[Bobbywolf]

I recently purchased a Cobra 19DXIII unit, and it works well, but I get a fair amount of noise which comes from my jeeps electrical. My antenna is a 4' wilson fiberglass whip if that matters. When I am accelerating the signal strength goes into the orange of the indicator, and I have to crank the squelch up higher to get rid of the noise. At this level, I miss many of the weaker transmissions that I can receive great with the jeep off. Could this be some sort of grounding issue? I have the antenna attached to my oversize tire carrier, which is directly connected to my frame, but I do not have the little wire coming off the antenna grounded because I have a quick disconnect unit. (I take off my antenna to avoid damage in parking garages). Will connecting this solve my problems? I only ask instead of trying directly, because I will have to drill a hole through thick steel to put a nut/bolt through.

[Islandroaddie96]

It could be the ground, but I would take a closer look into your wiring. If you have it wired into the fuse box or cigarette lighter, then you will get engine noise. The best thing to do is to wire it (including the negative) directly to the battery. That should help some.

Good Luck,

Peter

[Bobbywolf]

That might explain it then. I hooked it up to the cigarette lighter for ease of removal. I will try wiring it direct to the battery, and see if that clears up my noise problems. Thanks. I'll connect the ground as well, I don't think you can ever be "too grounded" lol.

[Milt]

Bobby,

Have a look at this information and see if it helps you:
http://www.cobra.com/index.php?page=...3237&faq_id=39

Milt

[CrazyBum]

Now how would I go about connecting it directly into my battery?
That sounds a bit dangerous...

(Im having the same problem.. ill be listening to something.. then all of a sudden ill hear a high pitched "VRRRROOOOOOOOM" and i'll have to put the squeltch up high enough so that i'll only hear the people talking directly next to me!

Thanks for the help!

[Black&Tan_TJ]

Originally Posted by CrazyBum

Now how would I go about connecting it directly into my battery?
That sounds a bit dangerous...

(Im having the same problem.. ill be listening to something.. then all of a sudden ill hear a high pitched "VRRRROOOOOOOOM" and i'll have to put the squeltch up high enough so that i'll only hear the people talking directly next to me!

Thanks for the help!

You just need to run a wire from your battery that is the same size as your CB power wire, into the passanger compartment. Make sure you have a fuse link in the wire. Hook your CB power wire into this. While your at it you can run a ground wire to the battery also.

From your post it almost sounds like you may have a bad ground. from the way I read it you are having this problem intermittenly. If this is the case double check your ground to be sure it is tight, and making good connection. This may solve your problem without having to run new wires.


Jason

[CrazyBum]

Yeah.. it only happens every once and awhile (but still alot).

I have it "jerry-rigged" right now to plug into my ciger. lighter.
Just basic parts and wires that came from radio shack.

when I recieved it (over ebay) - it only had like 4 inches of red and black wire, so I had to splice, tape, and what not it to a longer cord.

[Black&Tan_TJ]

Originally Posted by CrazyBum

Yeah.. it only happens every once and awhile (but still alot).

I have it "jerry-rigged" right now to plug into my ciger. lighter.
Just basic parts and wires that came from radio shack.

when I recieved it (over ebay) - it only had like 4 inches of red and black wire, so I had to splice, tape, and what not it to a longer cord.

I have alot of problems with accessories that plug into my lighter plug. They don't seam to fit too well. My cell phone charger has to be in just the right position to make good connection. When your cb noise starts up, try wiggling and twisting the plug in the receptical to see if you can get it to stop making noise. If the noise stops then you have found your problem, and need to hard wire the connections.

Jason

[Black&Tan_TJ]

I just put a whole new CB setup in my 2000 TJ, and thought I would pass along some information as to exactly what I did. This post is long so if you don't need the information then don't read it.

The setup I have may be more than most want to pay for but the principals are universal.

-Ground EVERYTHING really good.
-Use Good COAX
-For best performance have the radio professionally, Peaked, Tuned, and Aligned (PTA). It cost about $30 at the local CB shop and really does help. I'm not sure if this can be done on some of the lower end radios, you will have to ask your CB shop.
-Be patient trying to isolate noise.

Components
Galaxy DX 959 SSB radio
Wilson 5000 Trucker antenna
Belkin Coax

Antenna Mount
I recently installed a half cab top and in the process removed the brackets from the vertical part of the roll bars, behind the front seats, that holds the factory top bows. These brackets fit around the bars and have holes in them that are perfect size for a standard antenna mount. I put one of these just behind the cab on the drivers side. and mounted the antenna to it.

Radio Mount
The Galaxy 959 is a full size radio, which means it's a huge piece of equipment to be mounting in a jeep. So I made an overhead platform from a 1"x12" that spans from the windshield header to the sound bar, During the half cab install I had to move my sound bar in front of the roll bar. I mounted the CB and mic holder to this.

Wiring
I ran a fused hot wire and a ground wire from the battery through the qromet in the drivers side firewall, under the plastic shield under the drivers door, up under the roll bar cover to the sound bar, through the sound bar cover, and along the top side of my overhead platform, to the radio. I then ran a 6' length of coax from the radio along the top if the platform through the soundbar cover, and out through the top via a small gap where the rear window zips in. My antenna mounts about 2 inches from there.

I also ran a ground wire, from the antenna, inside the cab and tied it into the ground wire going direct to the battery. Now every part of the system is securly grounded.

Problems
After I completed the install and set the SWR I still had some noise when the engine was running. I disconected the antenna and the noise stopped. This told me that the noise was coming from the antenna, not the power supply. I then had to try to isolate what was causing the noise. Possibility one was the alternator. The alternator causes a high pitched noise that will change with engine RPM. My noise did not change so I knew it was probley not the alternator. The second most common cause is the fuel pump. I tested this by turning the ignition on to let the fuel pump presurize the system. If the fuel pump in the culprit, you will here the noise for the few seconds the pump is running. I did not, so the fuel pump was likely not the source.

After doing some research I found several places that recomended grounding the exahaust near the end of the tail pipe. I cut the shielding from an old piece of coax and made a grounding strap from it. I placed a hose clamp around the tail pipe near the rear most hanger and clamped one end of the shielding under it. I put the other end of the shielding under one of the bolts that holds the exhaust hanger to the frame. No more noise.

I now have no noise coming from my jeep, and my SWR is below 1.5 on all channels.

I hope this helps someone else or at leas gives some ideas. I don't have any pictures, but I can take some if they are needed.

Jason

[k6zwc]

Lots of good tips here I guess I'll add my $.02 on the direct cables to the battery both Pos and Gnd I put some of those inline ato style fuse holder in the line both Pos and Gnd, As close to the battery as practical, a short on these wires can create some serious amperage and no one wants a vehicle fire! I typically run a minimum of 10 Guage wire from the battery, But I also Run a ham radio that can draw 20 AMPs when Transmitting. At the dash I run a set or two of Anderson Powerpole connectors, that way I still have the QD power lines and can make adapters for other things and still keep the cigarette lighter open for the cell phone charger/or Cigarette lighter. the anderson connectors are rated for serious power, and are polarized so they cannot be plugged in backwards and they hold toget just right, not loose enough to fall out and no so tight as to require a slide hammer to disconnect your radio power!

and grounding the exhaust, I have heard of people adding an accessory ground strap to the hood as well as doors.

[xeon]

So basically ground the tailpipe to the body?

[k6zwc]

Originally Posted by xeon

So basically ground the tailpipe to the body?

Yep! sound strange I know, but things like that can and do help out at times when nothing else seems to have the desired effect.