CB Radio Information

[BadAssEddie]

cool thanks alot ill keep that in mind.

[alk1174]

I will second the no on mag base antennas. I tried it and it lasted one trip.

[TerryD]

Terry, if you are able to bring the SWR meter to a meeting, I would also be interested in having you help tune my CB.

Just saw this! Sorry man! I may be able to come to Sunday's meeting and bring my CB stuff with me, it just depends on some variables that have now worked themselves out yet. I'll let you know!

[97JEEPTJ]

Gotcha Terry. I know some of the other guys are working on getting CB's ready for Crozet too. No biggee though.

Thanks

[TerryD]

How many people need a cb looked at tomorrow night? I may be able to make it up there with my stuff if there's enough interest?

[TerryD]

Sorry I missed you guys. We went out with the family and wound up in Wilkesboro, NC.

[97JEEPTJ]

No problem Terry.

[TerryD]

I'll be at the meeting with my CB stuff. Any questions beforehand?

[TerryD]

Had a few questions lately and thought I'd bump this up.

[TerryD]

Thought I'd bump this up.

[InvertChaos]

I'm currently trouble shooting my CB setup that I have a feeling has more than a couple of issues.

First thing is first, I'm going to rewire the radio itself directly to the battery so that I have a clean power source. I'm having grounding issues with it right now.

Second issue is that I can receive a signal, but not transmit. When I key the mic the red TX light stays lit and none of the green bars (see pic) light up. No one can hear me regardless of how close I am to them.

My current setup includes a Uniden 520xl and a Wilson Flex 3' antenna mounted to a taillight mount on the back of my jeep.

Any advice on how to go about figuring out why I can receive, but not transmit?

Here is a pic of the radio for reference

[TerryD]

I would find someone with a meter and a dummy load. Hook them up to the radio and key it to make sure it's not an issue with your coax or antenna. Then you'll know if you need to replace the radio or the coax and antenna. Checking from the outer part of the coax connector to a ground should show near 0ohms resistance on a multi-meter. There should be infinite resistance between the pin and the outer part of the connector. If your antenna has the tuning tip on it, there should be 0 ohms resistance between it and where the center part of the coax makes connection to the antenna.

You may have an open or short in your coax and be presenting your radio with more load than it can handle, causing it to reduce it's out put power. Then again your radio may be dead. It's hard to tell. There is a decent radio shop in Wytheville for simple fixes and a much better one in Richmond, but I cannot remember it's name right off. I have a PC68 Uniden they tuned several years ago to go in my crew cab eventually.

[BadAssEddie]

Some technical information I had to Google today, posting for others that may need. Seemed to get better results once I had the proper names.

PL-259, style of antenna coaxial connectors
SO-259, female to female union (I am going to use two cables so I can use two different mounting locations depending on whether topper is on, haven't determined if Kosher)
RG-58, Standard coax
RG-8X, Heavy Duty coax, I have this compared to the RG-58 on my Bronco, and it does feel and look nicer/beefier

[TerryD]

RG-58 (A/U) is lossy, in the neighborhood of 2.5dB per 100' at CB frequencies. Not so much of a problem in a 10-20' run in a truck, but still turning some of your 4w into heat vs radiating it. Assuming you have a perfect 1:1 antenna match, you will be radiating 3.7W of your radio's rated 4W output.

RG-8x is better, but only just. 2.0dB per 100' at these frequencies but is still small enough to flex easily in an interior and is what I use for CB frequencies. With a good 1:1 antenna match, you're radiating about 3.75W of your radio's rated 4W.

Keep in mind that you are receiving mW, and you have the same losses receiving as you to transmitting. A little loss goes a long way receiving.

For truck-to-truck on the trail coms, either is a good choice but the RG-8x will be better. Buy the lengths of the RG-8x with the soldered on connections and copper braid. These can be reterminated if you should need it in the future. The stuff with the black jacket usually has aluminum braid and crimped connectors and you cannot put new connectors on it without a crimping set. It's worth the extra couple bucks in the long run IMHO.

SO-259, female to female union (I am going to use two cables so I can use two different mounting locations depending on whether topper is on, haven't determined if Kosher)

Using unions adds losses, known as insertion losses, and I think they are on the order of 0.1dB per connector. As long as your antenna maintains a good ground plane, you should be fine. Where are you mounting the antenna with and without the top?

[BadAssEddie]

For truck-to-truck on the trail coms, either is a good choice but the RG-8x will be better. Buy the lengths of the RG-8x with the soldered on connections and copper braid. These can be reterminated if you should need it in the future. The stuff with the black jacket usually has aluminum braid and crimped connectors and you cannot put new connectors on it without a crimping set. It's worth the extra couple bucks in the long run IMHO.

That's what I bought when I put in the radio I bought from you in my truck. Thinking about replacing the RG-58 in my Bronco with it as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J ... PDKIKX0DER

Where are you mounting the antenna with and without the top?

With the top, out back in the corner above the rear lights, like many people do. Without the top, it is mounted on the toolbox next to my spare, about 2 feet behind the cab. It is not an ideal location but aesthetics for this seldom used piece of equipment are also important to me, don't want something on the roof or side mirror, etc.