Like I said I just installed mine. I noticed that when I key the mic up it pegs the neddle in all positions, RF, SWR, and Cal (Yes I did calibrate it ) It says peged though even when I let off the mic, and I have to turn the radiooff and it goes back to normal. Why is this!?

Do I need to ground the antennas? They have plastic washers that came with it to totally isolate the antenna from the mounting bracket.

 

Where are you at in western WA...I'm down in Oregon, just south of Salem, and when I first installed my single 4' stik (on driver side behind the cab, see cardomain in profile), I did a radio check and was talking 10 mi out no problem and I haven't tuned it yet. I get about 10 mi over by the coast too on those twisting roads from the valley west.

Also, Racinfan83 said that the best place to mount a single is on the passenger side...that's not completely true. If you are mounting behind the cab, the best place to mount is on the driver side. This is because of the same reason that if you have an antenna that is less than 3', you will not get great reception or be able to transmit great...the cab disrupts the signal, and other rigs will not get your transmittion as good because of this disruption.

 

The main reason you can't transmit more than 5 mile up here is because of all the static. too much radio crap up here, its hard to cut through it.

 

I get a lot of static when I'm in town, but thats the only time...If I'm out on the highway or in the woods, it's free and clear.

 

If you have done the calibration part correctly, and you still cannot achieve an acceptable SWR/RF, then you have to check a few things.


1. In the case of Racinfan, he had to add a physical ground to the tool box because it is mounted on foam, and even without it, he would not get any better of a ground. It's not a ground like we think. It's not carry any heavy load. And the ground that you need to worry most about is the "ground plane". The car roof offers the best setup as the physical size (sq feet for conversation sake), is pretty big, and above all the engine noise and rf interference from the vehicles electronics themselves. An antenna place in the very middle of the roof would be the prime location. So where is your antenna mounted?

2. If your SWR/RF are outside the safe limits, I would NOT use the radio. The more the antenna is mistuned, the more RF power that bleeds back into the radio itself. Most CB's used to have a tolerance of 10%. On a 20 watt radio, that's 2 watts of power going back into the radio. It can do big damage in little time.

3. You will have to aquire a meter to tune the antenna. The meter that is installed on the cb is probably not very accurate. You more than likely will also have to start trimming the antenna length. Sometimes you even have to get a longer whip.

Ok, lets us know the specs on your setup.

Good luck.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: DieselDemon

2. If your SWR/RF are outside the safe limits, I would NOT use the radio. The more the antenna is mistuned, the more RF power that bleeds back into the radio itself. Most CB's used to have a tolerance of 10%. On a 20 watt radio, that's 2 watts of power going back into the radio. It can do big damage in little time.

3. You will have to aquire a meter to tune the antenna. The meter that is installed on the cb is probably not very accurate. You more than likely will also have to start trimming the antenna length. Sometimes you even have to get a longer whip.




20 watt cb radio????? they are only authorized 4 watts as per fcc regulation. If you are puting out anything more than that, ie. linear amplifier, or using a 10 meter radio tuned to the 11 meter band such as a modified ranger, than you should be running a true 102 inch whip. After all its iether 102 inches or it has a coil or wrap to think its 102 inches. If you cannot get your swr's down with the antenna all the way down in the base you will have to start trimming the bottom of the antena off 1/8th of an inch at a time till you do.

As for the best position it is in the center of the vehicle front to back and side to side. If you mount it on the drivers side it will be more directional to the passenger side of the vehicle than the drivers side and vice versa. However it really isnt enough of a difference while you are moving to notice unless you are trying to locate a deadkey or something, in which case you would want your antenna to be as directional as possible.

As for running duels..(I am not going to get into this argument here, their are other forums that argue this point as much as which size tires fit on dodge trucks on this one) however, the duel antenna setup was designed to work with the antennas 102 inches apart from each other to achieve any advantage over a single antenna. Which is great for a semi truck but hard to achieve on a pickup truck.

 

if i bought a used CB from a truck stop, do yall think theyd be able to help me 'tune' it correctly? i dont know a whole lot about CBs, but an awful lot of my friends use them to communicate. anyone have a link to a good website that can help me learn about them? thanx.

 

I almost forgot the most overlooked item when trying to lower you swr's. DONT forget to measure the length of coax you are using. The total length of coax from the radio to the antenna should be devisible by 3. ie. 3,6,9,12 ect. I am still amazed that most stores including Radio Shack still sell coax in lengths that are not divisible by 3. You can gain a full swr if your cable is not divisible by 3.

 

What brand and model radio did you get?

 

I think if I were in the market for a good used CB radio I would be very leary about buying from a truck stop. The problem is a lot of used radios have been opened up and retuned, freqed, pumped, or tuned for use with an amplifier. In which case it will need to be retuned. If you are not knowledgable to retune it you could end up spending more money than a new one would have cost you. Or you would not end up being satisfied with the end results of the radio. For everday use to contact buddies ect. I would not settle for anything less than a Cobra 148GTL. The oldest new one I could find, the boards and chips are different and I personally like to open mine into the 10 meter band, adding about 200 channels to the radio so I dont have problems finding a nice clean channel to talk to buds on. In any case make sure the radio has upper and lower side band. You should have no problems locationg a cobra 148gtl new for around 140 dollars.