There is a wide variety of CB antennas available on the market and each one has a different installation process to follow. This guide aims to highlight those steps that are common to all CB antenna installation. It will also explain the factors that profoundly affect the performance of your CB antenna.

1. Choose a location
The first thing to consider during the installation of the CB antenna is to select a suitable location for it. Before taking your antenna home, make sure you have selected the point. This will help you purchase the necessary equipment for the installation. Here are some tips to get this job done the right way:

  • Try the center of your vehicle’s roof as the first mounting location for your CB antenna. This is an ideal spot as it gives your antenna maximum exposure and a wide ground plane to anchor to.
  • Try not to install your antenna on the bumper, license plate, or fender, as these are the poorest places for installation. Here you will receive half the signal strength as normal.
  • Attach your antenna in such a way that its coil is above the roof line of your car. As the coil is the heart of an antenna and for better reception on your radio antenna the coil should be covered with a hard material like diamond, only this will make your antenna more effective.
  • Select a high enough antenna that must be mounted high enough on your vehicle.

2. Installation of the magnetic mount CB antenna

This process can vary in its level of difficulty depending on the type of antenna you have. If you have a magnetic mount, the process can be as simple as sticking the mount to the selected location. On the other hand, door jamb mounting may require technical assistance to drill the mounting in the correct spot. You can get an idea about the type of cb antenna and the installation process of the antenna in the manual that will accompany the product.

3. Route the wire
Setting the proper route for the patch cord is the next important step. There is a coaxial cable that will connect the CB antenna to your CB radio. Your job is to set it up neatly and unobtrusively. Below are the tips you can follow for this:

  • Purchase a coaxial cable with removable PL259. This connector will help easily route the cable through the smallest of holes.
  • Try to select the length of the cable that is fully used and nothing is left dangling.
  • Keep your line as noise free as possible by avoiding the use of alternators.
  • Try not to clip your coaxial cable.

4. CB antenna tuning

Once you have successfully completed the installation of your CB radio and CB antenna, it is time to tune the system to the appropriate frequencies. This will make your CB experience more competent and far reaching and will ensure that you can make as many contacts from all over the world through the CB system without hindrance.

5. Why tune my antenna?
Tuning a CB antenna is the most crucial part of the CB antenna installation process that determines the future performance of your CB system. A properly tuned antenna is necessary to improve the receive and transmit capabilities of your CB system, despite the constant 4 watt power output allowed for every CB radio on the market. If this tuning process is faulty, you have a communication full of interference and broken signals.

6. How to tune the CB antenna

  • First, turn off your CB antenna and make sure your coax is out of the rear port.
  • Now take your SWR meter and connect the coaxial cable from the antenna to the port labeled “antenna”.
  • Now take the coaxial jumper cable and connect it to the point where you removed the antenna coaxial cable from one end and to the transmitter position on the SWR meter from the other end.
  • Clear space around your vehicle and keep windows and doors closed, too.
  • Now turn on your CB radio.
  • Tune to channel 1.
  • Adjust the SWR meter to the point that indicates “FWD”.
  • Press the talk button to manipulate your microphone and adjust the knob by turning it until you find your SWR meter at “set”. Now let your microphone not be activated.
  • Now bring the meter to the “reflect” state.
  • Clip your microphone back on and note the reading displayed on the meter. If the reading is low, then all is well. But if you are somewhere in the red zone, check your settings again while keeping the CB radio turned off.
  • Now follow the same procedure for channel 40.

Adjustment of CB antenna by matching channel 40 bandwidth

  • If you get a reading on channel 1 that is higher than channel 40, that means your CB antenna is too short and you need to increase its length. On the other hand, if the reading on channel 40 is higher than the reading on channel 1, then shorten your antenna a bit.
  • If the readings on channel 1 and channel 40 are 1.2 and 2.3 respectively, then trim your CB antenna to a shorter length. For that purpose, you can adjust the length via the tuning pin or you can trim it straight off 1/4 inch and snap it back into place. Be very careful when trimming your CB antenna, as a slightly larger trim can destroy the performance of your antenna.
  • If the readings are 2.6 and 1.3 on channels 1 and 40 respectively, increase the length of your CB antenna. You can simply adjust the length via the adjustable screws or you can use the spring between the mount and the whip.
  • As you adjust, take small steps. During this procedure, make sure that all antenna components are in their correct places and keep checking them after every adjustment you make.

