Mirror Ground Wire

I have a a cheap setup in my little truck. An F350. Uniden bearcat with 5’ fire stick. Very low swr at radio. Under 1.2 across all channels. I have it mounted to plastic mirror. Ground strap run to door. Continuity between door and body. I get decent reception. A few miles but I’ve generally got my squelch turned up pretty high. At about 3 miles it starts getting staticky. But for a cheap setup it’s ok for me. My prob is RX. I don’t think I can get .5 mile. I’m thinking the GP is jacked up because there’s nothing under the antenna, and the grounding strap is grounded to the door bouncing the signal sideways? Thinking of mounting antenna to roof or even the top of the wedge that’s attached to it. Suggestions would be appreciated.

 

A mag mount in the center of the roof, or drill a hole in the roof.

 

Yeah I figured the mirror was the lesser of the 2 evils since the antenna would be outside the field of the trailer. I pull my 5’r with this truck too. But prob should have done the mirror mount with a non GP radio.

 

It would be easy to test a mag mount and see if that helps. Then you'd know.

 

The mirror is the worst place to mount a CB antenna, as you may have already figured that out. Doesn't matter if the swr is low. If you don't want to use a mag mount antenna, or drill a hole in your trucks roof, then the next best thing would be a front fender mount antenna. I've had fairly good luck going this route on my pickup. Just mount the antenna on the opposite side of the AM/FM antenna.

 

Just read this thread today,and im going to tell you that the Peterbilt 379,389 are some of the easiest and the best trucks to get it right ,and its really easy.
I would suggest
Radio: Does not matter(what ever radio you like )and I don't think you hurt your radio with an SWR of 2.0
Coax: They say 18 feet but that's not true, what ever makes it to the radio, but 18ft will work just fine
Antenna :This is were it can get frustrating,I have 11 389 Petes and 4 389s that I keep in shape as far as the radios and antennas go
SO:Tried the fire stiks ( only a 4 ft) couldn't tune it short enough
Most of the trucks have Wilson 2000s and with just an external SWR meter I get them down to about a 1.3 to 1.4,mounted on the OEM mount and even a separate mount.
On one of the 389s I have a Hustler HQ-27 magnum(heavy duty shaft)-1.09 SWR all day long
On my personal truck which I have been experimenting on with an antenna analyzer,I'am running a hustler SCB with a 22 inch shaft and ill tell ya its the best antenna I have found so far.
This antenna tunes right in on resonant freq and is running SWRs as low as 1.03.
So don't over think it< with a good coax and a good antenna you really shouldn't have any issues getting that truck to have a good set up.
Good Luck

 

Hope you use your analyzer for more than just swr..

 

Electrical grounds mean very little to RF
What you need is a counterpoise which is why many use something like this.

 

Even a ton of bonding would help alot..If it dont rain the weekend i got 40ft of 1" braided strap i plan to make use of..
Im just not able to get the tune that i once had on this truck..All new stainless ant bracket,3 new skip shooters and one old,5ft fire stick,a 10k with 22" shaft,fresh coax and a breedlove ant stud..For some odd reason it just doesnt wanna tune right..
I got a 102" on a 10" riser that has same issue and its maxed out but resonant point is lower..So hopefully some major bonding will help..
Gonna get some rechargeables for my analyzer and break out the two multi meters just to be sure nothin is wrong..lol..
What ever my issue is,#### thing is lookin at me and laughing ...Ill figure it out before i retire in 10 or so yrs..

 

Antenna by craig_sez posted May 28, 2016 at 10:01 PM

For giggles n laughs try balling up a tiny strand of copper wire(booger sized lol)Stuff jt into the divit of the allen bolt bead..Reconnect coax and try again..
Next do whats called bonding..Its when you connect two seperate pieces of metal with a wide braid(as short as possible)strap...Your coax might be gettin a it to much stray rf coming back..A test light does not work in this case cause its a different ground..You need a multi meter and compare point a with point be to see if there is an electrical connection between two points...In these last bunch of yrs trucks and cars are not completely metal and dont have that connection anymore due to bow its built with glues n such..
So basically a bonding strap is like a wide braided wire for rf to travel(it also need to return to its original source)to and from the un connected parts of said automobile..
Ex..bond mirror to door..door to cab..cab to firewall,chassie to engine,floor of cab to back or side wall of cab ect ect..Make yojr entire cab flow as one huge circut of equal value as possible..Like goin around a race track as fast as possible,its connects to where it started..