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You might not need 2 nylon washers, look at the stud that the coax hooks to, does it have a plastic sleeve that will center it, and the nylon washer would center the top part?


73
Jeff

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Radio-active

NASA/SOHO

I guess I should ask if your mount has a bolt to attach the coax, or a pl-259 connector.

73
Jeff

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Radio-active

NASA/SOHO

Don't you have a manual with installation instructions with the antrenna? They usually have a drawing or several showing the parts and how they are assembled. You've got something assembled wrong if you're not getting out with either antenna. It could be the mounting, the coax, or the connectors. If you know of anyone with GOOD knowlege of radio theory who knows how to test antennas, ask tht person for help.

And one more thing: The spare tire carrier may be the problem. The antenna has to have connection to the vehicle frame. If that carrier is not making contact with enough metal for a decent path to ground, the radio won't get out very well.

If you had "X" amount of signal before and the thing got broken or something changed, THEN bought another antenna that has NOT been properly set up, then it may be that you had high SWR in the beginning and STILL have high SWR with the newer antenna. So you STILL don't have much signal. So,
get access to an SWR meter, or a CB shop that can check it for you. Just another guess.

CWM

Before going into a "Hi-Tech" approach to fix this problem, I would definately check the SWR. The SWR should have been checked before you even keyed the mic for the first time anyway. Checking the anetnna for the correct parts or correct assembly is not a Hi-Tech approach, but what I can see coming in the near future is going to be.
I know that some things on autos will give you a real hard time getting a good SWR reading resulting in a tremendous signal loss. A perfect example is: My brother! Well, actually his truck. He has a work truck (pickup with a cap) he has ladder racks on the top of this truck. As soon as he puts an aluminum ladder on top of his truck, his SWR goes from 1.2:1 to over 3:1.
What you should do is either go to you LCBS (local CB Shop) and get an inexpensive SRW meter or get one online. Check it out and take it from there.

Hope all works out well for you. BTW...... welcome to the world of CB!

73's
-Jim

Alright guys.

I went with a friend today to pick out stuff for his CB setup. He got almost the same setup as I do (his has a little more durable coax) and his is a 3ft fiberglass antenna (going on a single cab pickup, 4' didn't look right and he wanted looks over signal I guess. He's not a hardcore CBer, but nor am I). We got his all installed today and his was picking up for over 4 miles, untuned. So....that got me thinking. As luck would have it he picked up 2 cables, because he told me that I may need it. Well, indeed I did. After installing the thicker cable, I got range of around 2.7 miles. Not bad, not bad at all.

We have an SWR meter now, but I have NO clue how to use it yet (the instructions are quite vague) but I'm reading up on firestik's Tech Docs page. I'll tell you guys how it goes after I get the SWR's in their proper place.

Thanks for all your help guys.

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Another thought...I your old antenna was shorted and you attempted to talk very long you may have damaged your final (s). Check your power out also it could be down. If you try to use an SWR meter and you can't set it that would be an indication of low power. Good Luck.

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Hardhead

What happens if that does happen to me? Do I just have to buy a new radio?

Note there aren't any CB shops around here.

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You will be able to tell some things by testing your system with the SWR meter.
Is it a Power/SWR meter?
Let us know that.
Don`t throw your radio away just yet.

Here are some generic instructions for checking your antenna and feedline with your SWR meter.

Unscrew the coax cable from the back of your radio.

Screw on a short jumper (this is just a short pc of coax cable, got `em at R/S)
to the back of the radio, screw the other end onto the conecter marked "Transmiter" on the SWR meter.

Take the coax that your removed from the back of the radio and screw it onto the back of the SWR meter on the connector marked "Antenna".

Turn the radio on ,set the switch on the front of the SWR meter to "CAL" (it might also say "FWD" in place of CAL, same thing) then press the button on the mic to key (turn on) the transmiter.
There should be a knob on the front of the SWR meter, while you have the radio keyed up, twist the know back and forth, the meter should go up and down.

Look on the meter and find the line that says, "CAL" on it.

For right now this is the only line you want to look at.
It will have the number 1 on the left hand side of the scale, and CAL on the right hand side, with numbers 1.5 -- 2 -- 3 then (on most) a red area, then the leters "CAL".
With the button pushed (radio keyed up) adjust the knob untill the needle is lined up with the "CAL" mark on the meter.

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At this point, if you turn the knob all the way up, and it will not go to the "CAL" line stop and let us know.

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Let go of the mic button.
Move the switch on the front of the SWR meter to "SWR"(it might say "REF" same thing)press the button on the mic(key up) and note the meter readings
The needle on the meter should go up, (we hope only a little) read were it is on Ch 1, then Ch 20, Then Ch 40
write it down.
You want to see low numbers
lower numbers are better.
If it is above 3, it is a real no-no, and you want to stop transmiting untill you get the antenna adjusted, or correct any problem.
Most antennas can be tuned, so don`t panic(yet)
Let us know what ya got, and we can help you further.


73
Jeff

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Radio-active

NASA/SOHO

Mine has a meter for watts and SWRs. The "CAL" (I'm guessing for calibration) isn't there, but I'm guessing "SET" is the same thing.


Since I don't have a camera, I just painted one.



Oops. There's supposed to be a FWD/REF switch under the 10w/100w switch.

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