CB Problems

[Rat]

Did you do the swr check that I mentioned? If not then do that.

Put the CB on channel 20 switch the far left switch to cal. Key the mic and adjust the SWR cal knob until the needle is just touching the small square on the far right side of the meter. Then switch to SWR and key the mic. If the needle goes higher then the 2 on the top bar of the meter then you have a problem. Ideally it should hardly move at all. Make sure you do this atleast 50 ft away from any buildings or powerlines and trees etc.

As far as the coax going into the adapter. Yeap it needs to be all the way in or you will have problems because you are not getting proper contact with the ground portion of the connector.

Did you check the mounts for proper ground also? This is very important. If your antenna mount brackets are not grounding then you will have many issues with transmit and receive.

No the mic will not work without a battery in it. There is a dial on the mic. Turn it down to a lower setting such as 2 or 3. Turn your Mic gain knob on the radio all the way up. Turn the RF gain all the way up. Use the squelch control to tune out the noise. Leave the delta tune in the middle. Turn the sound tracker feature off. It only works if you are talkign to another radio with this function and they have it on also.

Try the stock mic also. Make sure all coax connections are CLEAN and TIEGHT.

If the red warning light is coming on when you key up then stop until you get the SWR problem figured out. If it was coming on before then you may have damaged the radio if you used it for any amount of time.

[Tank33]

I know this is a stupid question that makes me sound stupid, but I have not ever troubleshooted a CB this way before.

What do I need to be doing to test the mirror brackets for a good ground? Do I hook the positive wire of the OHM meter to where the antenna meets the bracket, then hook the negative wire to a known good ground?? If so, what do I look for after this point, what reading is normal??

I am hoping my problem is just the mirror brackets. If this is so, could I just run a piece of ground strip from the base of the antenna to one of the bigger steel bolts that holds all the arms together??

Thanks for all your help, I know I sound like a total newbie here.

[Rat]

Ok. the stud that the antenna screws into should not be grounded. The actual bracket itself should have a good ground.

If you look at the bracket it should have a plastic wash ontop of the bracket between the stud and the bracket surface.

When running grounds, you want to incorporate the door into the system. Meaning run a short peice of wire from the bracket to the door itself or the mirror mount bolts.

Then if your ground is still iffy you need to run a short wire from the door to the pillar near the hinge area. Hinges make for a terrible ground for the most part so I most always run a ground from the door to the post. Don't just run a wire from the bracket all the way to the frame or other ground. This is not a good practice.

[Tank33]

Ok, I will give this a shot.

The red light on the CB DOES come on when I key the mic, it has for the last few months, however, I have not used the radio in this time, I simply leave it shut off, so it hasn't been used except for I tried it right after it quit working a long time ago.

If there was a ground problem, and I fixed it, the red light would no longer come on when I key the mic, correct?

I cannot believe I am having this much trouble with just trying to put a CB in the truck, really very discouraging.

[squirrellsgnwild]

If you were to ground the antenna mount properly (theoretically getting the antenna to the lowest swr) then yes the light will go away.

[Tank33]

I made a mistake. The red light should be on, the red LED on this radio is meant to come on when you are transmitting, it is not like the newer ones that have a red LED that says ANT near it.

I will try grounding the brackets, doing a new y adapter off the CB to get that last cable in all the way, and see what it does from there.

Thanks again!

[Tank33]

I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for all there help with my problem. I finally got the radio working right.

When I key the mic, the needle barely moves at all, you have to watch it closely to see it move, it is working like a champ now!

[Dave27107]

Tank33....If you have your mic gain turned all the way up (usually all the way clockwise) and still have problems being heard, I suggest you take your radio to a "good" CB repair shop and have them check it. My guess is you tried talking on it too much after changing antennae and burnt out the final amplifier.
Hope you have had it looked at by now and repaired.
Good luck!

[Red Fox]

I doubt it is Dave, because he has ears, and the finals wouldn't affect that. I'm guessing it was an SWR problem caused by that bad coax connection.
I tried those Francis antennas before many years back...they worked well, but I'm partial to Wilsons when you can get them adjusted right. The original Audio Kings were great but hard to adjust...then the truckstops started carrying those copycat "Diesels" that actually looked just the same...and they were ####.
I shot skip with an Audio King barefoot several times. I thot that was pretty cool.