battery. I use a power inverter for my computer and the noise was ridiculous. I had the squelch way up and couldn't receive signal very well at all. But I also use a Mag Mount antenna too.