I run a General Lee, Galaxy 50 Linear with a Browning BR-78 antenna mounted on the headache rack. Dedicated lead and ground from the battery for the radio and amp with chassis grounds. Inverter and fridge grounded to the battery. No matter what I have tried I still have excessive static on the radio to the extent that I can only recieve from about 1/2 mi.. Transmit is as much as 10 miles. Any further suggestions?
Ground issues
Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by 7mouths2feed, Oct 25, 2009.
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Have you checked your swr? If not then check it first. Did this just start all of a sudden? Did you change anything in the setup when this started? If your swr is good it's probably your inverter. If your inverter is running all the time with your fridge that is most likely causing your high static. This is one reason I like the 12 volt fridge because it does not do that. Even my small 400 watt cig plug inverter when turned on will cause about 5 s units of static on my radio. Inverters are very dirty and create alot of interference when running.
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I've had problems all along. The inverter and fridge came with the truck.. I have been throwing grounds at it from every direction. Prior to moving the antenna the swr's were very good. I haven't checked since the move but then the problem was there before so I don't see that helping much if any....
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What are you using to ground things and where are your grounds at?
Do this simple test to see if the noise is coming from your antenna or from electrical noise.
1. Turn radio on
2. Unhook coax from back of radio ( DO NOT key your mic )
If the noise goes away it is coming from the antenna or coax and they will need replaced with something better quality or grounded better. If the noise does not go away then the noise is coming from electrical somewhere. Let me know what you find.Last edited: Oct 25, 2009
7mouths2feed Thanks this. -
The antenna and coax are brand new. I can unplug the fridge and the noise lessens. Turn off the inverter and all but typical radio white noise is removed. I used #12 stranded electrical wire to ground the fridge and inverter to a seat bolt then back to the negative side of the battery. The power and ground for the radio and amp are #10 stranded with a lead from the negative attached to the chassis mount of both. The anttena is attached to the (aluminum) rack which is clamped to the frame via U-bolts.
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Ok well in that case I don't know what to tell you since the interference is coming from the inverter. As I said before they are just "dirty" and will always cause that kind of interference in my experience. Maybe someone else knows how to get rid of it but I don't. Good luck.
7mouths2feed Thanks this. -
What kind of inverter is it?? Now I dont know but alot of guys say that the cobra inverters dont create the static the other ones do.
Might be something to check into though, like I said I dont know anything about it.
I do however have a problem with my phone charger and static but I just keep it unplugged till I need it so thats a ez fix
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Cobra Inverters are "THE WORST",the 2500/5000 will run crazy.
Tune your AM/FM Radio to the AM Band and listen
Useing the chassis ground(on the Invert) makes no difference
poorrednek and 7mouths2feed Thank this. -
Brand new antennas and coax can be bad, especially the ends of the coax if they weren't soldered properly. I would second disconnecting the coax from the back of the radio to see if the static quits, just to make sure it is coming from the power supply, which I think it is. You should really check the SWR in the new location, though. Your headache rack very well may not be grounded to the frame, even though it's bolted to it, and that will make your SWR high. I don't know if you put it on yourself, but it's pretty standard practice to put rubber pads in between the feet of the rack and the frame of the truck. High SWR by itself won't make your receive noisy, but you really need to make sure it's good, especially with that linear, and even more so if that GL is the newer one with the MOSFET finals. That antenna probably isn't the best choice for a headache rack, a lot of your signal will be reflected by your truck and trailer, especially with you pulling a hopper. I'd recommend a top loaded fiberglass antenna on a headache rack, but that's really besides the point.
I used to drive a Mack daycab that had terrible background noise, and the boss didn't want me running the power wires straight to the battery. I ended up buying one of those jump start boxes to run the radio, and I just had it hooked up to the truck's lighter socket to trickle charge. That seemed to isolate it enough from the trucks electrical stuff that it was quiet. That may not work all that well if you talk a lot, but mine would still have 14 volts left at the end of the day.
If you do end up needing to ground your rack to the frame, try to find some of that flat-braided wire. I have never understood the reasoning, but it supposedly makes a better ground for RF than regular round electric wire. Any good cb shop should have it.7mouths2feed Thanks this. -
Thanks for the info Tater like I said thats all what I hear I personally dont run a inverter
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