CB Radio Problem

[MMiller]

OK I know there is some CB radio gurus here. I heard you talking about amped up radios turning on windshield wipers, and lights.



I have a Uniden Grant XL thats been peaked/tuned. It is hooked to dual 4 foot Firesticks behind the cab of my truck. I have been running this radio and antenna setup for about 9 years. I had the radio peaked/tuned about two years ago.



My truck sits too much anymore because I drive a company truck. The other day I loaded up to go to a truck pull, my wife followed with her durango. She could not hear me talk, and I could not hear her, but my needle would peg when she talked. Though maybe somebody messed with the settings but nothing worked. Got home, went to my other trucks, with cobra radios in them. She could hear me and I could hear her. I took one of the working radios and put it in my 93. Then it quit transmitting too. put it back in the old truck and it would no longer work in either truck.



I evidently have a problem with the coax, or antennas. I have a volt/ohm meter. Is there any testing I can do to find the problem? What happened to my radios? I know how radios work= its FM= freakin magic. But with some help I can figure out what the problem is. 10-4?



Michael

 

[Philip]

Check the connection at your antenna's. They could have corrision builtup in it. Then check the antenna grounds for corrision. Most likely your problem is outside of the cab.



My truck is the one that turns on the wipers when I power up my CB amp. LOL

 

[bmoeller]

I had a coax that had gotten pinched off. Ruined the radio. If not that, I would do as Phil said, and go from there.

 

[TGreschuk]

It sounds as though you may have a dead short in one of your coax cables. I would disconnect the Coax at the back of the radio and hook up another antenna to see if the radio transmits. If so, i would then chase the wires all the way to the antenna and look for pinched wires/broken insulation. If you continue to transmit in the current situation, you will probably fubar the radio.

Good luck,

T

 

[MMiller]

I think I smoked both radios already. The one I pulled from another truck(that worked), tried it, and it did not work in the 93. When I took it back to the other truck it did not work. Clear as mud right!



I always thought it took a little while to hurt a radio with bad antenna/coax. Not just keying it up one time.



I will check the coax and and mounts. Can I check for continuity? The center pole of the coax should not have continity with the metal housing correct? They should be insulated from each other, right?



Michael

 

[Philip]

They should be insulated from each other, right?

They should be insulated from each other.



Any good CB shop should be able to repair the radio's pretty easy. On a bad cable/ antenna you can blow a final in your radio with one push on the key.

 

[Paychk]

Originally posted by MMiller

I think I always thought it took a little while to hurt a radio with bad antenna/coax. Not just keying it up one time. Michael

With digital electronics, all it takes is one key and you'll blow the finals, if the coax is shorted.

 

[Hammer]

It sounds like a bad short in the coax somewhere as they have told you already. I'd check the coax and how its routed from the radio to the antenna's first. Then take apart the antenna's and make sure they are clean from all corrosion. Smart thing to do is eliminate the center studs that come with the mount's and replace them with either a Firestik or Francis stainless center stud.



I am not sure why those go to a set of co-phased antennas on a pick-up truck as you gain nothing by doing it other than more hassles. I do understand some like the "look'' of twin antennas but in reality they gain nothing by running them. A true co-phased antenna system needs to have the antenna's set apart 96" to obtain the best performance.



The best way for you to correct the problem here is to buy a good 18ft piece of Mini8u cable,make sure the PL259's are soldered at the ground on them,stainless center stud on the antenna bracket,clean the attachment point of the bracket making sure the ground is good and make sure the ground on the radio is clean and good. Then use a smaller,less power driven radio and begin to tune your system. Make sure while checking SWR's you have the microphone gain turned off and check on channel 40 and channel 1 to assure the system is ok(if it is and needs no tuning swr's will be close on BOTH channels). If the system checks ok then you will not need to tune the antenna. If the antenna checks higher on channel 40 than on channel 1 then you need to shorten the antenna or whip and if its higher on channel 1 than channel 40 then it needs to be lengthened.



My personal thought after running hundreds of thousands of miles sitting on my rear in the big truck and using most all of the available fiberglass antenna's available is to stay away from Firestik antenna's. They are way to heavy and very poorly made and are known to come loose at the bottom(inside the stud the base comes loose)and break the contact wire you need to transmit. When this happens symptoms like you describe will happen all to frequently. If fiberglass is your choice than the best choice is Francis antennas. They are very durable and can handle most any amount of power you plan on running and will withstand alot of abuse and not break. If you decide on stainless steel then the Wilson line is one of the best choices here.



Hope this helps some and if you have any other questions PM me..... Andy

 

[MMiller]

Thanks to all who posted, especially Andy. I have not had time to check the antennas yet. I did however miss having a radio after spending 4 hrs in the truck today on the way to go wheeling and back.



Yea I am guilty of needing the "look" of dual antennas, knew they had to be aways apart to help. Couldn't see the sense in buying two antennas and not hooking one up either. I have never had any luck tuning the SWR's on antennas. Whether it be the meter on the radio I have or with an external meter. Might try it again when I get my setup working correctly.



I knew there was another brand of fiberglass, but firestick seem the choice around here. Don't have any good truck stops around here. Now that you mention them coming loose at the bottom, I have had several do that. The set I have now have large firestick springs on the bottom, to keep them tree safe. I will look for the Francis brand in the future.



Maybe sometime this week I will be able to look at the truck.



Michael

 

[bmoeller]

Originally posted by MMiller



I knew there was another brand of fiberglass, but firestick seem the choice around here. Don't have any good truck stops around here.

http://walcottcb.com/catalog/index.php



http://iowa80.com/iowa80/shop The Iowa80 truckstop sells Francis in the store. Will have to call them up. Not on their site.



If you are up that way, both stores are at the same exit (284) on 80. Walcott Cb is across from the Pilot truckstop, on the South side of exit. Iowa 80 is on the North side.



Put a 3' Francis on one of the tractors at work. Seems to work nice. A little hard to tell, though. Not impressed with the radio itself (Cobra 18).

 

[MMiller]

Thanks Bryan; but I used to live up by walcott untill 4 months ago! I80 parking lot lights could be seen from my front porch at night. Walcott CB shop on the other side of the interstate, they peaked/tuned my radio before. Great guys to deal with. Now I live 2 hrs away from there, thus being no good truck stops in this neck of the woods!