There is a wide variety of CB antennas available in the market and each has a different installation process to be followed. This guide is meant to highlight those steps that are common to all the CB antenna installation. It will also explain the factors that deeply impact the working of your CB Antenna.1. Choose a location A1 Antenna Doctor.
The first thing that you need to consider while during CB antenna installation you need to select an appropriate location for it. Before you get your antenna home, make sure you have selected the point. This will help you buy the equipment required for the installation. Here are a few tips for getting this job done in the right manner:
- Try the center of your vehicle's roof as the first mounting location for your CB antenna. This is an ideal spot as it gives your antenna the maximum exposure and a wide ground plane to get anchored to.
- Try not to install your antenna on the bumper, license plate or the fender as these are the poorest locations for installation. Here you will receive half of the signal strength than the normal one.
- Fix your antenna in such a way that its coil is above the roof line of your car. As the coil is a heart of an antenna and for best reception on your radio antenna coil should be covered with a hard material like diamond only this will make your antenna more effective.
- Select a sufficiently tall antenna that should be mounted high enough on your vehicle.
2. Magnetic Mount CB Antenna Installation
This process can vary in its level of difficulty depending on the type of antenna you have. If you have a magnetic mount, then the process can be as simple as just sticking the mount to the selected location. On the other hand, the door jamb mount can require technical support for drilling the mount into the right point. You can get an idea about the type of your cb antenna and the antenna installation process from the manual that will accompany the product.3. Run the cable
Setting the proper route for the connecting cable is the next major step. There is a coaxial cable that will connect the CB antenna with your CB radio. Your job is to set it neatly and most inconspicuously. Below are the tips that you can follow for this:
- Buy a coaxial cable with removable PL259. This connector will help to route your cable easily through the smaller holes.
- Try to select that length of the cable that is completely utilized and nothing is left hanging down.
- Keep your line as noise-free as possible by avoiding the use of alternators.
- Try not to trim your coaxial cable down.
4. Tuning CB Antenna
Once you are successfully done with your cb radio and CB antenna installation, it is time to tune the system to the appropriate frequencies. This will make your CB experience more proficient and far-reaching and will ensure that you can make the maximum number of contacts from around the world through CB system in an unimpeded manner.5. Why tune my antenna?
Tuning a CB antenna is the most crucial part of the CB antenna installation process that determines the future performance of your CB system. A properly tuned antenna is necessary for enhancing the receiving and transmitting capabilities of your CB system, despite the constant output power of 4 watts allowed for every CB radio in the market. If this tuning process is faulty, you have a communication that is full of interference and broken signals.6. How to tune the CB antenna
- First, switch off your CB antenna and make sure your coax is out of the rear port.
- Now take your SWR meter and connect the antenna coax to the port named "antenna".
- Now take the coax jumper cable and connect it to the point from where you took off the antenna coax from one end and to the transmitter position on the SWR meter from the other end.
- Clear the space around your vehicle and keep the windows and doors closed too.
- Now switch your CB radio on.
- Tune into channel 1.
- Adjust the SWR meter to the point indicating "FWD".
- Depress the talk button for keying your mic and adjust the knob by turning it until you find your SWR meter at "set". Now let your mic be unkeyed.
- Now bring the meter to the "reflect" status.
- Key your mic again and note the reading shown on the meter. If the reading is low, then everything is good to go. But if it is somewhere in the red zone, check your setup again while keeping the CB radio off.
- Now follow the same procedure for channel 40.
Adjusting CB antenna by matching the channel 40 bandwidth
- If you get a reading on channel 1 that is higher than the one on channel 40, then that means your CB antenna is too short and its length needs to be increased. On the other hand, if the reading on channel 40 is higher than that obtained on channel 1, then shorten your antenna a little bit.
- If the readings on channel 1 and channel 40 are 1.2 and 2.3 respectively, then trim your CB antenna to a shorter length. For that purpose, you can adjust the length through the tuning tip or you can trim it straight by 1/4inch and put it back in place again. Be extra careful while trimming the CB antenna as a slightly larger trim can destroy your antenna performance.
