CB Radio Earth

Dave90 · Apr 10, 2013

Hi all, had a look round on the forum but couldn't find anything. Exept stuff about SWR meter's which I shouldn't need with a spring type aerial?
I currently have one of these mounted on the rear of the roof of the Defender and I have just used a terminal around the thread of it as an earth and taken it down to the rear light boxes (either side of the rear door) and earthed it there, is this suitable? Or do I need to take the earth all the way to the battery? How much of a difference will this make?

Cheers Dave

Bump · Apr 10, 2013

That will be fine.

tbh, it would be happy enough earthing back through the body.

Although, you can still tune coiled areials if you desire.

Having a large "ground plane" is always good with aerials, so, mounting in the middle of your roof is good

Stuballsed · Apr 10, 2013

Dave90 said:
Hi all, had a look round on the forum but couldn't find anything. Exept stuff about SWR meter's which I shouldn't need with a spring type aerial?

Not neccessarily. They are built to be about right as far as I am aware, but you should still check the SWR. If its way off you could blow your rig, but sounds like you should be safe from that with your earthing job. Springer aerials allow you to tune them for better SWR by undoing the small Allen screw near the coil and raising the aerial up or down, or snipping a bit off. You will need your SWR meter to check the effect of this.

Dave90 · Apr 10, 2013

Bump said:
That will be fine.

tbh, it would be happy enough earthing back through the body.

Although, you can still tune coiled areials if you desire.

Having a large "ground plane" is always good with aerials, so, mounting in the middle of your roof is good

Good Good

My dad does have an SWR meter, but how would you 'adjust' them? Or are they mainly for indicating a bad earth?
Without the earth I'm pretty sure my CB could only pick up from a few hundred yards, either that or my mate who I pass often hasn't got a good earth

Bump · Apr 10, 2013

Dave90 said:
Good Good My dad does have an SWR meter, but how would you 'adjust' them? Or are they mainly for indicating a bad earth?
Without the earth I'm pretty sure my CB could only pick up from a few hundred yards, either that or my mate who I pass often hasn't got a good earth

See above for tuning

I've never tuned mine and never had an issue... i probably should, I'm a radio engineer so should do things properly, but, "if it ain't broke..."

Dave90 · Apr 11, 2013

Stuballsed said:
Not neccessarily. They are built to be about right as far as I am aware, but you should still check the SWR. If its way off you could blow your rig, but sounds like you should be safe from that with your earthing job. Springer aerials allow you to tune them for better SWR by undoing the small Allen screw near the coil and raising the aerial up or down, or snipping a bit off. You will need your SWR meter to check the effect of this.

Bump said:
See above for tuning

I've never tuned mine and never had an issue... i probably should, I'm a radio engineer so should do things properly, but, "if it ain't broke..."

Thanks Stu, never thought you had to or could adjust them, on the box it said 'pre tuned' but thanks for letting me know

Very true bump, if it's working then leave well alone

CB Radio Earth

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