Mopar tailgate reinforcement and CB antenna mount

[unknownsolo]

Sorry to revive. I am doing the same thing as op. Everything is working great when I am parked, but the signal starts cutting out as soon as I go a little faster than 5 mph. Do you all know why?

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[tomk62]

Sorry to revive. I am doing the same thing as op. Everything is working great when I am parked, but the signal starts cutting out as soon as I go a little faster than 5 mph. Do you all know why?

Can you give more details? Not sure what you mean by "signal starts cutting out".

 

[unknownsolo]

Listen to this test while I am driving. In the last 10 seconds, the Jeep is fully stopped at the light, and you can tell right away that the signal is much better. It starts cutting out again as soon as I start driving.

Test:
https://whyp.it/tracks/163340/test?token=hAQQV

 

[Mark75H]

Bad/weak connection somewhere. Review them all.

 

[PriamX]

Same as the OP? I did mine the same way too. An easy check if it's caused by wind on the antenna: fire up your CB, and use your hand to start gently pushing the antenna backwards and see if it becomes intermittent (or cuts out entirely). What you're looking to expose here is a connectivity issue at the antenna mount.

There are several parts back there that all need to have solid connections: the quick release, the spring, the fire-ring having a good ground to the tailgate, and, of course, the bolt fastening it all to the tailgate.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

I'm about ready to give up trying to get the FireRing coax to give me a good SWR. I've got a good connection between my tailgate and chassis (thanks to a 6AWG wire), and have confirmed continuity between the tailgate and the tailgate reinforcement plate. I've made sure that the grounding ring on the FireRing has good contact w/ bare metal on the tailgate reinforcement plate. About the only thing i haven't tried is to run a bonding lead directly from the antenna ground back to the chassis (which would be challenging).

With all that I still can't get a SWR much below 3....so i'm giving real consideration to scrapping the FireWire and putting in a normal SO-239 mount...assuming i can find one with a long enough stud to fit the tailgate.

 

[Mark75H]

I'm about ready to give up trying to get the FireRing coax to give me a good SWR. I've got a good connection between my tailgate and chassis (thanks to a 6AWG wire), and have confirmed continuity between the tailgate and the tailgate reinforcement plate. I've made sure that the grounding ring on the FireRing has good contact w/ bare metal on the tailgate reinforcement plate. About the only thing i haven't tried is to run a bonding lead directly from the antenna ground back to the chassis (which would be challenging).

With all that I still can't get a SWR much below 3....so i'm giving real consideration to scrapping the FireWire and putting in a normal SO-239 mount...assuming i can find one with a long enough stud to fit the tailgate.

SWR relates to the antenna only. Not the coax feeding it. (but sometimes bad coax hides bad swr because it is reducing all power, including reflected)

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