reception problems

[cajun]

hello all, i bought a general lee from radioactive radios back in july 2007, got it in and put it in the truck and it worked great. a couple of months ago i switched trucks to a newer one and switched the radio out and now it's not receiving worth a flip, anything over a mile and i can't pull it out. the only thing that changed was instead of putting the antenna on the mirror bracket, i put it on the slider bar behind the sleeper because the new truck has daylight doors on it (no vent windows). i've checked the swr's and am getting less than 1.1, here's the setup general lee radio superwhackpacked, wilson 2000 antenna, gray 150 linear, rk 56 mike. i spoke with michael from radioactive on 12-22-07 and was trying to tell him that i was running with a buddy of mine who has a stryker 440 and we met another guy we know going the other direction within 1 minute i couldn't hear him anymore but my buddy talked to him almost 10 minutes and could still hear him. but as soon as i got stryker out of my mouth he interrupted me and got very indignant about it and started trashing the stryker. i kind of wanted to tell him that a stock cobra 29 would probably receive better than what i've got, but i didn't want to make him any madder than what he was. he told me to email them about it then they would email me back with instructions to send the radio back to him. what a hassle, anyone got any better ideas? thanks in advance for any help.

[squirrellsgnwild]

Don't get a radio from them. Just get a cobra 29 or something.

[cajun]

too late, i bought the general lee from radioactive back in july, it was replacing a cobra 29 that i've had for 10 or 12 years that started humming sometimes when i would key up. i was told that the transmit transformer was going bad but the guy acted like he didn't want to fix it, so i bought the general lee from radioactive, thought they were a pretty good outfit.

[Truckerjo]

Try going back to the basics, start with "making sure" you have a absolute ground.. Your SWR is good but how old is that coax? good coax will only last a year and cheap coax about 6 months...

[cajun]

the coax is new, bought it when i bought the radio from radioactive, and it ain't cheap when you buy it from them. the only thing was when i switched trucks and put the antenna on the slider bar behind the sleeper i didn't have quite enough coax so i added a 9 foot piece with a connector. don't know if that had anything to do with it or not, just seems like if it was an antenna or coax problem it would show up on the swr check. i have checked for ground and it is grounded according to my ohmmeter. thanks for the suggestions, keep em coming.

[BobC]

Coax, even the cheap stuff, doesn't go bad on it's own in a yr unless you crush it or forget to waterproof the outside end.

The antenna on the rear slider may be your downfall. If the cab is metal or has a wire mesh in fiberglass, you have probably shielded the antenna from the outside world. The cab plus the box are probably shielding your antenna from "seeing" the other signals.

I would probably get it out in plain view of at least the other side of the hiway.

If the rear fairing of the cab is metal, I would bolt my bracket to the outside of that. Maybe use an original brace/bracket hole in the fairing and redrill a new one in the antenna bracket if you need to.

If that fairing is plastic, I would even suggest the same but run a short, heavy strap to a larger metal bracket or a (aprox) 9 foot ground wire straight down. The other end of the 9 foot wire doesn't need to connect to anything. Just support the wire so it doesn't flop around.

You may also have a problem with noise being generated in your truck that gets into your cb receiver and masks weaker incoming signals.

Inverters are bad about making noise.
Computer power supplies and cell phone chargers make noise too.

[kd5drx]

Originally Posted by cajun

hello all, i bought a general lee from radioactive radios back in july 2007, got it in and put it in the truck and it worked great. a couple of months ago i switched trucks to a newer one and switched the radio out and now it's not receiving worth a flip, anything over a mile and i can't pull it out. the only thing that changed was instead of putting the antenna on the mirror bracket, i put it on the slider bar behind the sleeper because the new truck has daylight doors on it (no vent windows). i've checked the swr's and am getting less than 1.1, here's the setup general lee radio superwhackpacked, wilson 2000 antenna, gray 150 linear, rk 56 mike. i spoke with michael from radioactive on 12-22-07 and was trying to tell him that i was running with a buddy of mine who has a stryker 440 and we met another guy we know going the other direction within 1 minute i couldn't hear him anymore but my buddy talked to him almost 10 minutes and could still hear him. but as soon as i got stryker out of my mouth he interrupted me and got very indignant about it and started trashing the stryker. i kind of wanted to tell him that a stock cobra 29 would probably receive better than what i've got, but i didn't want to make him any madder than what he was. he told me to email them about it then they would email me back with instructions to send the radio back to him. what a hassle, anyone got any better ideas? thanks in advance for any help.

Just like realestate antenna placement is location location location. If you are pulling a van and you have the antenna between the trailer and the cab you have blocked all your signal. The antenna needs to be in the clear open area for line of site comunications.

[cajun]

yeah i already thought about these things and figured it would be ok, the truck is a mack vision with a midroof. the entire steel whip of the wilson antenna is above the sleeper and cab, everything below the whip including the coil is below the sleeper. i pull a tanker so there shouldn't be any blockage much behind me, what do you guys think? oh, by the way merry christmas to everyone and thanks for all the advice.

[kd5drx]

That explains allot about it. Check your grounds real good and run more grounds then check the coax and make sure it is in good shape. Then of course you have already double checked your radio setting like the RF gain and stuff but double check and make sure it is all where it should be. Then from there i would have the radio receive sensitivity checked.

[palerdr]

coat hanger !