CB antenna cable
 

RG58A/U- I have noticed that it seems to come in 9 feet and 18 feet. 18 feet was too short, 27 feet too long. So I cut a 3 ft piece off the 9 footer and soldered on a new connector. I know my solder joint is good. My SWR went through the roof and would not tune below 3. 27 ft was at 1.5 . Is there some logic here that I am unaware of in multiples of 9 feet?

Despite urban and marketing legends, multiples of 9 ft makes no difference to a properly setup CB antenna.

I'd test the coax and make sure there is no continuity between the center pin and the outside shell of the coax connector. Disconnect it from the radio and test from that end while the other end is hooked up to the antenna. Sounds to me like your coax is shorted to ground somewhere.

Also try covering the connector with Electrical tape so it doesn't touch any metal it work for me..

You can't just solder coax together to make it longer. If 18 is too short then you need to connect it with another piece that is long enough to get it to where you need it by using a special splice that the two pl259 connectors both screw onto. Wrap that splice in electrical tape to keep moisture out or put silicone electrical grease into the connectors. Did a quick search and it is called a pl258 barrel connector for joining two pieces of coax.
So if you can't buy the correct size then you cut one and put a new pl259 connector on the piece you want to use and screw it onto the barrel connector. I prefer to use the ones that require the inner lead to be soldered rather than the crimp on type.

solder
 

Reread. I said I soldered on a new connector, not solder two pieces of coax together. The screw joint, PL258 is what I am using. I also use the PL259 that have to have the center core soldered in.

Antenna cable
 

Found the problem. I decided to eliminate the Fire Ring on the end of the cable. Cut it off and connected up a new PL259 and got a different stud mount and put the firestik back on. SWR now is all 1.5 and below. The lower channels being closer to 1.5 while mid to upper channels are around 1.2 . I started peeling the insulation off the fire ring to get a look at how it is made up. 2 concentric rings seperated by a nylon insulator. Where the ground wire was soldered to the one ring had come complete loose. No more fire rings for me. I now have a 3 ft piece of RG58A/U with new connectors soldered on to give me the length I need, and now just need to find the radio that I like the best. I have one of the real common uniden $30 ebay specials that is about 6 inches wide. Not the best, but it works for now.

Didn't see the part where you said you were using that connector, just forget that I even posted anything.

good deal. i've had fire rings fall apart internally on me also so I stay away from them. also the coax they use for fire rings is marginal, if you cut one apart you will find there isn't much outer shield in them.

Is one coax more superior to another? Not the length, but the make, quality, shielded, etc? :thinking:

I'm about to ditch my firering rg58 set up that I got with my ultramount and install a 20ft RG58 with a PL259 connector at both ends from Radio Shack....good enough? Or should I be looking at Wilson or something?

try to find the highest braid coverage you can... higher % the better. most RG58 is 48-50% it sometimes not easy to find this spec...

if you could find something like this that would be good....
The Belden 8420-500 RG58/U, JAN-C-17A, coax cable comes packaged in a bulk 500 foot unreel box. This 53.5 Ohm braided coax cable has a solid center conductor and polyethylene dielectric. The RG58 cable has a 95 percent shield coverage and 66 percent velocity of propagation.

IMO if you get the normal RG58/U that is 48% shielded and installed PL259 connectors correctly it would probably be better then the coax that came with your kit. and the 20ft has no meaning... just make it as long as it is needed with some rework length added in.