CB installation

ok, I have an old Realistic TRC-430 CB and a recently purchased Radioshack 21-802 through-the-glass mount cb antenna that I would like to mount in my 97 Pathy. I am a complete moron when it comes to these things and I have no clue on how to even begin. I don't know where the computer is in my truck, I know that it's under tha dash, as to which side, I couldn't tell you. I'm hoping somebody could help me out with this, cause it would really mean a lot to me. All I really gotta find out is how to mount the radio underneath the BOSE audo system in the little cubbyhole in front of the trans hump. and how to run the antenna wire/where to mount the antenna. Thanks again for your help in advance.

oh, and I almost forgot, what am I going to do about power?

when I say old, I mean, never really been used, fresh out of the box, bought in 1992. (just to clear that up) it even has PA, so I want to get a speaker for that. So if you wouldn't mind telling me how to install that as well/posting up some pics if aat all possible, that'd be really cool of you.

Don't worry about the computer in your truck, you don't need it for wiring a CB. All you need to do is find where you want to mount it, where to splice into power and how to get the antenna out of the car.

For power, just splice into your cigarette lighter. If you can find a live accessory wire on the fuse panel, try that also (don't ask me how, I don't know).

As for the antenna, the bigger the better. I have very little experience with them, but if I had to guess you're probably not going to get very good reception with a window mounted unit. From the sounds of it, it is pretty small. Most people in the X clubs are very happy with a 3'-4' fiberglass antenna. There are dozens of brackets to use when mounting the antenna, so cruse a Radio Shack or the like. In general, the longer the antenna and the shorter the cable (to the CB unit), the better off you will be.

Once you've hooked it all up, you'll need to tune the unit. If your CB came with an antenna (in the box, part of a kit) then you're fine. However, if you buy a seperate antenna (which it sounds like you did), then you'll need to adjust a "tuner" on the antenna to dial it in to the CB. If you don't do this, you'll likely have horrible reception and run the risk of smoking your CB. Tuners are pretty easy to find and any place that sells CBs should have them.

BTW - Don't ever key the mic if you don't have an antenna hooked up, you'll fry the CB.

This may look hard, but it is actually pretty easy. I've never hooked up a PA, but I'm sure that is easy too. Probably just one wire to the CB and then out through the firewall into the engine compartment.

Hope this helps....
Stu

You'll have less interference if you run power straight from the battery (don't forget a fuse on the + side!). I originally ran mine off the switched cigarette lighter plug, and had pretty bad engine interference.

I ran the power for my cobra right off the fuse box and it works great. You'll have to tune the Antenna like ToeJam said with and SWR meter. Yhe higher on the vehicle you can mount the antenna the better your reception. I wouldn't use that through the glass antenna. Get a Firestick II antenna.

ok, thanks. when I was talking about the computer though, I meant interference, I don't to like, be sitting at a light, start transmitting on my radio, and have my engine race and pull out into moving traffic (bad thing.) and I want it to be hot all the time, so I don't have to put the accessory on to get it powered if I don't have to.
also, how am I going to run the wire to wherever it needs to go to power it, and where do you all reccommend I place the antenna/how to run the wire from the radio to it. it's a cellular look-alike antenna, 15 feet of cable, antenna itself is like 3 feet long.

thanks again.

*taking what starr says into consideration* I really don't want to have to drill holes and stuff to get an antenna mounted. I figured this was the easiest thing to do, without hurting my truck *too* much. and how does the power go into the fusebox? How do you do that? I thought that the fusebox was jsut for fuses, I didn't think it had any open slots for installing addidtional accessories....

This is the link below. Search is real easy to use here! :)

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t5618.html

Whirlwind,check more threads in this section. There are a couple of antenna installs that people have done. You can also get a hatch mount, or a folding mount for your roof rack. Pathy's have a roof rack right?

If you want the power always on, then run power from your battery. If you don't feel comfortable with wiring, a stereo shop might do it for pretty cheap. Just remember "always on" accessories can drain your battery if you leave them on.

Schuld,

Yeah, pathy's have roof racks. And when you say "run the power directly to the battery," you mean taking the wires coming out of the CB and threading them through the firewall, across the engine compartment, directly onto the contacts of the top of the battery?

