Uniden 980SSB RF Gain question.

Where is it for Ch 19?

Start over with connections. Maybe something loose. Not tight enough. Check for crosstread. If that’s an FME-ended Coax for the interior side (weather boot end goes outside), check carefully.

Ohmmeter check of coax. Wal World has cheap multi-meters. Get digital.

Look for pinch points.

If 19 is at around 1.5, then it’s “0kay” for now to stay with that channel. While checking, wiggle antenna with mike keyed. Wiggle coax.

Antenna should be no more than 15-20-degrees forward.

You need something that gets “above” the truck. 7’ Skipshooter fills the bill.

 

Whoa ... if you have that much spread on the antenna, start with looking at the ground system and see if you have a common mode issue. You should have a slight rise in swr, not going from 1:1 to 3:1 for a 450 kHz spread.

 

I used a Siro 5' Twin log fiberglass antenna on a 16 Cascadia with the Wilson mirror bracket for a year and it worked great, I would see other Cascadias with 7' antennas and they just seemed to flop around too much.

 

Agree, thats what I liked about the Siro, it was very rigid and didnt flop or sway at all when in a strong wind or covered in ice. Im currently driving a 19 T680 and had two 5' Firestick II antennas on factory mounts and last week while driving in an ice/ snow storm they were absolutely covered and I seriously thought they were going to break off, so when I got down to Texas I installed two 4' Francis, hoping that maybe they might fare better in ice, and so far havent really noticed a difference in transmit and receive, matter fact they were the antennas on the truck when I talked to JesseJames south of Dallas about 15+ miles away with stock,barefoot Cobra 29.

 

My greatest concern was not the antennas breaking off , I was concerned that the factory mount was going to get damaged and at present have no alternative mount available to use instead, so even though the Francis may still get coated in ice ,I dont believe they will have the weight equal to the Firesticks that could potentially damage the mount, we will see.

 

The flop didn’t matter. This was across the lower Great Plains, almost the windiest region of the US. 60k-plus miles. Was reception ideal? No. Unless guyed I doubt any antenna would do well short of being made from copper pipe.

 

Anyone tried the new aerosol NeverWet on an antenna?

Product info specifically mentions anti-icing.