New to CB
 

Yeah guys! I'm a little new to using a CB radio. I'm starting out with a cheep one just a little cobra to get me started. I have my antenna mounted on the tail gate and the cable is already taken care of. The CB is above my mirror. What is the easiest way to wire the power cables? Can I hook it to the battery directly? And do I have to do any kind of tuning in this thing?

What kind of jeep do you have? I have a 13 JKU and I bought a plug for the cig lighter and ran the wires from the CB down the drivers side and then ran the wires from the plug under the dash . When I want to use my CB I plug it in and turn it on. Don't have to worry about leaving it on when I turn the engine ofg

Absolutely run a twisted pair of wires of directly to the battery for best results.

I have a 2009 JKUR
The CB has an on off switch so I figured a direct battery connection didn't matter

Exactly. Always power it directly from the battery. And a cheap CB is fine. CBs of all prices almost always have the same performance. There are small differences in receive performance but it's largely immaterial.

There is nothing to tune in a CB radio itself, but the antenna must be installed in a way that has a low SWR (standing wave ratio). To determine this, you'll hook the antenna and it's coax up to a quality SWR meter (not in the radio).

Tunable antennas should allow you to dial in the SWR then you're good to go.

Enjoy.

I'm learning still... I have read that the worst place to mount the antenna is where I was planning to mount it... the spare tire. So until I can find a better location and buy a mount how do I best ground the antenna

If that is The only place then use a good Mount and cable. I had a 5 ft fire stick and their mount and got a SWR of 1.2. It worked well. I now have a larsen antenna mounted on gobi rack and it's no better

Thx!
How do I best ground the antenna?
Can I use 14ga. Copper wire on the antenna stud ran to a bolt on the main jeep body?

If you have a tire rack mount, make sure the hole is big enough so that the antenna is isolated from the mount. The firestick mount has a nylon washer with a ridge that fits in the hole to center the mount without touching the steel of the mounting bracket. I had to drill mine out a little and it made all the difference. I used no wire to ground the mount.

OK good. I bought the firestick and a stud that uses the nylon spacer.
Thanks for the reply.