Antenna Grounding/ RF Bonding. Getting the most from your CB system

DIY for CBers.
Get the most out of your radio and antenna system by RF bonding. If you're not grounding and bonding your radio isn't working at its full potential. This should be done on every mobile CB setup, no matter if it's a car, pickup, suv, or rig! The cb radio is not as important as the the antenna system, and proper ground and bonding is part of the antenna system. RF bonding straps are better than cable, but if you use a cable (not thin wire) use a minimum of 4ga. copper grounding cables, with soldered connectors.

Items used.
Flat braid from DX Engineering.
Ring terminals from Home Depot and Amazon.
Heat shrink from Amazon.
Solder from anywhere.
Dielectric grease from auto part store or Amazon.

[franknewling]

Thanks for the info and always remember "You can never have too much ground!"

[TheRoadhammer]

Doors, cab, back panel are aluminum on the coronado. Hood and roof cap are fiberglass, fenders are composite. I grounded the doors to the cab, cab to the frame, and I run 2 ground straps directly from the frame to the actual ground. They just hang and touch the earth, just like trucks are earth grounded in the oilfield and mining industry. My SWRs on dual antennas are .95/1.01.

[frankrizzo]

Very interesting info... I'm definitely having grounding problems with my old Freightliner... but this well help! Thanks...

[brentjohnson]

All good points on bonding. Good video!

[craig_sez]

If you have some strap left over, run one on each side of chassie to engine block....Seeing hood is fibreglass the engine block can help..

[ll-bcou]

Good work man, I can share some of my ideas and see if it works for you or someone else. I use a magnet to find metal in doors or body you have the ground straps covered I don't use the bolts on the frame side of the door better to grind a little and go to bare metal grounding to engine block is good but I also run a separate ground from negative side of the alternator to bare metal on the frame. Your alternator is the beginning of your power supply to the vehicle most people don't think about grounding it better. Hope some of this helps 73's..

[salbruno]

Only a theory but i think it acts as a couterpoise. The more metal you can bond the better, especially on lower frequencies like CB.

[jorgezuni]

What I know about ground straps bonding . Is to let RF flow better then …all spot welding and glue bonding& paint that it’s done at the manufacture company .. so to keep all RF in one conjoined bond it’s Good to install ground strap .. wich is different from Rounded Power Ground wire .. do to power (+/-)flows better trough round wire & RF flap strap flows better trough flat surfaces ! (“JZ”)

[G.Harley.Davidson]

Yeah you’re right, about not everyone agreeing on YouTUbe

[hamradiohobo]

Thanks for the video nicely done . Was wondering if all the Items you used in the video could be put in the description. Looks like you used some anti corrosion compound on your ground connections

[bucketheadrox]

I'm just gonna keep adding straps as I get paid lol

[mikev]

I just stumbled across your videos, keep up the good work. I have a semi big stereo system in my F250 and have added/upgraded many power and grounds to 0 awg. Is there a difference/advantage for using bonding straps over wire?

[miguelgarcia]

What about a NGP firestick antenna, wouldn’t that work without the ground strapping?

[Eli]

Just get a 200' length and wrap your car just leave enough of the front window to see out of

[paulgrodkowski]

Hey there J Rich truckin & CB! Just quickly, I do not really know what RF bonding is in radio (NON-ONLINE NON-INTERNET) Would you please make a video or commnent on what RF bonding really is and if it is possible to know if it can be measured with a store bought DMM or SWR meter? I have a read a little about installing CB radios and antennas and checking for SWR in a car in so far as what I read I did not come across anything about RF bonding but I think that it could be worthwhile knowing about. My general understanding is that RF is AC and therefore a DMM continuity check between metal parts may not tell me if I have Rf bonding or if is DC bonding and therefore I sort of end up at the conclusion that I will never learn what RF bonding is or if I have truly acheived if I try to do someting around a car like you show in the video with groudstraps.😀

[krisadams]

👍 and subscribed...
I've been watching all your videos. And I want to set up my Anytone 5555 N2 similar to the way you do it. I bought all the materials to rf bond my truck. I have a 2024 Cascadia. I also got a 6' skip shooter like one of your videos to try out once I ground my antenna correctly so I can get my swr in range. I'm using an old 4' fire stick now. Works great on channel 19 only place swr is in range being in the middle of the channels. It's low on channel 1 and high on 40. Same thing showing on my Wilson 2000. It's more than just lowering my antenna. I've done that. The SWR is through the roof and can't be tuned in range. It has to be that this antenna is not properly grounded or RF bonded.

Question,
Does it matter that my mount is aluminum? Should I get a stainless steel mount to ground rf bond too?

Thanks for your awesome instructional videos. Easy to watch and straight to the point.

[craig_sez]

J....Awsome job man..Other than less noise, notice anything else??

[dobetterman]

Great video, I'm planning on buying some 1" ground strap for my RV and basically ground all pieces to one. But for the meantime do you think a hanger strap would work as well to test? Before ordering and cutting up the braided strap?

[craigbrabant]

I run oversize. I have to run flashing amber lights . I actually can hear when they light up because it interacts with the static on my cb. Is this the reason, because it’s not grounded? Also can I run round wire to my antennas as the mounting stud runs through my mirrors?

[carterstirrett]

Could this help my static I get from Turing my Led light bar on and my wipers ?