Uniden Pro510XL Not Transmitting

A cheap 2 ft mag mount antenna may not get but a few yards away even when showing a good SWR. Remember antennas and coax are the backbone of getting out. Get a good antenna tune it. And you should see a few miles with the radios you both have.

 

You are talking off the driver. Assuming you do not have a dead short in your antenna system. No doubt the final died from a previous bad antenna system, even a 2 foot antenna would get you a mile or better. When you state 50 yards I have to eliminate the mike from the picture, something you already wisely had considered. A 2SC2166 driver transistor makes a very good final for this model by the way. With a good alignment I never fail to see the 2166 do better than the OEM final in the Winnebago class of CB's. This is due to a weak buffer stage, usually no better than 15 or 20 milliwatts of drive which makes the higher than average gain of the 2166 do better than typical finals. Keep in mind a 2 foot antenna is no better than a well tuned coat hanger, 4 feet is really the minimum length for a CB whip if getting out of your neighborhood is your goal.

 

Hiya, all. I've just now come upon this entire thread for the first time, read it all front to back, and have to wonder: has nobody else thought that the *other* guy's receiver or antenna could be shot?
Everyone so far seems to be jumping on the OP's radio as having a TX deficit, or an insufficient antenna, etc. While I agree that generally a 2-ft antenna is to be shunned for reliable long range performance, I've got a Bar-junk/"Diesel" 2-foot hooked through a 3/8"-to-NMO adapter to one of my van's roof mounts, and can usually talk reliably 4 or 5 miles to one of my other mobiles (granted, the other mobile has a 108" whip) but they're both stock Cobra 4-watt radios.
From what I'm reading, the OP's reported symptoms could be attributed to something wrong in the other guy's lash-up.

@rfrazee, is there someone else with a CB that you can run a test with? See if "guy #3" can hear you at a mile; if he can, see if he can hear your chum, and if your chum can hear him. From what you describe, it's just as likely that the fault is in his radio as that it's in yours. And there's no point in testing things without a *third* station to test with, because with only two "systems" (radio, microphone, power cable, feedline, antenna), a fault in any one element in *either* of your systems will produce the symptoms you describe.
And the nice part is that, if you have someone you can run your test with, you don't have to spend any $$$ to find out which radio system has the problem, and can avoid pointless searching and substituting of antennas and transistors and microphones on a well-intentioned but possibly misdirected guess.

Either that, or something else. <------- Handlebar's Universal Disclaimer® (1981, Handlebar Enterprises Int'l)

 

That is kinda what I was getting at back in post #8 there handlebar. I could have said it plainer, but swapping out radios with his buddy would have provided some useful information.........

(Be sure and let us know when you find out!)

 

@mike5511 -- I did see your post, but without having other info, they would still have had the same info if one of the radios was bad. One of them would still be not transmitting *or* not receiving, and there'd still be no way to tell which one was at fault. Circuit loss (or system loss, if you prefer) includes everything from the point of origin to the destination. It's usually referred to as "system gain", but it always ends up as a negative number because of path losses over the air. It would have taken some third radio being either swapped into their vehicles, or just talked to on the air, to test, I think, since they don't yet have any measuring equipment.

@rfrazee -- the only difference 58U and 58A/U is whether the center conductor is solid or stranded. Stranded is usually preferred in mobile environments because it's less likely to break from flexing or vibration, whereas solid is easier to crimp to for in-building installations. As it turns out, you already have the preferred, stranded A/U cable on your antenna, although that doesn't mean something else isn't broken/misaligned/belly-up. But it's unlikely that a sub-obtimal SWR is going to make the difference between talking one block and talking 2 miles; tuning your antenna is not like it's going to flick a switch inside your radio. Something else is wildly wrong, like a parted coax at the fitting, or a dead stage inside one radio or the other.
The test with your other friend's radio should help narrow it down if you remember to only change one variable at a time -- the so-called Scientific Method. It'll let you know which variable is responsible for the change when you find it.
Please let us know what you end up with.
Cheerio,
Handlebar

 

Usually means the final is not producing power but I don't want to cause you any 'pointless searching and substituting of transistors on a well-intentioned but possibly misdirected guess'.