CB kills Cummins

[steved]

I have a Smarty JR and deadkey 100 watts... I have no issues.

 

[hcole]

I know nothing about CB's but have you tried a separate battery (in the bed say) to see if the interference is coming over the air or through the hard wiring attached to the battery? Maybe that would eliminate one possible route for the interference. Just speculating.

 

[p-Bar]

try wrapping the box with aluminum tape and ground that. Smart thinking hcole

 

[MMeier]

From what I remember, this only affects the Quadzilla products...

Must be . Currently, I'm running an early TST Powermax, used to have it stacked with an early EZ also. My Cobra and Texas Star with a body mount Wilson 1000 will swing 400-440 watts, truck runs fine... if I'm in the driveway however, i can knock out the flourescent lights in the garage !!!:-laf

 

[CDonaldson]

You can use a piece of shielded coax from the battery to the radio for power. I used RG-8, that is the heavy coax used for base radio antennas. Use the center lead for the +12 V and the shield for the ground side. Also, put in some additional ground straps from the cab to frame, bed to frame, and cab to bed.



Most who have had radio problems are driving the 2004. 5's and up, the 2006's seem to have more problems overall.



I am running a Galaxy DX-94HP with a Wilson 1K Roof Mount - punched a hole through the roof at the rear seat overhead dome light and ran the coas down the b-pillar under the carpet alongside the pass seat to the radio mounted on the front of my center console, peaked and tuned transmitting on both 10 and 11 meters(CB band), perfectly matched antenna, used the coax for my power straight from the battery, added the additional ground straps, and I have NO problems with how my truck is running whatsoever. Also running a Smarty Jr.



CD

 

[Mark31]

I had a 76 Chev Caprice with the Comfortron (automatic) climate control. No matter what mode the system was in, when the mike was keyed it went to max heat and the fan wide open! Had to turn off the system to talk! Dem lectricities, dey has a mine of dey own! Mark

 

[WM-300]

You can use a piece of shielded coax from the battery to the radio for power. I used RG-8, that is the heavy coax used for base radio antennas. Use the center lead for the +12 V and the shield for the ground side. Also, put in some additional ground straps from the cab to frame, bed to frame, and cab to bed.



Most who have had radio problems are driving the 2004. 5's and up, the 2006's seem to have more problems overall.



I am running a Galaxy DX-94HP with a Wilson 1K Roof Mount - punched a hole through the roof at the rear seat overhead dome light and ran the coas down the b-pillar under the carpet alongside the pass seat to the radio mounted on the front of my center console, peaked and tuned transmitting on both 10 and 11 meters(CB band), perfectly matched antenna, used the coax for my power straight from the battery, added the additional ground straps, and I have NO problems with how my truck is running whatsoever. Also running a Smarty Jr.



CD

I trust you realize that a valid Amateur Radio License, in the proper class is required to be on the air on 10 meters, even so called tune up.



WM300

 

[p-Bar]

I trust you realize that a valid Amateur Radio License, in the proper class is required to be on the air on 10 meters, even so called tune up.



WM300

10-4 rubberduck:-laf

Really don't know why they did that in those galaxy radios

 

[Axekicker]

I know nothing about CB's but have you tried a separate battery (in the bed say) to see if the interference is coming over the air or through the hard wiring attached to the battery? Maybe that would eliminate one possible route for the interference. Just speculating.

Good thinkin' Olie!
A very good observation on your part and ... . Yes. I tried completely isolating the radio from the trucks electronics by using a 'capacitive' ground for the truck antenna, rather than connecting the antenna direct to the trucks body... then removed the radio from it's bracket and sat it on the carpet... connected it to a spare 'Yellow-top' battery I had in the garage and keyed the mic with the motor running and it still caused the 'Cummins' to stumble... albeit not as badly, but a stumble-is-still a 'stumble'. This little exercise tells me that air-born 'RF' is part of the problem... but not the 'entire' problem. The 'saga' continues. Thanks for all the 'input' guys. It's helping! Keep it up. :-laf (go to the next 'page' to see the pics... . I hate it when it does that!)

 

[Axekicker]

You can use a piece of shielded coax from the battery to the radio for power. I used RG-8, that is the heavy coax used for base radio antennas. Use the center lead for the +12 V and the shield for the ground side. Also, put in some additional ground straps from the cab to frame, bed to frame, and cab to bed. (edited for brevity)



Thanks for your suggestion. I like the RG-8 idea... I've got some LMR-800 around here somewhere... I'll try it. Here's some pics of what I've done so-far. 1) Lead sheilding on the Quad-box, 2) lots of RF-strapping for 'bonding', 3) RF-chokes on all incoming + and - conductors (the little 'black-boxs' that you see my conductors wrapped around) and 4) an MFJ-915 RF-line isolator on my coax feed into the back of the radio. Despite all this... I'm still getting 'RF' injected somehow/somewhere into the trucks electrical system. Gotta find the 'hole' and plug-it... so to speak!

 

[BDW]

Our trucks are poorly grounded. You have a ground (bonding) problem somewhere. Ensure everything is bonded together and to the truck frame/body. I would start with the radio, it sounds dirty... ... .

