Does the Volvo "in the mirror" antenna mount typically have a good ground?

Get an swr meter to check it. Best bet on a volvo is to get what they call a bird perch mount. Take out the top screw on your mirror mount and screw in the bird perch in that hole, then put the antenna mounting bracket on the perch. Thats the best and most inexpensive way to get the best ground on a Volvo. Perch mount costs about 10 bucks in the truckstop. It's a stainless steel rod about 5 or 6 inches long with threads on one end to screw into mirror mount screw hole.

 

yes swr means standing wave ratio if its over 1.5 -1.8 then its mostly ground problem unless ur 3.5 then mostly its coax you gotta have a good swr and ground will help on that

 

Yes the lower the swr's, the better the ground.

 

rf pots do not have nething on them from factory and shouldnt ever have solder joints checkd on it bad recieve is ur antenna .your antenna makes up 90 percent of your system no one said chop it but sometimes you have to clip a 1/4 of it check this out for more info

http://cbradiomagazine.com/April 2007/SWR.htm

 

Nope. It's quite possible that an antenna with a good ground will have a higher SWR than one with a poor ground. A 50Ω resistor will have a 1:1 SWR and no ground at all.

A resonant 1/4 wave antenna on a perfect ground has an impedance of 37Ω, which is a 1.5:1 SWR. Add a dozen ohms of ground loss, and it'll show a 1:1 SWR, but be less efficient.

 

you just have to play with ur location and grounding but of all the times ive used radio ive yet to have a groundloss or a swr of 1.1 and have bad recieve i have always tuned mine by grounding and swr of 1.1 and recieve up to 15 miles without skip on a clear night just my opinion a good extrnal meter doesnt lie