why do truck drivers

I realize this is an old thread, brought back from the dead... but this made me think of my childhood.

My mom and dad soon figured out they couldn't get me any kind of electronic gizmo without me "operating" on it. Whether it was powering my flashlight from the wall outlet (it was VERY bright for a second, lol) or performing a peak and ruin on a set of Kmart walkie talkies, I could not leave well enough alone. I was fascinated by all things electrical.

 

Initially, I was quite terrified of electricity. To the point that, when I was quite small still, if we went to the store during a rainstorm,and there was a roof leak that was coming down around a light fixture, you couldn't get me to go near that spot, because I thought the electricity would stay in the water.

Once I learned how it actually works a few years later, I became a lot like you.

 

Because they are brainwashed by the myths that plague CB land.

Sure, an alignment to ensure the radio is transmitting and receiving on frequency is good. Even if said radio is new....what shouldn't be news to anyone is how most CB radios are built sloppy at best. That's one reason CB's are as cheap as they are.

HOWEVER....trying to squeeze every last milliwatt from the CB's transmitter, is pointless. Why? Because it won't make an ounce of difference on the other end. At best it might give you the warm fuzzies when the watt meter on the so-called tech's bench, swings hard to the right.

BUT....what if I told you there are a few tricks that they can do to make that watt meter read more to the right....?

1. Cutting the modulation limiter. Bad juju right there. All you do is cause the radio to splatter which instead of sending all that power out on one channel, you send the power on other channels...or frequencies. And in doing so, you essentially make the radio less efficient because now the power is "wasted" on areas of the band where you don't want it.

2. Spreading the copper TVI traps. Same thing as cutting the limiter.

3. Adjusting the watt meter to read "feel good" watts mode. Yes, pretty much recallibrating the meter to read higher than what it should be reading.

4. Open ended coax to nowhere. Yes...there are some so-called techs that will run the radio into the watt meter, and then run the coax from the other end of the watt meter into.....nothing. No dummy load. No antenna. Nothing. Which yes it will make the watt meter swing high. It also means you have an obvious high SWR.

So....what is the truth to "getting out"? Simple:

1. Antenna. And not just any antenna either. In all honesty, you NEED a 9 foot tall antenna for a CB. Yes, 9 feet tall. But there's a problem....in a semi truck, a 9 foot tall antenna may not cut it. And that's where the shorter CB antennas with the load coils come in. They're not as efficient, but they will work. Ahhh.....but there's a catch....the longer/more whip and less load coil you have, the better.

You know those 3 foot Firesticks you see at the truck stop? Inside is 9 feet of coiled copper wire. Will they work? Yes. BUT you are leaving a LOT on the table. The coiled wire makes the radio happy, but the signal is hindered.

So what's a better option? Well....the Wilson 2000's were for the longest time, probably the best whip for a semi. But a new antenna on the market called the Sirio has sent Wilson home, especially since Wilson is now owned by BarJUNK and is not the same. The only thing is the Sirio is not bought at just any truck stop. A select few places sell them, but if there's anything close to a 9 foot whip, it would be a Sirio.

And FTR, the Sirio 5000 is a 7 ft tall whip, compared to the 5 ft tall Wilson whip. The extra 2 feet means less load coil, and that means MORE performance, all things being equal.

2. Coax. And not just any coax. You DON'T want cheap, junk lossy coax. I prefer LMR-240. You usually have to buy this online or maybe attend a ham radio swap meet (hamfest - you can find out if one is in your area by vising arrl.org). This is a 1/4 inch thick coax that blows that RG8X coax you see for sale at the truck stops, right out of the water!

Also, while we are on the subject of coax....you ONLY NEED enough to connect the radio to the antenna. That's it. No more. I say this because one myth in CB land is "you need 18 feet of coax to tune for proper SWR". ########! Anyone who says you "need" 18 feet of coax to tune a radio, is either a liar or plain ignorant to how a radio works. I don't give a #### what Bubba trucker told you or what Tiny at the Petro/Loves/Flying J/TA CB shop told you. Did you know any Tom Dick or Harry can call themselves a CB tech? Back in the old days you had to be certified. Now any kid off the street with a pair of diagonal cutters and a golden screwdriver, can call himself a tech. So yes, i said it, 18 feet is NOT needed unless your antenna is honestly 18 feet from the radio. I know this for a fact. I run no more coax than I need (mine is like 7 feet) and I have perfect SWR. Remember the coax is not to radiate but the antenna is. Using 18 feet of coax to bring down the SWR only fools the meter into thinking all is fine. You want to know how to really tune an antenna? Hook up an antenna analyzer on the antennas coax connector. Then you can tune that sucker right in.

3. SWR. Ok....I like 1.5:1 as this means 96% of the signal is going out. This is good, and trying to go lower is pointless. 2.0:1 means 89% is going out. This is about where I draw the line. Anything more and it's time to find out why. Maybe you have a bad ground? Or maybe you don't have enough metal. Yes....a CB antenna for a truck "needs" metal to serve as the other end of the antenna. The issue is, some newer trucks are using fiberglass panels. This in turn causes issues. Without enough metal, the SWR will go high, and when it does you WILL NOT get out as far as you would like, and you WILL cause the final transistor to become damaged due to excessive heat.

So.....do all of these 3, and you won't need to worry about having Tiny crank up the power which won't do squat for you.

 

Because most of the "techs" in the CB chop shop at the local truck stop have no clue of what they're doing. They are simply following a list of instructions that they downloaded from some unverified poster on the Internet, and their test equipment list is a wattmeter and maybe a DMM, both likely purchased from the same truck stop.

The end result is that the radio ends up putting out a really crappy signal that nobody can understand, but it can really "swing the meter"...

 

It'd be cool if a lot of drivers (not all) would go out and take the ham radio test which no longer requires morse code.

The Technician and General tests are easy if you study. I somehow passed the Amateur Extra test which is super technical.

Ham radios are better constructed radios and operate on thousands and thousands of frequencies and put out up to 1,500 watts depending on what freq. you're on.

For radio prices you can go to http://www.universal-radio.com or ebay

 

What i like about ham radio is the good manners and respect that most operators have for each others.

 

Really?

Hate to break the news to you but a lot of hams are just plain primidonnas, they can be down right nasty.

I ran into a few the other day who were trying to shut me up because I was using am. It didn't stop me, the other guy and I frustrated those idiots to the point that they gave up, my god this was an open band with no skip at all, all local stuff. When it started, I just called him on phone and we had our conversation on the air with no issues.

Right now there is a fight going on in a ham forum about banning other hams who don't speak well of a company who makes ham radios. I won't mention where this is because I don't want to fuel the flames but needless to say they are acting like a bunch of children.

 

I know that there is bad folks in ham world too, but % for % ham compare to cb'ers ham is hands down way more respectful of each others.

In my neck of the wood ham are old timers that do respect each others.

 

Coax only as long as needed eh..Wonder why i was given a formula for 15'3"....
I mentioned(to a tech that is known and extreamly techy) that my swr rarely really sees 1.5 or higher unless i have ice build up or something and was told to shoot for lower..

Not gonna call anyone out for these comments but these are people i have recently talked to and gotten to know a lil through #### chat and take their advise to enhance my set up..

 

Next time you are around your techy ask him Why that coax length.

leon
kc0iv