He's right. It's "smart" so when it senses a plug in the aux, it will shut off the internal speaker.

 

That looks great!
I've had nothing but problems with my cbs lately.

 

How did you drill the holes to mount the box in the glove box.

 

I used the same location, and I did a double end aux and ran it to my glove box, but as long as its connected to the box u won't get any audio from the hand held. I just disconnected it from the box and now only using the handheld. I do miss using the speakers though.

 

Don't drill - just use zip ties. Two zip ties is all I (and most folks I think) used/needed and it works great.

 

Ok here it goes, I've got a 2011 Rubi JKU and have purchased the Cobra 75. I did the install on it and mounted the box for it behind my center console under the panel above the rear cupholders and hard wired it to the cig lighter on the interior of the console. The coax cable I have screws on at both ends (one to the box and the other end to the mounting lug for the antenna).

For the hard wiring I did red to red and black to black, soldered the conections and used shrink wrap to cover. I turned on the unit and got nothing but static then played with the squelch. Most channels don't have the static now but some do.

Basically my question is does my 3 foot firestick antenna need tuned to a swr meter since it came from the factory pre-tunned? Also is there a need for a ground wire? (the items I got didn't come with separate gound wire.)

Thanks for any/all assistance.

 

To be on the safe side, even though the antenna is tuned at the factory,
I would suggest having the SWR checked just to make sure everything is OK.
If the SWR is high, then a ground to the frame.
Other than that, sounds like you did good on the install

 

I guess I'll try and check out some local CB Shops unless I can find a SWR meter that's cheap (is a SWR meter realatively easy to use?)

Thanks Donnie!

 

It is important to note that the antennas that are typically purchased for mobile use are actually only half of the antenna system. A quality ground is important as the chassis of a vehicle acts as the "counterpoise" for most mobile style CB antennas which are typically some form of 1/4 wave loaded whip. The whip is one half and the chassis is the other half of the antenna system. A poor ground will cause poor reception and transmission. It is always ideal to have a direct electrical path (metal) between the antenna mount and the vehicle chassis.

That said, you will often be able to even get a "good SWR" with a very inefficient antenna system. In fact, an extremely poor antenna system will often show a very good SWR. A high SWR (standing wave ratio) can create problems for transistorized RF output devices, like those built into most modern radios. This is why there is a focus on SWR. It is not an indicator of antenna performance, per se.

And lastly, often poorly grounded antenna systems will still "work fine" in so far as they will receive and transmit with moderate efficiency which is often all that is required from trail/close-in use.

73 de K5PO

 

You can get a SWR meter at radio shack. The instructions included are very strait forward. You will need a short section of coax too