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New To Cb's Help me out

Nnnnice . . .

BTW - do any of your friends have an SWR meter that you can borrow?
Or can they check your antenna and show you how to use a SWR meter before you get yours?

Looks to me - so long as the SWR checks out - that your radio might be having a problem.
It is hard to say from here - though . . .
 
Thanks Robb.
I checked with a few friends, but no one has a SWR meter.
So i guess it will just have to wait until i get the meter. That should be next monday or tuesday.

A question about tuning my antenna. Am i going to have to cut it down to size to get it to the length i need? Its a 102" ss whip.
 
Prolly not . . .
But you will need a meter because you still need to check the antenna system from time to time to ensure the right SWR match to keep your radio safe.

Since the antenna will give you a 1.5 to 1 SWR if installed correctly, the coax is also part of the test when done. If everything stays fine, the whip antenna and 6" spring mount should provide optimal performance for years to come.

Remember, that an quality radio and a cheap antenna work and sound like a cheap radio. But a quality antenna and a cheap radio work and sound like a quality radio.

Nice choice . . .
 
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I got my SWR meter yester day, and got some time to use it today.
I hooked it up according to the instructions, and tested my radio. My results for transmitting are 1. In fact, it might even be lower, but i cant tell, the meter isnt calibrated like that.

So does this mean that i have a 0% power loss, or is there something wrong with the radio?
 
Without re-reading this entire thread, I need some answers.
When you transmit; can your friends hear you and respond back?
Did you try to use the SWR meter on a friends radio and see if their antenna had a proper match too?
Do the LED lights or meter on your radio light up/swing over when you key/transmit the radio?

Note: don't key the radio too long when doing the SWR test. Just long enough to first set it, and then flip the switch to read the SWR.
Continuing keying the radio with a bad match/poor SWR - can heat up and destroy the final transistor - you don't want/need that!

You live up in Santa Rosa; I could help you if you weren't so far North. I'm down in San Jose. Its a bit difficult for me to troubleshoot your problems online here - especially if you are new to this stuff.

Isn't there any Ham operators in your area that can show you the ropes?
I'm sure there must be; maybe you can ask around.
Just some thoughts.
 
What kind of SWR meter is it? (Manufacturer/model?)

Many SWR meters have a calibration knob on them that you're supposed to adjust before taking a reading. Some are auto-calibrating (you just hook them up and go). There are also some, like the MFJ cross-needle ones, where see both forward and reflected power on the same meter, and the places where they intersect indicates the SWR (again, no calibration needed).

The digital SWR meter built into my Kenwood TS-850 is auto-calibrating. But I also have an external Kenwood power/SWR meter, and that one requires manual calibration (and you need to transmit at least 10 watts of power to get an accurate reading on it).

It's possible that your antenna system is fine, and the needle doesn't deflect because you do have a 1:1 SWR (and hence no reflected power). However a typical CB only produces 4 watts of output: if you bought an SWR meter designed for higher power transmitters (e.g. ham radio stuff) then you may simply not be producing enough power for the meter to get a good reading.

Also, you keep saying the radio makes a beeping noise. Here's an idea: use your cell phone (or your friend's cell phone) to record the noise and upload it somewhere so we can hear it too. What you call a beep might be RF feedback (sometimes called an RF squeal). But there's now way to know if we can't hear it.

You said before that the radio starts out fine and then has trouble after you've used it for a while. There are a couple of possible problems:

- There's an intermittent break in a connection somewhere in the mic pre-amp or audio circuit in the radio
- Some component is marginal and fails once the radio heats up
- You're draining the battery in your car the longer you talk on the radio, and the battery voltage is dropping to the point where the radio doesn't work right anymore

I would swap your radio with your friend's radio and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, then your radio is likely the problem. If it does, then I might be right about the battery voltage dropping.

Regardless, I'd still like to know what kind of SWR meter you got.

-Bill
 
thesatelliteguy said:
I got my SWR meter yester day, and got some time to use it today.
I hooked it up according to the instructions, and tested my radio. My results for transmitting are 1. In fact, it might even be lower, but i cant tell, the meter isnt calibrated like that.

So does this mean that i have a 0% power loss, or is there something wrong with the radio?
Click to expand...

What does "results for transmitting are 1" mean? That doesn't make sense. Did the SWR meter deflect at all - enough for you to adjust it for full scale?

SWR readings represent a ratio, so a theoretically "perfect" SWR would be 1:1, and that's the way you have to write it in order for it to make sense. If the pointer goes up to the "3", then it's written 3:1. It CAN'T be lower than 1:1.
 
Robb said:
When you transmit; can your friends hear you and respond back?
Did you try to use the SWR meter on a friends radio and see if their antenna had a proper match too?
Do the LED lights or meter on your radio light up/swing over when you key/transmit the radio?
Isn't there any Ham operators in your area that can show you the ropes?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the responces guys. Ill answer these question in order as best i can.

When i transmit, my friends can hear me, and i can hear them. Though their transmit has a little static. But i think that might be because we were close to each other (about 20 feet) and my friend talks right into the mic (like he puts the mic against his mouth when he talks)

I checked my friends SWR and his FireStickII was set at 3:1. So i adjusted it to about 1.7:1 on ch40 and about 1.5:1 on ch 1. Then the radios started working better .


The meter on my radio swings over to 4 when i TX. But i did this with out the SWR meter hooked up. Did you want to know what the meter goes to WITH the SWR meter hooked up?

As for HAM operators in the area, i will search around. I noticed there is a kid at school with 3 cb's in his jeep. So im sure he has an idea what he is doing. I'll drop him a note and ask him about it.
 
unit248 said:
What kind of SWR meter is it? (Manufacturer/model?)

Also, you keep saying the radio makes a beeping noise. Here's an idea: use your cell phone (or your friend's cell phone) to record the noise and upload it somewhere so we can hear it too. What you call a beep might be RF feedback (sometimes called an RF squeal). But there's now way to know if we can't hear it.

You said before that the radio starts out fine and then has trouble after you've used it for a while. There are a couple of possible problems:

- There's an intermittent break in a connection somewhere in the mic pre-amp or audio circuit in the radio
- Some component is marginal and fails once the radio heats up
- You're draining the battery in your car the longer you talk on the radio, and the battery voltage is dropping to the point where the radio doesn't work right anymore

I would swap your radio with your friend's radio and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, then your radio is likely the problem. If it does, then I might be right about the battery voltage dropping.

Regardless, I'd still like to know what kind of SWR meter you got.

-Bill
Click to expand...

I got an Astatic PDC7. It has a manual calibration knob.

As for the beeeeeeep sound, it hasn't done it for a few days. I just turned the radio on and left it. I will check on it in 5 min. and if its doing its beeeping, i will get a video of it and post it for you guys.


As for testing weather its my radio or not, i went to WalMart and "borrowed" one of their cobra ultra III and temporairly hooked it up in my car. It didnt have the beep (but on that day, nor did my radio), but it did sound a little better. It didnt seem to make static as much.
 

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