I received the rest of my gear and finished the install today. I put the power supply under the glove box as the original poster did. I ran a 12GA wire from my mounting bracket back to the tie down loop by the subwoofer. SWR was adjusted to 1.1 on 1, 19 and 40. Very happy with the setup so far. I used the grommet closer to the hinges on the tailgate as my 2011 has a solid grommet on for the third tail light. This thread is great.

 

Thanks for all the info ... Installing mine this week..

 

So I transferred this CB from my '08 to my '12. My SWR is at about 3.5 on channel 1 and 40. I have a grounding wire the goes from the base of the SO239 connector to a grounding point located under the plastic on the right rear seat belt. Power is ran to the source not directly to the battery (wanted to use a switch). I checked my continuity through out the jeep. I have good continuity where I should and none were I shouldn't. COAX is intact along with the antenna. I am thinking that the base unit might be fried. Here are the pictures:
first is the standard glove box mount:


head unit mount location:



antenna mount:


to be continued.................

 

What does this mean? You can run power directly to the CB and still use a switch...you do it via a relay.

 

cable routing and grounding point:


Power ran to in cab switch (which is not intermingled with the CANBUS of the jeep).

SWR ( these are a bit higher as I pulled the jeep inside and had the doors open):


channel 1 and 40 respectfully. I have been reading everything I can to get my SWR lower. This is not the final mounting location of the antenna. It will be mounted to the hi-lift mount once I order it. Hi-lift mounts to the left of the mast as you are looking at it in the picture. Antenna would be about a foot or so lower and to the left.

V/R
Jason

 

You replied too quickly as I was finishing my post. I do not think the source is my issue either. I am dumbfounded. I am thinking the base unit is toast or with the hardtop I have no ground plane?

Last picture is a close up of the antenna mount:

 

First the good stuff: Your antenna location is one of the best possible places. Assuming your VSWR readings are accurate, the antenna seems to be tuned to center of the band. There are NO electronics in the remote mounted box to "fry". It is not your problem.

The bad stuff: That ground wire is less than useless. Too long, too small, too many bends.
What to try: Make certain that there is GOOD metal to metal contact between the antenna mount bracket and the tire carrier. Then bond the carrier and the back gate to the body with braided strap, no less than 1 1/2 inches wide with a length as short as possible. (4 inches or less would be ideal, but difficult). This last item is ugly but necessary, if there are no other obvious defects in the installation.

The battery connections as described are not the cause of your RF issues. A relay is not needed since the radio only draws a few amps. A direct route to the battery IS best, so if a relay is used, it should be at or very near the battery.

Good luck

LATE EDIT: Measure the VSWR with tire carrier open and compare the reading with one taken with the carrier closed. It the open reading is good or somewhat better then the issue is antenna coupling/loading. That means body effects on the near field that changes the impedance of the antenna. Can't tune that out. And you are correct, you do not have a ground plane. No one does at 27 MHz on a Jeep.

The location you plan to mount your antenna is where I have mine. Mine is a base loaded tunable wire whip at perfect tune. With the tire carrier open VSWR is 1.01:1 Closed is 2:1 Can't fool physics, that's the best it can be at that location.

 

Thank you for the reply. The ground wire had zero effect on swr. I can take it off and the swr will read the same. Even without that wire I can test continuity through out the jeep to the mounting point with a good result. I dremeled the contact point on the mount where the connection is. Right now it is bare metal. Do I have to bond the gate? Can I just bond the tire carrier to the frame? The relay is a couple feet from the battery. I may just go ahead and directly connect the power source to the battery. Just wanted to use me switches dang it. If I am not mistaken the power connection should not effect swr? I say that in reference to my connections. Could I have a bad antenna? Again thanks for the reply. I will be shopping for some braided straps now.

V/R
Jason

Response to your edit psouza:
I thought something similar to this. However, my experience with radios is limited at best. I can make some good comms but really knowing what I am doing is different situation.

 

Continuity tests with a VOM are barely OK for lights and other electrical items and OF NO USE AT ALL in judging electrical connections at RF frequencies. While we talk of resistance in RF we do not mean R in terms of simple ohms but in impedance which is a complex subject that we don't need to discuss here/now. Just know it is a different world.

You are doing well so far, I can tell because of your observations on VSWR in the garage.

Your antenna does not seem to be defective. A good test would be to compare the VSWR taken at the antenna base and compare it to one taken at the radio end. They will not be identical, but should be reasonably close (experience will tell how reasonable). Is the antenna you are using tunable? If the reading at the antenna fails the sanity test (much much worse that the reading at the radio end), then the antenna is bad and was masked by the co-ax. (Another, long discussion for this). If it looks OK, it might be worth your efforts to try a base loaded wire whip that is tunable. I personally do not favor fiberglass whips because they fail all too often at the base. The metal whip is strong and the wire is indestructible in the trees.

Bonding the gate and carrier is not a guarantee, so you may try it as a last resort. My own installation is not bonded (grounded is wrong term) at all. Your experience with no change of VSWR with your current "ground" wire is a pretty good indication that a more robust strap will not improve it at all. But nothing is certain.

You are correct that power grounds do not affect VSWR, BUT a ground (Correct term here) at the remote box IS necessary. A screw through the hole to chassis ground does it.

 

I am using a 3ft firefly antenna.

On the check list for tomorrow. Ground the remote unit. Remove make shift bonding wire. Check SWR with gate closed and open. Cuss. Research bonding straps some more. Researching base loaded wire whip antennas. Care to recommend any?

You are the beacon of light.

V/R
Jason