CB Installation Questions

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Hello electronically savvy folks! I have a few questions about the installation procedure for a new CB I received as a gift. I've read through about as much as I can but I need some more direct Xterra specific advice. Here is the CB I have:

http://www.uniden.com/cb-radios/compact-professional-mobile-cb-radio/invt/pro520xlg

I already have a Firestik Firefly II FS, so the antenna is covered. I spoke to the grizzly old fellow at our only local CB shop and he said I'll need to purchase the 18' of coax and a mount (I had already gathered this info). I'm thinking of going with the fender mount that I think Firestik makes, that is a black, smooth mount drilled directly into the rear panel. I've seen a majority of folks on here run the door jam mount right above the tail light. I'm not opposed to that, but I do like the fender mount option myself. Any negative feedback towards that one?

The cb came with instructions for power sourcing, which sounds like I would run the positive to the battery and the negative to a ground. Is that correct? Furthermore, is there a better way to source power for it, if at all possible? If I did need to run it off the battery, what's the best way to get the wires to it from a mounting location right under my radio?

From my reading, there was talk of needing to do an RF connector wire splicing and soldering. Not sure if that applies to me or not. I do understand the necessity of having to get it tuned, and I will do that the first time I turn it on. I just want to make sure I have everything in order first. So I already have the CB and antenna, I just need to purchase the antenna mount, coax cable, and any other related antenna hardware correct? Thanks for any help
 

maillet282

If you bleeding, Imma fix you
Moderator
Location
Ontario Canada
I used a small fuse tap into the fuse block that is in the glove box. that way my CB is only on when my key is on. if you connect it directly to the battery, your CB will be on continually untill you manually turn it off.

as fpr tje splicing and soldering, it will depend on what coax cable you get. you can get the ones that are already connected on both ends.
 

robcarync

Sliders
Location
Raleigh, NC
Antenna mount location: Most any kind of mount will work for what we do in the off road world. The theoretical best mount is as tall as possible over a flat surface....so basically a giant antenna in the middle of your roof rack. That being said, in usual offroading/expedition scenario, you usually are pretty close to your buddies, and the difference between a 10 mile set up and a 2 mile set up is immaterial. I have a 4 foot fire fly mounted on the headlight guard over my front bumper...nice and tuned and tall over my front hood. My buddy has a 2 foot firefly mounted above his tail light which barely peaks over the roof line. We get about 2 miles apart before we can't contact each other.

The proper way to source your CB radio is running a wire directly to the battery, and then grounding it. The radio just has a red and a black wire, and should have a fuse in the back. I actually tapped into the red/black wires for my cig lighter, and had no issues. Only annoying thing is resetting CB channels when I turn the car off (DOH!). If I were to re-do it today, I would have ran straight to battery and just grounded it in the cab somewhere...you just have to remember to turn the radio off!

As far as getting wires into the cab, I ran wiring from battery through firewall behind passenger side wheel well. It cam down under the glove box and dash. I ran the wires behind the glove box right behind center console and dash area.

RF connector soldering and splicing? Not for a simple CB install...buy coax

CB tuning is essential...as is a GOOD ground connection to the mount. My 4 foot firestik gave me awful signal for a year before I finally tried a dedicated ground wire to the bottom of the mount, and screwed directly into my steel bumper. On top of that, I tuned it with SWR meter, and picked up a couple miles on my range.
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for the info gents, and Rob, thank you for the detailed info. I figured the RF splicing thing sounded a little weird, and looked like something I would have to do if I was running a very specific length of coax. I prefer already assembled lol. The power sourcing info is a huge help. I'll go ahead and wire it straight to the battery and make sure I drill it into my memory to turn it off before I get out. I liked the ignition power idea, but if it resets the channels that does sound like it would get annoying. I'll get into the engine bay tonight and look for a pass-through in the firewall to run it in. Is there a down side to grounding it in the engine bay? Like to the side or something like that?

Initially I was a little hesitant with the direct fender mount, as it is on the side of the truck and I'd be a little nervous about tight trails and something snapping it or sending it flinging onto the back side window. Also directly drilling into the side of my truck is a little cringe inducing. However, I will make sure the water proof the mount as much as possible.
 

