Best CB

[640]

After buying a new cb for tractor wondering What’s people’s thoughts never seemed to have look with them always getting interference and not much range I’ve use swr meter to set them up but still no look

 

[njneer]

Biggest influence in performance is always the Ariel.
Much easier back in the day when most makes had a full metal cab , gives a much better ground plane for the signal.
Plastic/ fibreglass cabs always a problem getting performance and distance .
Same with trucks now , a bog standard mag mount on the centre of an old metal cab will out perform the best of ariel on any modern fibreglass / plastic cab .
Midland have always been a decent middle the road unit , combined with a decent Ariel and ariel mounting.
Lots of things can influence them though modern machines with multiple ecu’s buzzing away can cause lots of interference , camera’ s,GPS and machine control boxes and monitors can all
Cause interference .
Once had a 24 to 12v dropper for a phone in a truck that when conneCited it wouldn’t transmit or receive unless within a stones throw but when disconnected would go and pull in for miles.
Also pay particular attention to your co axial cable at the Ariel base and connector , if it’s factory fitted and soldered it’s fine if it’s a removable one , to be able to route the cable , a single strand of the “earth” (webbed part ) touching the main ( solid centre) will kill your reception and transmission.
Get a multimeter set to continuity and touch the central pin and the outer on the connector and make sure you have no continuity whatsoever ever.

 

[Will 1594]

Find any old ones with cybernet boards in them rotel ,york ,harrier , or similar
Look up doug knights at kirton in lindsey north lincolnshire
Get him to service them ,,he might have some

 

[radiotronics]

Biggest influence in performance is always the Ariel.

This is good advice. The radio <> antenna relationship is a partnership. If you have a reaonably good CB raido (and any modern radio will be), the the chances are the failure is with the antenna.

It could also be the coax cable. A SWR meter and a dummy load would enable you to test the cable.

 

[jondear]

I have a Thunderpole T-800 soon have to swap to a new tractor It's has a metal bracket for the Ariel to bolt to the wing mirror .Not sure what to do to set with a Swr metre as was fitted before by dealer but never worked that great.

 

[radiotronics]

I have a Thunderpole T-800 soon have to swap to a new tractor It's has a metal bracket for the Ariel to bolt to the wing mirror .Not sure what to do to set with a Swr metre as was fitted before by dealer but never worked that great.

If you're buying a new farm machine or vehicle, this in-dash bracket for the T800, is available from Knights CB, for a nice and clean installation. As far as SWR is concerned, you really need to find a way to address this as bad SWR will most certainly impact performance.

 

[Henarar]

Best CB, NATO 2000
Best aerial for a tractor, Springer
Best coax is one that is cut to the right length which I can't remember now.
Best place to mount the aerial on a metal cab is in the middle, sod knows where you put them on a plastic cab but you want some sort of ground plane
and twins don't work as you can't get them far enough apart and even if you did it makes the set up directional

This was all correct 20 years ago and probably mostly is now LOL

 

[vinnie123]

If you're buying a new farm machine or vehicle, this in-dash bracket for the T800, is available from Knights CB, for a nice and clean installation. As far as SWR is concerned, you really need to find a way to address this as bad SWR will most certainly impact performance.

What about ERF aerial mounts or artificial ground plane ? I know they exist and that’s as far as my knowledge goes !

 

[jondear]

If you're buying a new farm machine or vehicle, this in-dash bracket for the T800, is available from Knights CB, for a nice and clean installation. As far as SWR is concerned, you really need to find a way to address this as bad SWR will most certainly impact performance.

Ok thanks .If I get a swr meter how do they work ? Nobody seems to know !

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Ok thanks .If I get a swr meter how do they work ? Nobody seems to know !

Plug them in between aerial and cb flick to ch1and ch40 key the mic and reading needs to be around 1.5 if not you need to adjust the length of whip in aerial, can't remember which way to lower reading but normally shorter

 

[Bobthebuilder]

 

[Henarar]

I have a meter that clips to the coax if you run it up the coax with the mic keyed the reading will be higher at some points hence why I said the coax should be a certain length so the point at which the CB is connected is at a low SWR point

 

[radiotronics]

What about ERF aerial mounts or artificial ground plane ? I know they exist and that’s as far as my knowledge goes !

An antenna which bolts to the vehicle chassis, even via the window mount, will need to be SWR adjusted because the vehicle becomes part of the antenna itself. So will affect the factory tuning of the antenna and requires adjustment. The same applies to any antenna that actually makes any conductive contact with any part of the vehicle.

If you have a machine with a fiberglass roof, you can look at a groundplaneless antenna which can be mounted into fiberglass. It will give slightly lower performance than a well-tuned mirror mount but they come pre-tuned to channel 19 UK CB, if you choose the CB model; and the do not need any additional SWR adjustment

The contributor above has linked to a really good video on how to use a SWR meter.

 

[radiotronics]

What about ERF aerial mounts or artificial ground plane ? I know they exist and that’s as far as my knowledge goes !

An antenna which bolts to the vehicle chassis, even via the window mount, will need to be SWR adjusted because the vehicle becomes part of the antenna itself. So will affect the factory tuning of the antenna and requires adjustment. The same applies to any antenna that actually makes any conductive contact with any part of the vehicle.

If you have a machine with a fiberglass roof, you can look at a groundplaneless antenna which can be mounted into fiberglass. It will give slightly lower performance than a well-tuned mirror mount but they come pre-tuned to channel 19 UK CB, if you choose the CB model; and the do not need any additional SWR adjustment

The contributor above has linked to a really good video on how to use a SWR meter.