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backward swing


Most amplifiers are not directly compatible with a stock legal 40-channel CB. The amplifier tends to exaggerate the carrier, and limit the audio peaks. There are two ways to fix it. One is to turn down the amplifier if it has a High/Low or H/M/L switch. This is the cheap fix, but not so popular. It limits the wattmeter reading. The other way is to reduce the radio's carrier wattage. If it's done correctly this will restore a balance between carrier and audio power and restores the forward swing that the radio had when run barefoot. But so much depends on which radio and which amplifier. They are not all created equal.

73
 
You can try different lengths of coax jumper cable.

It should be significantly less than 6 feet, or significantly more than 7 feet.

11ft, 4 inches of RG58 (with hard, clear center insulation) will often fix the swing on the amplifier.

You can coil up the jumper to keep it out of the way.

The high / low switch is a trick to switches out the impedance balance in the feed input of the amplifier.

This causes the watt meter to show slightly higher power, but causing the impedance to change greatly when modulated.

Switching the high / low switch to Low, switches in the designed feed balance of the amplifier.

In the old days, the amplifiers had this balance circuit, but didn't have a switch on it and it was designed by the transistor makers as part of the amplifier.

So if there is a high / low power switch, place it in Low and try some different length coax jumper, between the radio and the amplifier.

As the radio sees an impedance change while modulated, the radio protection circuit will reduce the power output of the radio, so it is important to keep the drive impedance balanced.
 
11ft, 4 inches of RG58 (with hard, clear center insulation) will often fix the swing on the amplifier.

You can coil up the jumper to keep it out of the way
If he is putting too much drive into the amp putting several feet of coax inline is going to do nothing to solve the problem.
We need more information.

73
Jeff
 
If he is putting too much drive into the amp putting several feet of coax inline is going to do nothing to solve the problem.
We need more information.

73
Jeff

The drive impedance of the amplifier changes as the carrier is modulated.

A 4 watt carrier 100 percent modulated produces 16 watts of peak power.

Solid state amplifiers are supposed to have a resistor network on the input, to balance the drive impedance.

The solid state radio protection circuitry reduces the output power of the radio, as the SWR of the radio goes up.

This causes the reverse swing.

The coax jumper trick fools the radio protection circuit and allows it to maintain power as it is modulated.

This will usually result in forward swing of the amplifier output.
 
The drive impedance of the amplifier changes as the carrier is modulated.

A 4 watt carrier 100 percent modulated produces 16 watts of peak power.

Solid state amplifiers are supposed to have a resistor network on the input, to balance the drive impedance.

The solid state radio protection circuitry reduces the output power of the radio, as the SWR of the radio goes up.

This causes the reverse swing.

The coax jumper trick fools the radio protection circuit and allows it to maintain power as it is modulated.

This will usually result in forward swing of the amplifier output.
This doesn't address the problem of not knowing what radio, what amp, what drive power he is using.
We need more information.
You can keep repeating the coax will fix it without knowing what is going on with the OP's situation but unless he answers the questions it just a guess.

73
Jeff
 
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This doesn't address the problem of not knowing what radio, what amp, what drive power he is using.
We need more information.
You can keep repeating the coax will fix it without knowing what is going on with the OP's situation but unless he answers the questions it just a guess.

73
Jeff
Yes, I know.

Many of the current amplifiers often have a high / low switch that switches out the input balance circuit and causes all sorts of impedance mismatch with the radio, when this switch is switched to high power.

The radio itself is often reducing the drive power while being modulated, due to seeing an SWR mismatch with the amplifier.

The coax jumper should be shorter than 4 feet, or longer than 11 feet.

If everything is a good, a 3 foot jumper should work well, but if it isn't, the 11 feet, 4 inches of RG58 can help keep the radio protection circuit from seeing a high SWR and reducing the output power when modulated.

Yes, I know those high output power radios can causes all sorts of other problems with amplifiers.
 

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  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    Hello gentlemen and Ladies. I have the dreaded RCI-2990 receive issue where my radio gets distorted when people get close to my location. I found the C90 Capacitor, but I can not for the life of me find the C89 capacitor. Can or does anyone have a picture of the exact location of C89 ? Thank you in advance, Wes
  • @ AudioShockwav:
    Wes, it's better if you start a thread on the main forum, more people are going to see your question.
  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    Okay, sorry, will put in a forum
  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    I put it in the general disscution help area and started a new thread. Thank you for letting me know.