Just upgraded......but need HELP!!!

[WA4GCH]

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

my first upgrade when i had my Cobra, i bought one of those noise reduction mics for $30 or so. Works pretty good. Think any stock mic should just be taken off and tossed in the trash. Though i dont think you need to buy a $200 mic from Bose or anything. =)

I did just buy a 2 ft coax and a SWR meter. I'm at my folks place now, and forgot about a radio shop in town that my dad will take me too tomorrow. He use to be a truck driver for 30 years, just turned 70 this past January. Might be a kick for him to ride in a truck again. =)

1ST ...

Your radio is at 27 MHZ which is a low frequency and coax in short runes dosn't meen much so just get a god RG-8X grade and your set.

2ND ...

VSWR AKA SWR if the antenna your buy is any good should not be a problem any antenna over 48 inch long again should work just fine EXCEPT RADIO SHACK and I don't mess with that junk....

Buy a meter made for CB and learn to use it 99% of the time you will find the SWR is under 1.5:1 right out of the box .... thats a 4% loss.

I have run Larson, Hustler, Lakeview ( hamsticks ) and firestick for more than 40 years and they all do a good job .... again keep the size over 4 foot.

Finaly the radio ....

Nothing wrong with a preamp mike but as for "PEAKING or TUNING " when radios come from the factory they come legal ... If you feel it's not good enough get a linear amp MOST techs DO NOT have what it takes to really tune up a radio a modulation meters just dosn't cut it .....
RADIO MODS .... One does help many radios and thats to change the 2sc1674 to a 2sc2229 transistor on the receiver RF stage and channel guards are nice in the Lincolns and grants . Cutting limiters not only is illegal but in many cases stupid and again most "techs" don't really have the test equiptment they need .....

My CB radios are legal and work just fine ... but thats again me ....

[boeing46]

This is my opinion only.
1 Good radio
2 Good antenna
3 Premium and I mean premium coax
4 A small Dosy Meter and learn how to use it if you plan on having a CB for a long time, you'll never need a radio check again.
5 Ground everything to the frame of the vehicle.
6 Check your SWR and modulation regularly.
7 Tighten coax connections and clean them once a year.
8 Find a good cb tech to tune the radio, they can be improved from factory condition.
9 After you have been on the radio for awhile you can get suggestions as to where a good tech is.
10 Once it's set leave the cover on and leave it alone.
11 Unless you do these things to the letter you'll get a mile, maybe.
No matter what you do a barefoot radio just doesn't go very far.
Good luck my friend
If anybody has anything to add feel free

[BoDarville01]

I was on 465 headed west just south of Indianapolis. Thats where i picked up that piece of junk Galaxy. So i cranked it up as high as it could go, and i get on the radio half a mile from the shop and said, "...whatever you do, don't buy a radio or have any work done from the shop in the back of Pilot. He's a ripoff artist." within a few seconds the guy gets on saying how he does quality work, and if i wasnt happy to bring the radio back, and how he has a 'like it or i'll fix it' policy. And said how he didnt like what i said.

I simply returned that comment by saying, "look...if you sold quality stuff, checked out every used radio sold so it was up to par, and didnt screw drivers just to make a buck, you wouldnt have to worry about bad advertising"

[outerspacehillbilly]

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

I was on 465 headed west just south of Indianapolis. Thats where i picked up that piece of junk Galaxy. So i cranked it up as high as it could go, and i get on the radio half a mile from the shop and said, "...whatever you do, don't buy a radio or have any work done from the shop in the back of Pilot. He's a ripoff artist." within a few seconds the guy gets on saying how he does quality work, and if i wasnt happy to bring the radio back, and how he has a 'like it or i'll fix it' policy. And said how he didnt like what i said.

I simply returned that comment by saying, "look...if you sold quality stuff, checked out every used radio sold so it was up to par, and didnt screw drivers just to make a buck, you wouldnt have to worry about bad advertising"

Ok so you bought it from cbworld. Well google sparkys cb shack and call Al. He can fix that radio up real nice for you for little money and it will be a whole new radio.

[BoDarville01]

well i was sitting in Mattoon, IL. waiting on a preloaded trailer to get loaded, then come to find out the load was put on 'hold'...(basicly they wanted to get out of paying detention pay)....but anyway.....

