I need CB help Please

I recently purchased a New midland compact cb radio, a 4' Firestick antenna and I cannot get the thing to work right for my life. Reception and transmitting are terrible, half a mile I'd say tops (highway). I have the cb power coming right from the battery, and the radio grounded to the body of the jeep behind the passenger side kick panel, i even scraped away the paint from the area i was using as a ground. Other than the terrible reception and transmitting I have so much interference, i can hear a whistle that matches the RPMs of the motor, and even some noise when my blinker is on. What is wrong, i'm about ready to give up on this.

First you need a noise filter on the main power for your CB. It will kill any alternator whine you're getting. That's what the whine is. You will also need a SW Meter and have your antenna tuned. You can't just install an antenna. They have to be tuned for the ground plane of the vehicle.I am having the same issue at the moment myself. I don't have access to a SW meter so my transmission and receiving are horrible.

You might look for a CB shop in your area.. They are around most truckstops. They will be able to tune it.

Nick

Sounds like you need to tune your antenna . If your antenna is not tuned you can fry your radio by transmitting .

Having the antenna tuned isn't an issue, i know a cb shop to go to have that done. I want the other issues taken care of first, i was told tuning the antenna would only improve transmitting and won't effect the reception. Is that true ?

You should get better reception after it's tuned, at least I have in the past. It's your radio, but if it was mine I'd start by tuning the antenna and see how that works first.