Can't hear

Question: If you "can't hear someone that is a mile down the road", how do you know that you're "getting out just fine"?

I know what you're saying though. Sometimes the ground noise is so strong (static), it drowns out, or covers up, the actual transmissions in the area. I think sun-spots and solar eruptions have a lot to do with that.

Best bet for excellent reception is to have the standing wave (SWR) set by a radio tech who has the proper skills and equipment to get it perfect.

 

Well written response there 2xR . I just couldn't get the link to work !

 

Make sure your SWR is lower than a 2.0 and that you are using the best coax that you can find. With that antenna you should have no problem hearing a lot further than 1 mile away. Where is the antenna mounted? If possible it should be mounted as far out on the end of the mirror bracket as possible or else the metal of the cab with screw up the radiation pattern of the antenna and hurt your ability to receive and transmit. If you have made sure that your antenna set up is good and you still cant hear then you need to find a GOOD CB shop that has and knows how to use an oscilloscope. This is the only way to tune your radio and also to make sure that it is performing as good as it can. If they don't know what a scope is or want to use it if they do have one then......WALK AWAY!!!!

 

Make sure your RF Gain control (if you have one) is turned up (usually clockwise) and your squelch control is turned down (usually counterclockwise). These will maximize your receiver gain. If set wrong, they will give you the symptoms you described. You should hear some noise from the speaker when the squelch control is turned all the way down, especially on an active channel like 19. Then, slowly turn the squelch control up until the background noise goes away. You should now be able to hear any signals that come in stronger than the background noise level.

As far as the antenna is concerned, as has already been mentioned, make sure it is tuned. It is also important that it have a good ground connection.

 

i had a prob7lem sorta like this, i could get out great, but couldent hear a gu y 50ft in front of me.... i replaced my cable, and it now works great.

or it could be what everyone else is saying

 

Blah, my radio died, i was with out one for a few weeks, i put my new Galaxy DX 949 in, ive got a real nice set up, a wilson silverload FGT 4', ive got different coaxes ive tried, ive got an awesome mic, ive got a pre amp.

But im having trouble hearing... i get out a lot further than i can hear, and from whats been relayed back to me, i apparently sound great pretty far away. But im having trouble hearing. i MAYBE can hear a mile. ive played with my knobs, and it helped a little but still cant hear all that well, anyone have any ideas? ive tried it without and with my pre amp...


Oh and my swr is around 1.1 to 1.2 so i dont think thats it.

 

Try turning off everything else electrical in the truck (stopped, of course). Try some test calls and see if it is improved. If it is, start turning things back on and see if it gets worse. You may have something in the truck throwing off electrical noise that is cutting down on your receiver sensitivity. An inverter might do this.

 

Well my power for this one isnt going into the fuse box like i had my old one doing, ive got it hooked straight up to the battery with an inline fuse. Do you think a inline noise filter might work? or you think that will just cut down on all the noise including weak signals?

 

The receive can be "tuned" inside a radio, just like the transmit.

The antenna and coax plays a big part, but usually if you can transmit ok, then that usually means these aren't the problem.

How much "noise" do you have with the RF gain turned all the way up?? If you have a load of "static" noise, then your fighting the RF generated by your truck. If you have very little noise, then the receive is probably turned down. I have almost no noise at night when its clear out, but close to 3 pounds during the day.

The next step, if you have a load of noise, is to isolate it...is it coming from the power leads or the antenna...with the radio on, disconnect the antenna (do NOT key the mic)...if the noise goes away, then your antenna is the root cause. If you still have noise with the antenna disconnected, then it is coming from the power supply and you can get noise eliminators and chokes to address that usually.

My bet is that your radio is in need of a peak and tune on the receive side of the radio (to make it more sensitive)...a lot of techs only tune for max transmit, not receive.

steved