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

You did an excellent job grounding and you used the braid which is the best. I have been and amateur radio operator for over 20 years and RF can be a real pain. If the coax suggestion for the power cable does not help I have found that the video cable off the old CRT computer monitors have some very good shielding. The red, green and blue signal cables are double shielded and used them on some equipment that was very RF sensitive and this solved it. I see you have some ferrite's installed, do you have any of the cable of power cable of the quad box? If not try installing a couple on the power and other cables that connect to it. Also in your picture I see some power cords that are coiled up, sometimes that can cause problems, you could try cutting the cord and make it so that there is not a lot coiled up. With your antenna on the toolbox that should not be the issue. I run a vhf/uhf dual band radio in my truck, the antenna is mounted on the fender and in some of the vehicles i had in the past when I would transmit the windshield wipers would come on. I have some friends that run over 1000 watts of power in their vehicles that have no problems with anything, but they have grounded everything with straps like you have. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Dx 500 v texas star kicker

Im running a Texas star kicker at 500 Watts and have had no problem with the truck running, no interference on the am fm sirus or any electronic part of the truck. The guy that installed the CB put some sort of filter on the power leads to the CB. The only problem that I have with 500 watts is that when Im on the road listening to some A**H***tell some body that his CB is the biggest in the land I have to turn it on and let him know that even the one I have is small as compared to the big ones on the road and of course I have to let him know that for the next 30 miles even if he is going the other way:-laf:-laf:-laf

 

[cojhl2]

Im running a Texas star kicker at 500 Watts and have had no problem with the truck running, no interference on the am fm sirus or any electronic part of the truck. The guy that installed the CB put some sort of filter on the power leads to the CB. The only problem that I have with 500 watts is that when Im on the road listening to some A**H***tell some body that his CB is the biggest in the land I have to turn it on and let him know that even the one I have is small as compared to the big ones on the road and of course I have to let him know that for the next 30 miles even if he is going the other way:-laf:-laf:-laf

But even with the hi-power transmit isn't the receive distance still the paltry 1/2 mile or so. i have always wondered about this because it seems that any CB I've had has been pretty short range on the hiway.

 

[MMeier]

IMO, even with a stock 4 watter, you should have an easy 5 mile range in town and 10-15 on the open road. My amp has a boost for recieve also.

 

[cojhl2]

Where to go for service

Always thinking my CB should perform better I've asked for service from time to time.



I have both dual antennas and single mag mount installed. (on different pickups)



On the dual mount I had it looked at a few years back by a "CB shop". They added a ground wire from the frame where the antennas were mounted to the pickup frame. (Did nothing to help) That frame was already grounded as the marker lights on it would prove.



I had the mag mount pickup at Walcott and all they did was sell me a "better" antenna. Arguably the performance was somewhat better.



Earlier on this thread "antenna matching' was mentioned. What does that entail and where can one find a shop sophisticated enough to do that?



Also once I had an amp for receive and xmit. It took some change internal to the radio to allow it to work. That combination lasted for about a year and the radio quit altogether.



I really just want the best I can get for hiway travel.



BTW,, I do not "chatter" on the radio. I'm so glad the craze of the late 70's has passed and the 4whlrs are no longer on the air pretending to be Big Trucks.

 

[Jeremiah]

Big 10-4 on limiting the chatter. I'm not an 18-wheeler but I don't clutter up the air either. Talk on the highway falls under four categories: general yapping, answering, offering or asking. I don't yap, don't answer unless someone calls me personally, which pretty much means everything else falls under the other two categories. Besides, I always figgered the airways belonged to the truckers -- they were there first -- and I was just a guest. "Convoy" changed all that, I reckon.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Not just for truckers

I spent 10 years on the road with my name on the door . And not one person that had his or her own words of wisdom was ever told by me that it was wrong. I have heard this line of EL TORO POO POO before that the CB is for truckers. Just to let you know most all really like taking to someone that has more to say than whats the 20 on the bear/ look at the seat covers in the red car/need to take a 10 /100 or 10/200. So if a trucker tells you to get off the air tell him to go pound sand ( make sure they dont know who you are) and talk away. And most so called pro truckes run raidos that are not cb s I have 2 diffrent set ups cobra 148 and a Ranger ar 3500,if I dont want to be botherd I use the Ranger AR 3500 its no CB and a big boy toy. As information the guy on the raido that tells you that he can make your cb blow smoke / be wall to wall and 10 feet tall is more than likley full of the EL TORO POO POO every truck stop has 1 or 2 talk to a trucker as if they are no better than you ( because they are not ) and find a raido man that can set you up the one you want save yourself time and money

 

[Jeremiah]

Nobody ever told me to get off the air. But if they did and they wanted to stop and talk about it away from their microphone they might have their hands full. But like I said, I don't talk much less'n I have something to say.

 

[tugboat1st]

For the alternator squeal, drop by a truck stop or a good CB radio shop and pickup an alternator filter. Make sure it will handle the amperage output of the alternator. That should cure that. The problem is with the alternator, not the radio. When turning down the RF gain all that does is reduce the sensitivity of your receiver. No effect on transmit power. As for transmit killing the engine, this is caused by inadequate shielding for the computer. Might try tying the hood to the firewall with some braid straps so the hood will keep RF out of the engine compartment. (the braid straps will guarantee the hood is grounded to the rest of the body.