wolfgang239

This is really puzzling. I have been using the Arizona Rocky Road tailgate mount for awhile now with decent success. The only PITA was every couple of months I've had to pull the antenna stud to grind rust off of it (tried painting it, sealing it with silicone, nothing worked to prevent rust) as my SWR would shoot up. Salt just eats everything in MA

Until I find another solution, I've decided to go with a Teraflex stainless steel mount instead. This is where things get weird...

Tuned a 6ft fiberglass antenna to have zero deflection on ch 19, and at 1 and 40 it is right at 1.1 (on two external SWR meters). I had already used a 1.5" tinned copper braid between one bolt of the mount to the tailgate with the paint ground off to bare metal, then from there another strap to the tub ground to bare metal. These connections were checked and clean by the way.

When the doors are locked, the SWR shoots up to 2.0!! When I unlock, it goes right back to normal. This is the only thing it coincides with, I swapped the coax (jumpers and main feed), changed studs, tried another radio, tried another antenna.

I haven't tested it with the Arizona mount but I changed it out because the SWR shot up so I'm assuming it would do the same thing but I'm not sure. I want to get rid of that because it is a pain.

Thoughts, ideas? I'm about ready to order a Breedlove ball mount but it seems like a pain to install.

wolfgang239

Well I've got my fingers crossed, but this seems to have fixed everything.

I put a rubber band around the mic and I crawled into the back of the jeep with the keys and a piece of wire. I tried a bunch of combinations, but touching the wire to the latch striker (in photo) yielded the only significant results.

I removed the latch and ground down the paint behind it. There is a metal shim that goes between the body and the latch hardware so I wedged the strap between the two and ran it to the body the same way I did on the tailgate hinge side. I screwed the strap down in the area pictured as there are no wires/structural metal/double metal panels in this area. As you can see the strap is only 6" so I'm not concerned with it being any shorter.

If you find your SWR fluctuating then this might be a good place to start.

ShawnInPaso

That's quite a find....and solution.

BrowniesJK

I honestly haven't checked my set with the doors locked. Now u have me thinking. I do get interference when the doors lock.... Good find

wolfgang239

And that wasn't even the complete resolution! I noticed later on that the swr was back up again except this time with the doors locked and unlocked.

Ended up being the latch mechanism in the gate. It is covered in some type of plastic which I had to cut off to get good contact with the loop. I think after I took the loop off to bond it the position changed and there was no longer any contact.

Just goes to show you should check your swr often, and that the solution isn't always the antenna or lack/presence of bonding straps.

ShawnInPaso

Just out of curiosity, do you get power for your CB directly from the battery or from some other source?

wolfgang239

Direct to the battery

ShawnInPaso

Makes the issue even more strange.

maxspongebob

Where you are having problems with corrosion of electrical contact points, try loading the entire connection up with some Dielectric grease. Search for Permatex 22058. This will keep the salt and water from getting into the contact. You could slather it on real good then wipe it off the surface so it doesn't get everywhere. Then hit the connection with a bit of spray paint to protect the exposed surfaces.

BTW, the Breedlove mounts are the bomb. I can't count how much trouble I have had with other mounts, corrosion, stripped threads, poor quality, bad connections. I will never buy another mount unless it is made by Breedlove. They have none of those problems.