Once you reach a suitable SWR level for your CB system, you can disconnect the SWR meter from the system or keep it there for future testing.

1. Rental

In the process of installing the CB antenna, the location is important. We refer to the area where you will tune your cb antenna. This place should be an open ground preferably or at least it shouldn’t be crowded. Also keep your car carefully packed with all doors and windows closed tightly.

2. Shorts

In a CB antenna installation, when a CB antenna is shorted to ground, you will experience a very high SWR level for your CB system. You can expect this short to occur on the CB antenna stud or on the coax cable.

3.Coax

In the process of installing the antenna, when the shield comes into contact with the conductor placed in the center of the cable, a short circuit occurs. This can happen due to many reasons, two of which are a natural crack in the cable from the time of purchase or a manufacturing defect. To make sure your coaxial cable is working properly, first disconnect it from the CB antenna and CB radio, then test it with a multimeter. This meter will help you find out if there is any continuity between the center conductor and the shield. If there is no continuity between the two, your coaxial cable is perfectly fine. If not, you will need to get a new coax cable for your system.

4. Asparagus

In the installation of the antenna, if the antenna coupling nut and bolt come into contact with the antenna bracket, there is a great possibility of short-circuiting the antenna bolt. Careful placement of the nylon washers can prevent that from happening, but that requires special care. This type of contact actually ends the main purpose of the antenna studs, namely to keep the antenna positioned high above the ground with a gap between the two. You can now use the multimeter to check the condition of your antenna’s bolt connections. If you find the nut and bolt contacting the bracket, retighten the nylon washer to fix this.

5. Poor electrical ground connection

This is different from the ground plane we all know. First, make sure your antenna mount is properly grounded to your vehicle’s chassis. If you have a metal count, you can ground it by contacting it with the metal surface of the vehicle. For ease, take a multimeter and test if your ground place is good or not. You can test this with a light or multimeter just as you would any vehicle on the ground. The easiest way to overcome this hurdle is to strip some of the paint off your vehicle to expose the metal underneath for better grounding. You can also use the grounding trap to ground your CB antenna. If you have a magnetic mount then there should be no problem for grounding as the magnet is grounded via capacitive coupling quite easily.

6. Coaxial coiled

In general, when you have a very long coax cable, it may still be missing a lot even after all the installation is complete and the cable has been routed. This extra coaxial cable is often twisted or coiled just like the antenna coil. If that happens, then your system will face a signal feedback effect. To avoid this situation, select a longer route to run your cable through the CB radio.

7. Insufficient ground plane

We all know by now that an antenna requires a wide metal ground plane as a requirement for a perfect CB antenna installation. First select the ground plane with the widest metal coverage. If you are going to mount the antenna anywhere on the sides, keep the mount close to the main body of the vehicle. For vehicles without a metal chassis, use the CB antennas without a ground plane.

8. Obstructions

Your CB antenna will malfunction if the environment obstructs it. This often happens when you mount your CB antenna somewhere very low on the vehicle, such as on its bumper. This reflects the signals back to the antenna and you get a high SWR level. To solve this problem, keep the CB antenna well positioned above the roof line and give it maximum exposure by placing it at the highest point.

9. Broken antenna

Typically, CB antennas have a fiberglass pole on the inside that has copper wire wrapped around it. Any defect or crack in this cable can render your antenna useless and get very high SWR levels. Check the continuity between the tip and the base of your antenna with a multimeter. You can use the multimeter probe for this purpose in case the tunable lead is not present. In this case, if you do not find any continuity between the tip of the antenna and the base, you must replace the broken antenna.

10. Short or poor quality CB Coax

If you tried all the other solutions and your problem is still not resolved, try replacing your coax cable with a longer and better one. Select a cable from a good brand that offers high quality.

11. CB antenna length

Most CB antenna manufacturers assure you that the antennas are preset and you will not need to retune them. It may be true, but it is not guaranteed to suit your case. Even if you trust these claims, you will find that these preset specifications will not work well in all mounting situations. If after trying everything else you still want something big to solve your problem, then consider changing the length of your antenna as one of the last resorts. Sometimes it may be necessary to trim the antenna 2” to achieve the required SWR level, but that is a very rare case. Always be careful when changing the length of your CB antenna through cutting, as you can easily cut off more than necessary. The safest way to do this is to clip off a small portion of the antenna and measure the reading on the SWR meter. Do this side by side with each cut. This will ensure that you do not exceed the required SWR level.