I recently hooked up the CB again after ripping the antennae off in a small garage incident a while ago. It works fine, but there is way too much interference coming in when the truck is turned on as if there is a bad ground. Grounds are fine. I noticed the same thing when I re-installed a new amp for the stereo. Even the wiper motor can be heard through the speaker.

Question is: Is there a problem with my electrical system, plug wires in particular? Or should I buy a RF reducer and hook it inline with my ignition box, or buy two smaller ones, and run one online with the CB, the other inline with the amp?

-Matt

 

Could be your plug wires. Your Bronco is new enough that it should have resistor wires. An Alternator that's starting to wear can cause this problem, too.

Make sure you have good ground by running a dedicated ground wire straight from the battery to the radio and route it in a way that keeps it away from any ignition wires or the fan motor, ect. If your power wire isn't coming from the battery yet, nows the time.

Did the cb work OK before the damage? Did you replace the antenna? Was it tuned? Sometimes the coil on a baseloaded antenna will break internally and cause problems. Those spring mounts will tend to break, too. I mean they will look fine and you can see the conductive wire inside, but they wear out over time. Check the coax connection at the antenna. Is it looking kind of corroded or is it full of water?

Another thing to check is the routing of the coax. Inside your cab and under the hood is like a big metal box. Unwanted radio waves, (like a loose wire picking up ignition noise or an inductive noise, like off the wiper motor, can bounce all over. Sometimes you can move your coax 6 inches and things will clear up. It's best to keep your radio and sound equipment as isolated from any type of motor as you can, (both electrically and physically). Notice how close the back of your stereo is to your wiper motor. Try to keep your wiring as far away as possible.

If it's kind of a whine noise, my guess would be the alternator.

 

If you check my gallery you will see where I have relocated my CB. It used to be located under the glove compartment, and it was giving me some trouble there as well. But more pronounced here. There was a span of a couple of months, so the alternator could have degraded in that time. That would be a good guess. What are your thoughts on the rf reducer? Also, will an OEM alternator cure this problem, or would you recommend any other aftermarket one?

-Matt

 

Also: The battery gauge on the dash usually hangs in the middle, or a little above. I believe that is normal, but that doesnt mean that it wouldnt interfere with the CB, correct?

-Matt

 

Your needle sounds like it's where it should be and won't affect the CB. Do you ever see the needle dip to the negitive? Like when the lights, fan, are on w/radio cranked and your foot on the brake? My needle will start to dip when the alt. is starting to go, especially this time of the year when it gets dark early. It just shows the alt. can't keep up with the current draw. The alternator type doesn't matter that much. I've had trouble with the really cheap rebuilt ones before - it's kind of a crap shoot. A filter will help, but usually won't overcome a bad alternator, (it's not that the alt. is bad, yet - but when they start to go you'll hear a lot of static noise through the CB that increases with the engine rpm.)

Usually when all else fails, (good connectors and connections), I look to the alt. for engine whine noise.