Two CB radios... one reaches, the other doesn't.

I have two radios. I bought a DX2547 base back in 2006 and a DX979 mobile in 2011. I had both "peaked and tuned" Nothing clipped or bent. Just had a shop read them with a scope and bird meters to make sure they work and to make sure they weren't splatter boxes.

Well I've had the base radio in storage for a long time in my house. Just too busy working to use it. I got it out, because I'm off work due to the whole Covid 19 situation.

Here's the issue. My DX979 mobile radio really reaches, and my base station does not. My power meter really swings when I talk on the 979 and it doesn't move one bit when I read it on the base.

Had my girlfriend talk to me while I drove over five miles away. She could hear me like I was close, but I could only hear her when I was less than two miles away. Both radios have roger beeps, which those seem to punch through, but not her voice.

Same results if I switch radios in the house on the antenna on my roof... or if I switch radios in the car. So if I take my radios out and talk to someone on my mobile, they hear me great. If I swap for the base radio in my car with the same mic and antenna, it's like nobody can hear me. If I do the same test in the house... my mobile radio reaches for a little over 5 miles. There's a guy in my area with another base setup and I was checking with him. As the crow flies, we are almost 9 miles apart, but there is almost no obstruction between us. If memory serves, he uses an Antron 99 with ground plane kit that fits it.

I checked my variable resistors. My modulation is maxed (I double checked with a hand held Uniden radio to see which way is up and down on the pots). My AM low and high power pots are good. It's just like this 2547 isn't really working and isn't even hitting 4 watts. That's really annoying, because I paid over $300 for the base radio, but I can only talk for a mile before the signal fades.

Here are my setups.

For the house: 100' of RG8x coax. I temporarily have a wilson 2000 series antenna with a ground plane on my roof. I get less than 1.5:1 SWR. I have an Antron 99 antenna on back order. I used to have one, but must have lost it when I moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania.

For my car: Magnet mount Stryker SR10A antenna with RG8X coax. Same SWR readings. Super low.

If I put my DX979 on either setup, it really reaches. One local guy asked if I was using an amp, which I do not. I also use Ranger SRA 198 microphones. They're clear and passive noise cancelling.

I hope this info makes sense and hopefully I can gain understanding as to why a base radio with all this extra crap in it seems useless. It's basically a DX959 in a base case. Maybe I got unlucky and got a hunk of crap for hundreds of dollars?

Side note: I have a 20 amp 12 volt power supply. I might just buy another 979 for my car and use my old one as a base and get rid of the 2547.

Any suggestions would help. Has anyone else had trouble with a 2547? Has anyone had positive experiences with a 2547?

 

I tried one more thing with each radio and maybe this will shed a little light?

DX2547: PWR position for the meter. If I key up it sits around 3 and barely moves toward 4 when I talk at 100% modulation.

DX979: PWR position for the meter. When I key up it reads around 4 and swings to around 18 when I speak at 100% modulation.

I'm wondering if this means I'm getting plenty of modulation with the 2547, but the carrier power is low for some reason.

 

There are variable resistors (VR14, VR16, and VR18) one is for modulation, one is for low AM Power and the third is for High AM Power. I checked them to be sure they worked and they do. I just get almost no movement on the power meter when I key up. Modulation is high, but power is non existent. I transmit at normal volume, but only for a ridiculously short distance. My DX979 goes for miles on the same microphone, coax, and antenna.

 

I will look into this. I never heard of 213, but I did a search and I see that 8x seems to have a lot of loss and is thinner.

I'll look around and see where I can get a proper alignment and hopefully be able to post my results.

 

I decided to get another 979, and I'll use my old one in place of my base radio for now. I'll get my radio into a shop when I can find one that can take it. Hopefully, I'll get my answer, but for now I have to wait.