I started to head south toward Effingham...then thought to myself, "why didnt i just head north toward Danville, IL. and go to a CB shop someone had sent me an email about. Might have been Sparky's....i dunno. but maybe ill do that in the AM....that is if they dont try resending me the load to go back to pick up the trailer NOW loaded. (going to decline any load for Masterfoods USA in Mattoon, IL. from now on)

[Turbo-T]

Sparkys is located in Belguim Illinois, along I-74 and south of the interstate, down the street a few miles....about a stones throw from the Illinois/Indiana line.

But I have bought several items from Sparky and my latest purchase was a Superstar SS158EDX radio. I don't have a lot of air time with it but so far any "radio checks" I do come back with a "loud and proud" result. (still waiting on someone to say "dang that's a nice sounding radio, whatcha running there hoss?")

The thing I like about Sparkys is he'll be straight forward with you; whereas most truck stop CB shops are after your last dollar while tweaking your radio to over modulation and splatter just to get you an extra watt or two on their 'happy meter', Sparky will no kidding tell you if it can or can't be done.

Case in point, I asked how many watts would a radio like mine put out in swing, his answer was "50....they'll go to 60 but then they start sounding like ####". Well to me a 60 watt radio is useless if you can't understand a word I'm saying so I'll settle for a 50 watt.

Another time Sparky was offering a 100 watt Cobra 25. I wanted him to build me one but using a 25WX: he wouldn't do it because it would not come out right he said. Well you have to at least respect that.

Alright I'm rambling but that's my 2 cents on Sparky.

[outerspacehillbilly]

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

well i was sitting in Mattoon, IL. waiting on a preloaded trailer to get loaded, then come to find out the load was put on 'hold'...(basicly they wanted to get out of paying detention pay)....but anyway.....

I started to head south toward Effingham...then thought to myself, "why didnt i just head north toward Danville, IL. and go to a CB shop someone had sent me an email about. Might have been Sparky's....i dunno. but maybe ill do that in the AM....that is if they dont try resending me the load to go back to pick up the trailer NOW loaded. (going to decline any load for Masterfoods USA in Mattoon, IL. from now on)

Yep that would be sparky's. However he does not have a very big place there. No room for a big truck anywhere near him, also he won't do work while you wait because he does them right which takes time. I have dealt with Al alot and you will be pleased if you have him work on your radio for sure.



Whatever you do DO NOT got to the shop at effingham. A friend of mine was in there one day just to see if the guy was honest or not and he was feeding him so much bs it wasn't funny. He thought my buddy was just a driver passing through and didn't know he has beeen running BIG competetion rigs at keydowns for years and actually knows his stuff. The tech also was overvolting finals on a radio to show a driver way more watts then what he was actually getting after he tuned his radio. Stay away from there.

[Turbo-T]

Hhhmm...I didn't know there was a CB shop in Effingham. I did hear of one along I-70 just before crossing into Indiana, anyone know who I'm talking about/ever used them?

[Carolina Thunder]

Man you guys really need to start doing your own work! It's not as hard as you may think and you can find just about any kind of info for just about any radio on [Admin Snipped].

I got tired of getting screwed by CB techs so that's what i did.

Connex board that costs you $75 at a CB shop,$20 off the net and 5 wires to hook up..with directions,takes 10 minutes!

Big final upgrade that you pay $40 and up at a CB shop,1969 final (cant get em anymore) $5 bucks off the net,a cheap soldering iron and about 5 minutes and your done.

Peak and tune that you would pay over $30 for at a shop. You can go the CB tricks and tune it yourself for free.

Not to mention that most CB shops charge an extra $75 to $100 over the price of just about any export radio. Take a Connex 3300HP. At a CB shop you will pay at least $275,on line there less than $200.

All you really need is a small power supply,a Dosy meter ( a dummy load if you dont have a base antenna) and a few small plastic screw drivers for tuning adjustments. Hell,i used to keep this stuff in my truck!

98% of the shops out there only care about the money and not the quality of work they do.
That's why there are so many overmodulated,distorted shady sounding radios out there!

[BoDarville01]

Originally Posted by outerspacehillbilly

he does them right which takes time.

totally understand that. But i dont want to be without my radio for days at a time, and then HOPE i get by the area again to pick it up.

question i have is the place i took it to, that told me i was missing a transistor and had the power cranked down on it....tells me the cost to p and t would change from the $25 to $60. that sound fair, or does it sound like he was asking me to bend over and grab my ankles?