I just got my cb installed yesterday and it doesnt pick up very well.also every time i key it interferes with my screen on my dvd player and when i switch into 4wd it causes static interference for a sec when it switches. it might just be because of my cheap antenna or maybe the cb has a problem. has anyone experienced this problem or does anyone know how to fix this?

 

Did you calibrate your SWR?? If not, you need to do that. If you are unable to calibrate, your antenna height might need to be increased. That's first thought of mine.

 

You're going to need to tell us what you have and how its installed.

 

and how your coax is routed, and where to tied into for power and ground......etc....stuff like that.

 

IF your wired into the cig lighter... that could cause interference..

If your not calibrated right, that will cause bad reception...

If your excess antenna coax is wrapped up, that could cause bad reception...

If you have a really cheap radio, it could just be junk..

Let us know what you have..

 

^^looks like an old midland.....ripped pic from his "cb installed" post...

 

yea , the cb is an old midland model 77-104 The antenna is a magnet mount on the side of my bed. The antenna wire is run down under the truck through the drivers side frame rail then through a drilled hole in my firewall that my amp wire runs through then behind the carpet up to the back of the cb. The cb is grounded with 12 gauge wire to a body bolt. Cb power wire is spliced into the radio/dvd power wire. It might just be the oldness of the cb radio.

 

I'm not sure what you just said. You need to describe how you have the antenna installed and how you have the power installed. And you need to use some punctuation and sentence structure in the process.

 

There i edited my post above. and if it still doesnt help i will go out and take some pics of how the wire and all is run. maybe u can get the idea from my description above

 

Mag mounted antennas are not the best choice especially mounting to the side of the bed. Get a good antenna like a fire stick etc.

Route the coax as far away from any wiring related to your Amp or stereo as you can.

Your best bet would be to run the ground to chassis or back to the battery.

Run the power feed from the battery or from the front power lug of the BJB.

I would also make sure the CB chassis is grounded and put some type of RF shielding between the stereo and the CB making sure its grounded as well. If your still having problems you can buy an RF choke from Radio Shack.

 

The DVD interference is due to the routing of the antenna coax. That coax is probably pretty crappy (thats how they come) and it leaks RF which is getting picked up by the amp wires. It could also be RF leaking out of the CB itself due to crappy old shielding and getting directly into the head unit right there. Try re-routing the coax. If that doesn't fix it, get a new CB which probably won't have that problem. Sticking RF chokes on the head unit and amp are "maybe solutions" that will only mask the real problem a little.

The poor reception is 99% because you get what you pay for when it comes to antennas an coax. Magnetic antennas are poor performers in general. The coax they come with is poor in general. And the position you have it in magneted to the side of the bed is making it even worse. A magnetic antenna needs to be p on the roof. Otherwise, you'll need a more permanent and quality antenna installation.

For a simple run of the mill CB radio, the power and ground you are using is probably fine and will have little to no effect changing it. Grounding the radio itself as suggested is not going to accomplish anything.

 

appreciate it guys ill try those things and let yall know if it fixed it in a few days

 

yea...cb's can be sorta picky. I've got about $270 into my setup(peaked and tuned 29LTD), and about to add more to get rid of those DARN HID ballast noise/interference! lol.