4600 turbo stock wire?

Should be a 12ga stock no?
Plenty for that rig,but personally I wouldn't hook it to the cheesy feeds
on the truck.

 

Assuming the antenna system has a low SWR and fairly decent ground then you are having power brownout problems. Very common for the 4600 to squeal if it sees excessive voltage drop. Yup was making a good point. Helps to know how long at what gauge the power feed is as well as where you are getting your power. For this model the banana posts are a poor choice, you really need to go to a good point in the fuse box or the battery. If to the battery you need a fuse within 6 inches of the positive post for a safety in case of a shorted wire to the body or frame. The stock wire is not really heavy enough for a run longer than it is. Unlike a 2950 you have an amplifier built into this model, it requires adequate amperage for stability. Correct the power problem and most likely the squeal will stop. This presupposes the radio was correctly set up and the starting carrier level is not excessive.

 

I am running off the thumb screw ports on the truck. The difference is that I replace the wore running to the ports with ten guage wire all the way to the batteries. Installed a fuse on both the negative and the ground down near the batts. I like to switch back and forth between radios IE from the 4600 turbo to my Cobra 29 with a palomar 450. My 450 is wired seperatly also using 10 guage wire running down to the battery box and hooked to a differetn battery in the box.

For some reason I also run a second seperate chassis gound to both the 450 and the radio. Don't know why I am running the second ground but maybe it stems from years of issues with grounding etc on other vehicles. I quess it could be for fear that corosion in the battery box may effect the wire eyes down the road without me knowing it. So there is a backup in place.

But I don't have any issues with my setup.

 

It is not possible to put me down using gibberish as your only means of attack.

I should add: why the hell do you spend so much time writing so many useless words attacking truckers typical radio setups in the CB section of a truck drivers website anyway. It violates the law of common sense to keep demanding they run antennas they cannot use due to height restrictions. Especially since they are all doing just fine with what they can use within the realm of reason for their application.

"Why do you people want to waste your money on this CB radio crap?"

If you hate CB and 4 foot antennas so much go back to your ham sites and try to impress people there. Every post you write includes telling drivers their choice of radios, amplifiers, and antennas is worthless. Why would truck drivers care what you think when for decades they have been happy as clams talking on their stations and doing quite well without you and the horse you rode up on. By the way what does the drivers 4600 squeal problem have to do with your insane diatribe about repeaters on top of a mountain.

"The good point is - most alternators generates a square wave electrical current - 12 - 15 vdc. Square wave is just fine for charging batteries because the battery converts the square wave energy to a direct current"

This is nothing but babbling garbage from the mind deprived of the usual dose of Prozac. There are 6 diodes in the alternator which is a three phase device and there are no square waves in the equation. An alternator rotates producing three sinewave outputs 120 degrees apart in phase, rectified by a three phase fullwave bridge in a Y configuration. In all the years I have been online I have never read so much incompetent crap being spouted by someone daring to show themselves as some form of knowledgeable person in the art.

 

Channel Jumper said"
The good point is - most alternators generates a square wave electrical current - 12 - 15 vdc. Square wave is just fine for charging batteries because the battery converts the square wave energy to a direct current"

You might want to read http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htm it explains how a alternators works.

Channel Jumper said"
So why do you people waste your money on these mirror mount whip antenna's that doesn't work?"

Maybe it's about time you went to a truck stop and find out why you 102" whip won't work in the real world of trucking. And before you say mount it on the bumper. A trucker raises the hood at least once ever day. What going to happen to that whip being bent 90*?

As for your rant this is the very reason Ham get a bad rap on this and other forums. Some of use Hams have accept not everyone want to be a Ham so we help as best we can.

As for me I am Ham and a CBer as well as a service Technician and electronic design Engineer. I was a over the road truck driver for several years.

I would suggest you keep to yourself rants such as above.

