Stryker 955

You should make sure the antenna is grounded properly. Are you using an aluminum mount? You can get a stainless steel mount from a CB shop that will work better, That's what I did when I was running a Cascadia, and it worked great after that.

 

So you spent $400-$500 for a radio to talk on channel 19, and getting nothing but short distance and static? Should have just spent $90-$100 on a Cobra 29 and stuck a kicker inline and got better results. lol

 

Jesse..Kicker is not the answer..A kicker will only inflate the issue..
I also have same issues with same truck and same radio...My ant #'s come back fine but sweet eff all range..
Not that its the radio or ant,its likely the truck....That truck seems to work better(so i hear)with a tall top loaded antenna..
Im about to pull the plug on my predator 10k and all my efforts to try a 6 or 7 ft fiberglass ant such as a firestick or skip shooter...Just gotta be in the right place to get one..
I got a 5 ft but no luck with that..

RWDFINCH50...Please define what you mean by grounded...

 

I've seen guys run a ground wire from the base of the antenna to a door frame bolt.
Not a lot of ground plane options on these fiberglass trucks.

@rabbiporkchop is a radio guru, he'll know what you need I'm sure.

 

Nope,doesnt work..Thats a dc ground if im correct and the ant system will look at that as a type of dipole if im correct..
What rabbi will likely suggest is what many drivers will not be able to do cause of company rules about modding the truck..Goin through SAMMMEEEEE issues..Thought i had it solved with this..My analyzers shows all is good but noooo range..5-8 miles at best BUT i pick up tons of skip..

 

I had the same problem mounting a 10K to the mirror on my route van...No mater what I tried I couldn't get a decent ground. Ended up ditching the mirror mounting idea and fab'ed up a bracket that mounted to the inside of the front fender. problem solved.

Now on your truck, I realize that's probably not an option, but what I was thinking is maybe you could fab something that mounted to the firewall, then stuck out between the hood and body of the truck to mount the antenna to?

 

What is the SWR? If you are using a 5" or 10" shaft the coil may be too close to the cab and cause a high SWR and affect your transmit and receive range. Wilson does make a 20" shaft that can be used on that antenna but the higher up the coil the more vibration at the antenna mount. I tried a Predator 10K with the 27" shaft and it worked great but in windy conditions it would shake so bad that it moved back on the mount and another time got caught in a ice storm and the coil was a solid block of ice. I currently use a 5' Siro Twin Log Fiberglass antenna and get good results, SWR around 1.7 and transmit and receive 8 to 10 miles with stock bearcat 980 or stock Cobra 29 LX.

 

4 foot shaft.

 

@rabbiporkchop , why are you running an Audio King antenna when you just created or modified the top hat ?