Originally posted by WhirlwindMJC
Schuld,

Yeah, pathy's have roof racks. And when you say "run the power directly to the battery," you mean taking the wires coming out of the CB and threading them through the firewall, across the engine compartment, directly onto the contacts of the top of the battery?

Yes, but as others have said make sure there is an in-line fuse to protect the radio. One wire is your power, the other is the ground, which you can attach to an unpainted section of the body. Personally I ran mine to the fuse box and it works fine.

Schuld,

Thanks for all your help man. It really means a lot. I think I'm going to go ahead and run the power to my fusebox. Now, as for how to do that, I just really need to know where I can run the wire without it interfeering with the computer and once it gets there, what to do to splice it into the power supply. And when I get it into the fusebox, does the ground still have to connect to an unpainted piece of the body, or can it go into the negative lead in the fusebox? And how's this sound:
run the antenna wire underneath the carpet into the cargo bay, out of the carpet there, and up to the rear driver-side window glass? I know all this must seem like total easy stuff for you, but being that I have no idea about any of this, I really need the help, and since I'm in New Jersey, there's no CB shops anywhere that would be able to help me out with this stuff. As for the SWR meeter, a friend of mine has one, and I believe I can borrow it from him. And as for what to do from there (like how to tune it) is beyond me. I wish there was some local place around here that I could go to that I could get some information at. But this is the next best thing, I suppose. If anybody knows of any south jersey cb shops, let me know, cause I defininitely need to talk to somebody in person about this stuff.

More when I get home, I'm out of the house right now.

This is how I ran my power from the fuse box. This has since changed and I am going directly off the battery.

Fib, is that some kind of connector I see on the end of your positive lead?

I ran my power to the far left row of the fuse box in the open spot in the picture above. Can the guy with the SWR meter help you out? He must have installed his own CB, right?

That is a blue flat blade female connector. It slides right over the pins. I taped the outside of it to insure it wouldn't touch anything else.:smoker2:

No, he just picked one up at a garage sale. I'm going to hook up with him sometime today (he has a habbit of sleeping in until very late in the day) and hopefully we can figure something out.

When you said you routed power to that open slot on the left row, did you have to pop a fuse in there to complete the circuit, and just stick in the pos lead, and connect the ground to any exposed metal in the body?

Hello everyone,I am a newbie on this forum.
I was attracted to the Pathy guy with the CB questions.
I am in the same boat as you.
To everyone else there is alot of good info here, i hope i can trade as much as you.

This might be lengthy, but I will give details on how to mount the antenna to get maximum efficiency out of the radio and antenna system.

First, any CB antenna requires what is known as a "ground plane". This is made of metal and is usually the chassis of the car/truck. The "through glass" antennas are cute but not very efficient. They can increase the SWR "standing wave ratio" to the radio. SWR is a percentage of power output (in watts) from the radio going to the antenna versus power being returned to the radio from the antenna. The percentage is measured as an example: 1:1.5 (read 1 to 1 ratio). If the first number is high than 3, there is no efficiency in the systems and all the power being put out from the radio is being sent back hince poor reception and transmission. An SWR meter is almost necessary for a CB installation, so better treck down to Radio Shack to get one. Enough on antenna theory though.

Now for the installation:
I would suggest either mounting the antenna on the roof because you have to most amount of metal there for a ground plane. Another key factory to performance is height of the antenna. The taller or higher the antenna, the further the range. There are some rack mounts antennas available, but aluminum is not a very good conductor for signal. A mag mount would do the trick for this. I would make sure you have a spring load on the base of the antenna so the antenna can flex back and forth if you happen to hit tree limbs, garages and the like.
The coax cable attached to the antenna is usually considered part of the antenna (no wise cracks), I mean tuning is taken into consideration for the length of coax attached to the antenna. If you cut or alter the original length of coax, the tuning will change and cause increased SWR (it's a bad thing). Any additional cable leeft over should be neatly coiled up and tucked away from other electronics as far as possible.

Power:
The other guys are correct, you should run the positive lead for the radio to the fuse panel and not to any other accessory port. The negative lead shouldgo either to a common ground or to the battery negative.

BTW,
I work for an antenna company and I am an electronic engineer so feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

Hope this is helpful to you guys.