Leon
(kc0iv)

 

He goes on and on about 102 antennas, getting rid of my amp etc. I don't think he has a clue. I quess he has never seen a 102 folding back in the wind. I sure as hell don't want one mounted on my front bumper and folding back at 68 mph and getting into my windshield etc. Oh and how would someone correctly mount a 102 on a front bumper so that it would not get in the way of opening the hood? My hood and fenders stick out slightly past the edges of my bumper. So putting the antenna on the edge of the bumper is still out.

Last time I seen a 102 mounted on a truck, it was mounted on a motorized mast behind the center of the sleeper. The driver could raise and lower the antenna via a switch. It was only used when he was stationary. On the move he ran off of is "trucker" antennas mounted out on the mirrors.

My cobra and my Palomar 450 can stretch out an easy 30 miles. I know this for a fact. Was sitting in the shop yard back in Minto ND and was chatting with a driver one on interstate 29 (9 miles fromthe shop) and I got a call from one of our drivers that was 29 miles west in a gravel pit. He thought I was on the way to the pit since he could hear me plain as day and was wondering why I did not respond when he called me on the radio. Have to add that this pit is on the other side of a long tall hill. I live in the bottom of the old lake Aggazi lake bed. The western edge of this lake is just west of me and it is about a 1000 ft long slow climb from Minto to abour 20 miles away to the western edge (the beach). Then it drops down sharply about 500 ish feet acording to my GPS. That is 30ish miles running on the low side (about 200 ish watts on my meter) of my palomar through a pair of Wilson 5000 antennas mounted out on the edges of my mirror brackets.

Yes Channel Jumper, I am back to cophased. My trusty junk digital fluke meter told me my cophased harness was shorted. Replaced it the harness and am back to cophased. Funny that the cophased setup works just as good as the single setup when pulling the belly dump trailer. Too bad the single setup doesn't work as well when pulling my regular spud trailer. I loose singal to the rear opposite side of were the antenna is located.

You go on a rant about peaked and tuned radios. LOL. Other drivers have gone to buying peaked and tuned radios fromt he same guy that I got mine from because my radios sound so much better then the rest out there.

See, a proper peak and tune fixes the inconsistancies that you find with crappy mass production of CB radios. Meaning that not all out of the box CB radios work the same. Some work great and some could not get out of the parking lot. Since the guy I buy them from does it for free with EVERY radio that goes out the door then this is another plus, Not to mention that his prices are actually lower , for a radio, then what you find in the truck stops. It is a win win for me and a win win for him since he gets more business due to how his radios sound and work on the air.

But there are some crappy radio shops out there that their peak and tune is nothign more then cutting the modulation limiter, removing the lead slugs completely and speading a coil and all for a cool 50 bucks. Heck I can do that from free for anyone willing to let me do it to their radio. The only thing is that I will nto cut the limiter. will turn up the VR pot slightly (about 3/4 on a cobra 29) and leave it at that. It sounds so much better then with the limiter clipped.

Actually I did this for one of our drivers without him knowing it. The circuit protection diode went in his cobra 29 and the meter light quit working. he was complaining that he had to get another radio. I told him to just give it to me and I would fix it for him. Took the radio home and replaced the diode and the meter light, turned up the VR pot to about 3/4 of full. I also did the backyard tune of removing the slugs and spreading the coil near the antenna port. Gave him the radio and got in his truck with my little crappy SWR meter and gave his setup a quick check to make sure that he did not have problems with his coax etc. His SWR was about 1.6 ish to 1. and now he easily stretches out 10+ miles were he could hardly get out 3 miles before.I used to run with him alot so I know how far he could get out and be heard. Oh and that was through the crappy Rami antennas and Rami setup used in the Volvo trucks.

Alot of the guys in our company, including our safety manager, think I should go into a sideline and do radios and setups for guys in our fleet. I said no because I am not a radio tech. I can help out a little but I don't know everything there for I would not want to do it for money.


