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

What is skip? Have you ever scanned the 40 channels (especially 6 and 11) and have found there seems to be like a million people jamming onto the channel at one time?

That's skip. Skip is when you talk into the radio and instead of the signal going up and coming back down a few miles up the road, it instead can travel hundreds of miles away.

Skip is caused by changes in the solar cycle/ionosphere from radiation from the sun. As I am told we were recently in the lowest part of it but it's beginning to pick back up. Meaning more often in the near future will all 40 channels of the CB band be intolerably noisy as you will hear many people jamming onto the channels. As mentioned, Ch 6 is the biggest skip channel and so is 11, with 38 LSB for the side banders.

Personally skip is usually considered to be a hobby with the die hard CB hobbyists, as it's sort of like ham radio for those w/o a license. Any CB radio can be used to talk skip but SSB is often the preferred mode. Ch. 6 is usually african american operators with wall to wall amps, massive watts (talking tens of thousands) and HUGE antennas.

So yeah next time you're traveling and you notice 19 is really noisy, and then flip to 6 and find it's really noisy, try flipping to 38 and usually you can get some decent conversation in. Most of us skippers refrain from roger beeps and echo boxes and talking the typical trash talk. It's usually pretty civil for the most part.

Now as for your radio....I can't say why it's doing what it's doing, but if you were really close to the other guy and you keyed up you can sometimes hear static. Did you dial back your mic gain?

Can you run a better antenna than that Wilson 3 footer? Personally that's too small for me, but to each his own. I'd rather run a whip style antenna.

And I agree GROUND GROUND GROUND! If your antenna isn't grounded you're going to have problems.

I also agree on the RG8X coax, that's actually decent coax.

 

Okay. Got a firestick II, kept the same coax, got a bird pertch to screw into the door for ground and mounted my bracket to that. I re-ran my coax (that 9ft wilson with the slide adjuster near the end toward the CB) and got diecent reception and transmission. Though i HATE getting range checked by the CB shop, since they've got juiced CBs that can hear me from 2-3 miles away, when i really only have a 1-2 mile range.

BUT ANYWAY....i ran my coax from the bracket down the door frame closer to the top hinge of the door so i dont have coax running down the inside of my cab to the top of the dash. I then took the coax and got it to lay nice really close to where the dash and window meet so its really out of sight. I then ran it down to the other end of the dash, down the passengers end of the dash, and back over the top of the dash to the CB itself. So there is only really one loop in the coax. (i've heard coiling the coax leads to issues) Now, i rechecked my SWR, and notice that i'm getting just over 3:1 across 1-40. what can i do to get this down to 1.5:1 or a bit lower??? will changing thte coax to that suggested, and/or 18ft coax make a diff?

also help me out with mic gain, RF gain and RF power. mic gain is how much your mic picks up, RF gain basicly allows you to somewhat set the range of signal you want to hear and RF power alows you to pick up only super strong signals or super weak signals (full low and full high)

 

RF power is your output. IOW if you have it all the way down is low power, all the way up is high power.

 

Ok the firestick II has a "tunable" tip. It screws in or out by hand to adjust your swr. From where it currently is screw it the opposite way and recheck. Example: if it's currently screwed all the way in screw it out about an inch and recheck, repeat until you get the swr down. Also are you using an external meter to check swr? Make sure the bird perch is screwed in real tight to get a good ground. Are you sure you have the spacers and plastic washer in the right order on the antenna? Alot of times that will cause a high swr if they are backwards. The plastic washer should be against the top of the mounting bracket , the flat washer in the middle and then the lock washer on top against the bottom of the antenna stud.

RF GAIN = how much signal your radio pulls in. You should run the RF gain all the way up o pull out distant transmissions.

RF Power = Strength of your outgoing transmission again run it all the way up since your not running a hi-power radio.

Mic Gain = How much modulation you are transmitting, you should be able to run it at full power also depending on what mic your using. Some mic's don't need full mic gain because they have alot of modulation already. Run it wide open unless you get reports that you sound muffled or overmodulated.

 

then when you get done chasing all those rabbits take note that your cab is sitting isolators.
here must be adequate Cab to Chassis ground or your efforts are for NOT!

 

thanx for the input. The pertch has about 1.5in of threads that screws directly thru the mirror bracket and into the door. There is nothing in the truck that isnt painted. I really dont know where to get a good ground, ill have to go back and relook at your posts about that and see.

but i dont want too look like a hillbilly with ground wire and coax wrapped around the outside of my truck either. LOL...

 

just saw this.....must have skipped right over it before. the ground strap they sold me at Walcott CB the first time i was thru there on 09/10, was about an inch wide and about 10 in. long. They had much smaller guage on a spool, sure wish i would have bought some last time i was there. I had the info you gave me....just didnt dawn on me. ill keep an eye out for something now......

 

Try and locate the Cab to Chassis ground,its most likely a single wire running parallel to the main harness coming thru the firewall ?

If its just a single wire adding another on the opposite side will benefit your cause.
This is very common with the Freightliner Columbia/Century the FLD/Western Star chassis is grounded much better

 

will look for that. I need to figure out something. Started running into problems again over the last 24 hours or so. Someone told me i was cutting in and out, so i switched mics, and thought the problem was solved. What ends up happening, i turn on my CB, and everything is fine. Then after a few minutes, when i key up, the needle starts jumping all over, and i know i'm not putting out any signal. I turn it off for a few minutes, and back on, and i'm fine.......for a few minutes, then back to the needle jumping around. Think i might have an overheating problem, or my mic jack needs replaced. (something i thought Walcott CB did last time i took it in there)