KChurch86

Banned
Founding Member
The only thing I can add to this is referring to the soldering.

When I installed my Cobra, I used an 18' Firestik FireRing coaxial cable, which came with one end assembled and the other end bare (no connector attached) to make it easier to route the wire through holes, behind panels, etc. Not all CB coax cables come this way, you can buy them with both ends assembled, so if you go this route, you're all set.

If the cable you buy only has one end assembled, you'll need to assemble the other. It'll come with instructions, and the process is very easy. If you've ever put a new end on a piece of television coax, it's the exact same process but with a larger connector and larger piece of coax. When I assembled mine, it was the first time I had ever used a soldering iron, and it went off without a hitch.

PL259-59-4_2.jpg


Basically, you get the wire routed the way you're sure you want it. Then you slip the outer half of the connector (the collar) over the cable, threaded-end towards the bare end of the cable.

Next, you strip off 1" of the outer insulation, and expose the copper wires beneath. Cut them back to 3/8" long and fold them backwards and lay them down onto the outer insulation. (I made it easy on myself and just left them 1/2" long.)

Then, you strip off 1/2" of the inner insulation (from the core wire) and install the other half of the connector (the pin). Slip the pin over the bare inner core wire, and thread the connector onto the copper wires you folded back earlier. This completes the ground in the cable and gives the pin something to bite into. Once the inner half of the connector is attached, you bring the collar up and thread it onto the threads on the pin. This locks the connector to the end of the cable. Finally you just solder the core wire to the pin (the end of which is hollow) and you're done.

EDIT: I should note that my instructions didn't go exactly in order to what's shown in the diagram. I did this because I found it easier to strip the 1/2" of the core once the copper wires were out of the way, and it was easier to solder the pin once the collar was tightened so I wasn't trying to hold the wire, pin, and soldering flux in one hand while holding the iron with the other.
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for thegreat info Church, that's exactly what this one guy was talking about in a write-up I read. I've soldered before, but the whole peeling back of wires and putting the center one through something was a little confusing. Hopefully I can buy one already assembled. It's really unfortunate that we only have one CB shop locally, because while the guy is knowledgeable and generally helpful, he keeps trying to sell me one of their antennas because he thinks Firestik's are crap. Oh well
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
So I went ahead and purchased this style mount:

http://www.amazon.com/Firestik-Mold...UTF8&qid=1405736212&sr=1-37&keywords=firestik

Anyone else run this? The only cons I can see are that I would need to get a longer antenna (probably 5') because I would mount it on the flat part of the rear quarter panel right above the plastic corner piece, and that it would be more exposed being on the side of the vehicle as opposed to the rear. I like this mount too because the coax and mount have a dedicated negative part to them. Thoughts?
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Got everything installed this past weekend, I'll take pictures tonight and add them to my build thread. I was crazy nervous about drilling through the body, but after I drilled that first hole, it was easy from there (ha). I was a little ambitious and drilled it too close to the taillight housing, which made it almost impossible to tighten up the bolts. After a little creativity, I got it all to work. It came out better than I thought, I really love how it all came together. The coax wiring went pretty smooth too, I thought that was going to be a pita
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Haha yeah, probably would've been way easier. But I enjoy getting hands on and learning how to do it, plus I get to brag to the local jeep group I did it myself.
 

xterra terrestrial

Test Drive
Location
canada
i just got a cb and an xterra, so time for the 2 to get together. i want to run a roof antenna and am ok drilling a hole in the roof. i will use a female to female bulkhead connector to allow me to remove the unit easily by just unthreading the antenna cable from inside the truck. my question is this.... with a bulkhead connector like the one pictured, do i have to insulate it from the metal roof or is it ok if it makes contact to grounded metal. know what i mean? sorry if this is a mega nubee question.

$T2eC16J,!yEE9s5jDZckBR)!,Gf-o!~~60_35.JPG
$(KGrHqF,!osE9dH8uIEKBPkutGgz9Q~~60_35.JPG
 
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