good cb shop near st louis?

The antenna warning circuit inside the radio might need to be calibrated...just a thought.

 

I am sure it is just an adjustment of a variable resistor but I couldn't tell you what one.

 

It's possible that something has failed in your Cascadia's multiplexor and the Antenna Warning Indicator circuit is doing its job, since you mentioned that the radio is just out of the box. If you've got access to a dummy load, try installing that on your radio's output jack and see if you still get the light. If you don't get the AWI light, then something's wrong beyond the radio, and it's worth trying another antenna, even if it's just a mag mount or a Vise-Grip-style temporary antenna. Or try the radio in someone else's vehicle for a second and see if the light comes on.
If any of the above tests point towards the AWI actually being set wrong and there's no chance someone fiddled about inside before you got it, then pop the cover and look for VR4 and VR5, towards the back of the radio, around mid-line on the board. Just a little farther towards the back, and at kinda the 2 o'clock position from VR4 & VR5 is VR6. Depending upon the factory's preference when they made your radio, it might not be identified, but it'll look the same as VR4 and VR5. With your radio hooked to a "known-good" antenna, turn VR6 until the light goes off while you're transmitting. Give a bit of loud voice into the mic, and if the light flickers on (and nobody has turned anything else inside the radio), turn VR6 a little farther until it goes off again. Now you can unkey the mic, and nudge VR6 just a little bit farther than it was after the previous step. The other adjustments are why repair shops have (or should have) signal generators, oscilloscopes and, ideally, a spectrum analyzer. Tune-ups done with nothing more than a wattmeter are likely to make the AWI circuit do what it's supposed to do, so some folks just turn the pot so the light never comes on <grrrr.....>
I set them to come on when the SWR is worse than about 2.5:1 (expressed as either "two point five to one" or "two-and-a-half to one").
However, I also put some heat sink compound on the chassis side of the insulator on the final(s) when I've got a Cobra on my bench, because the factory stopped putting it on about 10 years ago. Presumably their engineers know how long a transistor with inadequate heat sinking will last even though it weakens within the warranty period, because Cobra *does* sell replacement parts, and heat sink grease isn't free (well, it almost is, but when you put out lots and lots of radios in a year.......
Hope that helps,
-- Handlebar --
diddly dahdidah

 

I should not be too hard on your shop. After looking at your pic I realize what this is and why two. Around here everyone builds those for themselves, never seen anyone order a CAS1. But upon checking ~$60 is typical. No idea why as simple as it is. Seems under ten in metal and a 6 pack to your welder friend (the way we do it here) would net you a nice similar mount. I would have to say you are severely lacking ground at the mirror itself meaning those two bolts to the door are not helping much. Mike fought this same truck and one thing He found was a wild variation in SWR to the high side unless you tilted the antenna far enough forward. Too far would introduce significant cross polarization loss but you should be able to tilt it more than in the pic you posted and improve things. Between your comments, and all Mike mentioned I have to think the entire door itself lacks ground. A couple braid straps across the hinges might help. In any case if you get to around 1.5:1 be happy and just leave it alone. I have to surmise you had the radio tuned and as mentioned by others the shop did not readjust the trimmer for the ANT warning light for the new higher power. If stock maybe a defect? Under 2:1 the light should not be coming on.

 

If you have checked your SWR with a real meter and it is O.K., I wouldn't worry about the antenna light. I can't get a good SWR on my Cascadia unless I lean the antenna forward. Unfortunately I have to lean it so far forward that I lose signal strength, but I get a good SWR reading. Thanks to rabbiporkchop I'm going to try a 4ft shaft on a Wilson 2000 so I can stand the antenna straight up for best performance (it is a VERTICAL antenna). Over all length should be 81" according to rabbiporkchop. I will post my results once I get around to doing this. (did I spell "rabbiporkchop" correctly????) P.S. Check out my XM antenna solution for "slip-seaters".....never lose signal!!.

 

Use braided ground straps if possible, or about a #8 stranded wire, coax works pretty good. Keep your runs short. I used one braid strap across the door hinge one day just to experiment and didn't notice any difference either. But, I didn't scrape down to bare metal either, just hoped for contact thru the bolt. Since I slip seat I haven't pursued the grounding thing, but it will work/help if done properly.