Hey AB7IF, The other day I ran into one of our drivers that had the same problem with his Cobra radio that I did. I mentioned that I had the same issue and learned from a guy on the net how to fix it. He gave me his mic and I fixed it up for him free of charge. He is back on the air again and all it cost him was a cup of coffee. He wanted to pay me money since I saved him from possibly spending money on a new radio etc. I did a little extra too his mic when I had it apart. I added some stiffer heatshrink next to the antenna plug to keep it from flexing so much and pulling the wire free from the plug also cleaned up the switch a bit while I had the mic. He had a scratchy sound when he would key the mic and now that sound is gone. Not sure if cleaning the switch helped but he is happy.

 

Well you are WRONG in both cases.

I would guess I have helped several humdred people get their ticket over the years.

You would be surprised how many drivers use GPS. The biggest problem is the cost for a truck route GPS.

Channel Jumper said
"Nothing - if you install it right and use a good quality antenna." You really don't have a clue do you? Do you know most of the big rigs have plastic bumpers and fiberglass hoods. Then you have the KW T2000 that have the factory antennas near the top of the roof. And remember most driver don't own their truck and can't make changes.

Channel Jumper said
"I treat everyone the same and I am trying to impress upon these people that they can talk on repeaters - even 10 meters repeaters - legally if they take and pass their Amateur Radio exams." And how do you talk to yard offices and security on that Amateur Radio?

Channel Jumper said
"Or if you are a HAM and you are trying to keep them off your repeaters or airwaves - then shame on you, because you are not a real ham radio operator, just a snob." I believe my record speaks for itself.

Again I suggest you go out to a truck stop look at the rigs then maybe you can see for yourself why many of your concepts won't work in the real world.


Leon
(kc0iv)

 

"Not sure if cleaning the switch helped but he is happy."

Likely was the fix. If you take it apart, always clean the switch with a lubricating cleaner. No exceptions. If a shop says your radio cannot be fixed 'here buy mine', they are merely saying they cannot fix it. In over 95 percent of circumstances like this it can be fixed and usually fairly cheaply. Very seldom is the story 'not worth repair' true. Again this usually means they cannot repair it, or they charge too much, or they are scamming you. Typically in this case they plan on giving you a very few dollars on a trade, spend 2 bucks repairing it, and putting it out for sale at a high price. Sad but I have seen many shops over the decades doing business like this. In an older unused for years radio like the Cobras, especially a 148, it has simply had a 10 volt capacitor short in almost all cases. Nomad Radio coined the term '10 volt blues' for this. If once a year they were taken out of the closet and hooked up, cycled between TX/RX for a while, this failure would almost never occur. The electrolytics chemically transfer the Al2O3 between plates destroying them when they sit in a zero voltage state for too long. Just another pointer, use it once in a while or lose it.

 

I think before you post info you need to slow down and think. Such as telling Drivers to park their trucks for a few days. Then how would they pay for their Amateur radio equipment? Because they wouldn't any longer have jobs. And you also tell them that they can run up to 1500 watts into a repeater. Don't you think that it's overkill? Bye, Bye Repeater!!! As well as their 2 meter/70cm antennas. Let's see 1500 watt 2 meter Amp would cost a very Hefty price. How is a Driver going to pay for it? Because he needs a Job. And 1500 watts? Only true if they hold General class or higher. Technician are only allowed 200 Watts. Same would also apply for 10 meter FM. Every since you've been on this forum you've tried to put everyone down with your so called technician advise. But miss the very important basics. Which makes you look very dumb in my book. And if you don't Drive a Big Truck? Well maybe you need to learn something about them first. Many of the Drivers do have some limitations when it comes to radio installs. Such as some Owners don't allow all types of installs. And yes some of us are Amateur Extra licensed also. But we know that everything that you say won't work in the REAL TRUCKING WORLD! So Slow Down and THINK! You need to be Swift to Hear, and Slow to Speak! Maybe you need to stop jumping channels, and get your feet back on the ground.