Cb trouble

[RNGTransport]

Hey all been trying to install a cobra 29ltd in my new truck and Im pretty much done but when I try to transmit the rx/tx and ant light turn red. Im thinking that I can recieve since I can hear some stuff on channel 6. I also tryed a uniden 76 and that did the same. Just wondering what the problem could be I have a 3' wire whip with 18' coax that is a connector to connector cable. The Coax was already installed and I just dropped the ant and bracket and plugged the coax in, which was plugged into a different antenna that was broken off.

Seeing if anyone can save me a trip to the CB shop.

[haze1]

you have to have to adjust your SWR on your cobra 29, if you read your owners manual its really simple. you do need to have a decent antenna and coax, antenna should be at least where it reaches just over the height of the cab. set your cb to channel 40 and set the selector switch to CAL (calibrate) then while keying the mike adjust the SWR CAL knob to where your needle is centered on the red arrow, once thats done while still holding the mike button down switch the selector to SWR and read the meter. anything 2 and under is good, 1.5 is even better. repeat these steps with channels 1 and 20 and your radio should be calibrated to your antenna as long as your readings are low and the red warning light does not come on when transmitting. hope this helps you.

[BobC]

Allow me to add a little to your post Hazel.
The Cobra 29 has a swr meter built in.
It only tells you the exisitng antenna match.
It cannot repair a bad match, just alert you to it.

As said, place the meter sw in the cal position, key the mic & adjust the cal knob to the swr cal mark at the hi end of the meter. You can release the mic, push the meter sw to the swr position & rekey the mic to read the swr on the swr scale.

If it's at or less than 2.5:1, the match is fair. The closer to the 1.5:1 mark the better. Above 2.5:1 is telling you there's a problem. You can transmit into a 3:1 match for short periods without harming the radio. No matter what the swr is, it wont damage the receiver. It just won't receive well if the swr is really hi.

[MGASSEL]

I am currently having the same problem. But I am using a cheap magnet ant.

I have calabrated the cb the looked at the swr's and they were high so I used the swr cal knob to reduce the swrs under two but the needle is not on the cal arrow anymore.

I am only going to use it while I am driving to utah tomorrow for orentation for my first company I will not be talking on it much just using it to hear the smokies and etc reports.

My ant light stays on when the mic is keyed but it comes on one sec after the mic has been keyed not immedatly. It is a brand new cobra ltd 29 night watch bought at the kw dealer here in town.

[RNGTransport]

Originally Posted by MGASSEL

The ant light stays on when the mic is keyed but it comes on one sec after the mic has been keyed not immedatly. It is a brand new cobra ltd 29.

exact same thing that happens with mine, will go out and try and get the thing cal, although I already did that but I might not have done it right.

Thanks for the info, anyone else have any other info to add.

[RNGTransport]

Went out a set the SWR and it was around 3:1 on the cobra. tried it with the uniden pc78xl and it was around the same but there was no antenna light just the red rx/tx light. I think Im going to try a longer ant and see if that helps if not then im going to take it to a CB shop. thanks for the help guys

[MGASSEL]

Originally Posted by RNGTransport

exact same thing that happens with mine, will go out and try and get the thing cal, although I already did that but I might not have done it right.

Thanks for the info, anyone else have any other info to add.

I was posting because I am having the same problems as you not offering any advice.

[RNGTransport]

Originally Posted by MGASSEL

I was posting because I am having the same problems as you not offering any advice.

Yea pretty much figured that much was just thanking the other two posters

[haze1]

hey RNGTransport,

i hope that my posting provided at least some help to you. as i read your original post i remembered i had the same problem with same cobra 29. i had tried using a couple of 3 foot antennas with a dual set up on a Freightliner Classic longnose and i had the same results with the warning light coming on. well, i got rid of those and went with a Wilson 5000 that my brother acquired on Ebay. i ended up just using the single wilson and it worked great. i now drive a Freightliner Century and with the same radio and stock antenna on the truck it works just fine also. anyways good luck to you and be safe out there.

['06KW]

maybe you need to pull in the truck stop and pick up another antenna