Regards,
Chris

Only thing I would add is that you can get a non-ground plane antenna if you want to mount it someplace without a metal plane underneath the antenna. Several of our members mount their non-grounds on their ARB bumper.

Also, every bit of information I've been given says that left over coax should NOT be coiled, but "butterflied" by using a zip tie or tape to bind the center of the coax. If you have different info, I would be happy to hear it.

"Butterflying" the coax would work if it was done losely. The binding at the center of the coax gives sharp bends which checng the dielectrical characteristics of the coax as well as the impedance. In simpler terms, this can increase SWR. The spacing between the center conductor and the braid (ground) in the coax should remain constant. When you put sharp bends or kinks in it, the dielectric (insulation between the center wire and braid) becomes compressed putting the two wires closer together. Physically and electrically this changs the characteristics of the coax thus the antenna itself.

Hope I didn't get too mombo jargenish.

Chris

I forgot to also mention that non-ground plane antennas (although convenient) are not efficient at the CB frequency (27 MHz). For short range communication they work fine, but remember, in my job I have to try to maximize the range and efficiency of the antennas I deal with so I will be geared more towards the ideal mounting and hardware.

I'm such a stupid biased engineer!!!!!


Chris

DeFibVT,
I was looking at your picture and was curious if the power shuts off on the fusebox when you turn your ignition key off. I have several accessories that I am installing and need a power source for them. I don't want to take the chance by wiring directly to the battery and accidently leaving them on and draining the battery. Thanks for your help!

Why would mounting it to the arb be considered non ground plane. The bumper is metal and it is attached to the frame also metal. Would it require grinding the powder coat off or what.

One. No metal contact. I remember XOC had forgotten to make metal contact on his non-ground and wasn't getting good reception. He fixed that pretty soon by removing some powdercoat.

The other (and this is just what I was told), is that there really isn't a good plane of metal out there to help direct the signal, so the non-ground was preferable.

:D WOW this would explain why I'm having trouble with my CB in my other truck...Thanks csquare for the write up on the CB antenna install/checkout. When I get back home from my business trip, I can fix my CB (post purchase of a SWR gauge)

IceChickenX

Glad to help, especially since I have received so much help from here.
Just let me know how it goes and If you need any more help.
Good luck!!


Chris

another thing to remember is the location of the antenna mount. the output of the cb is in a circle somewhat if you locate the antenna to the front of the truck you are projecting a oblong cone more to the front of the truck, if you mounted it on the rear bumper the same would be true only the cone would be going behind the truck as i've read the ideal mount is one the roof where you would project and receive in almost all directions equally as this is you're transmit point.

http://www.alfenterprises.com/firestik_faq.htm

try this link this should answer just about anything you want to know.

Originally posted by nflxterra
http://www.alfenterprises.com/firestik_faq.htm

try this link this should answer just about anything you want to know.

It's also a good place to buy your CB equipment. :sun:

And if Alf can't get it you should try these guys!

www.valcoelectronics.com

This is indeed correct as well. For best "pattern" you would mount the antenna in the center of the roof. The signal pattern is pulled more towards where there is more metal (ground plane). When the metal is equal under the antenna the pattern is more of an doughnut shape.

Chris

Trying to locate the "best" (safest) place to route radio power wiring thru the firewall in my 1999 Pathfinder. Can't find any info showing gromets or locations safe to drill a hole.

Appreciate any info...

John (jwh_fla@hotmail.com)

Originally posted by KS4XN
Trying to locate the "best" (safest) place to route radio power wiring thru the firewall in my 1999 Pathfinder. Can't find any info showing gromets or locations safe to drill a hole.

Appreciate any info...

John (jwh_fla@hotmail.com)

If you truck is like ours, there is a grommet NW of the clutch, just near the bottom of the dash. I tape the wire to a coat hanger (bent at the end so it doesn't poke anything) and force it through. After adding lights, etc the hole can get a bit cramped :D There is also another one behind the glovebox, but I've never bothered to dig up in there.

Ok, I'll poke around and see what I can find. It's kinda tight quarters in the truck and big quarters for me...lol...but it'll be worth it to find an existing route for the power cord...

Thanks for the info.

John

run the thing over thats what i did when me radar detecter stopped working.:mad: