Magnum S-6-175+

[Ruffy]

Hello all. I just bought a Magnum S-6-175+! I absolutely love this radio! I really dont know much about the radio at all. I did do some reading up and from what I read is this is one of the best out there.
I bought it used but in decent condition. It came with 3 mics, one is the Astatic 636L which is a very very good mic. I was going to hook up my RK56 but this one seems to be just a good. It also came with a Wilson 1000 watt antenna. The Wilson is the magnetic one though. I use to use a little will years ago and it worked ok but not sure how much this 1k will reach out??
Anyhow I hooked it all up and played with all the dials to get it somewhat 100% and i am extremely impressed! This radio worked so much better then my Galaxy. My Galaxy system I had was really nice. It had a 250 watt amp hooked to it. But this S-6 will reach out and grab the sandwich out of your hand for sure.

Anyhow I wanted to see if anyone had any good info on the S-6 for me? Like any tweaks i could do with out all that expensive radio equipment. Also info on the magnetic Wilson 1K antenna would be helpful.

 

[9C1Driver]

A radio like that just needs a conversion, tune, and alignment. With the Top Gun Modulator no extra audio mods are needed. Since this radio has a Bob's cb sticker on it I would leave it alone. Bob's is probably the best shop in the country for setting up Magnum radio's. Good find.

 

[Ruffy]

Sorry I haven't posted for a while after I bought this radio. Just been busy with life. The reason I got the radio is because I was changing jobs but things went back to normal where I worked at so I stayed.

Anyhow I am stuck with the radio and that's not a bad thing. With my job we have always slip seat. It sucks but that is life haha. That being said I made my own slip seat box for the radio.
I kept the Wilson 1K magnetic antenna to run with my setup because the guy I bought it off of said bobs cb set it up with it.

My setup:
Magnum S-6/175+ radio, Wilson 1k whip magnetic antenna, Astatic mic.

How I hook it up:
CB sits on the pass side seat, Antenna up roof or sun visor (KW's roof is fiberglass), power wire runing out pass side door down to battery with large alligator clips for direct connection.

Whats going on with it:
My guys are telling me its hard to understand me when I key up. I mess with the power and mic gain and its gets a little better but not even close to what it should be. Some times I hear a grunning noise from the radio. Here is the funny part. That spring the goes into the mic to hold the wire in place shocks the living hell out of me! Its much like holding a spark plug. I messed with the power and mic gain but the shocker was still there. It only did it when I keyed up on a deep high note to get the sound out. I then moved the antenna in the bed of the triaxle a good 8 foot away and the shock went away but you could still feel it faintly. The guys said it did sound much better but not like a big radio. I did grab the whip with my hand and mic up and it did sound close to what it should be. I think my antenna is shot?
Also everyone is saying my echo is to much but when I mic up I cant hear bad echo through the talk back. Sounds really good in fact. I have to turn it almost off for them to fully understand me.

Things on the CB I don't understand:
The band button. I can only get in and out on D.
The COR knob. I see it change the 6-DIGIT FREQUENCY COUNTER numbers. What does that do?
Am/FM/PA. I can only use AM?
10+kHz on and off button. What does that do and will it work for me?

Sorry if I am all over the place with my post. I been working longgggggg hours and really tired. I just need help understanding this radio.

 

[9C1Driver]

Since that is a hi powered radio your install will have to be done right. When a mic bites you like that the radio is not grounded properly. I would goto cbtricks.com and download a copy of the manual and read it good so you dont mess things up. Be careful, that radio can reach into the 10m ham band and you dont want to be messing around there. Start with the mic gain half open, top gun off for now, and the power at say half way.

 

[222DBFL]

You can't just set the radio to the antenna, you must tune the antenna once it is installed on the specific vehicle that you will use it on. Most every vehicles antenna system will tune slightly different. You need to retune that antenna to whatever vehicle you plan to keep it on, or get a few whips so that when you do transfer to a different vehicle you can simply change the whip out to match that vehicle. Have you checked your swr reading with an external meter? This does sound like poor grounding coupled with a bad tune of the antenna system. JMO. You will ruin that radio by running it with a high swr. It will create a lot of unnecessary heat which results in less life of the components. Tune the antenna for the vehicle you are using it on now and ground the radio straight to the frame. You can go to a seat bolt, just make sure to sand the area down well. This should resolve all your issues, unless you aren't providing the radio with enough amperage. Do you have it wired to go directly to the battery as that radio will draw close to 20 amps in would venture to say. You need at least #8awg or larger for that radio IMO. And keep the ground as short as possible. Good luck and hope this helps.

 

[Ruffy]

You can't just set the radio to the antenna, you must tune the antenna once it is installed on the specific vehicle that you will use it on. Most every vehicles antenna system will tune slightly different. You need to retune that antenna to whatever vehicle you plan to keep it on, or get a few whips so that when you do transfer to a different vehicle you can simply change the whip out to match that vehicle. Have you checked your swr reading with an external meter? This does sound like poor grounding coupled with a bad tune of the antenna system. JMO. You will ruin that radio by running it with a high swr. It will create a lot of unnecessary heat which results in less life of the components. Tune the antenna for the vehicle you are using it on now and ground the radio straight to the frame. You can go to a seat bolt, just make sure to sand the area down well. This should resolve all your issues, unless you aren't providing the radio with enough amperage. Do you have it wired to go directly to the battery as that radio will draw close to 20 amps in would venture to say. You need at least #8awg or larger for that radio IMO. And keep the ground as short as possible. Good luck and hope this helps.

The trucks I drive are all the same type. 2014 KW's I dont think I will have an issue with just 1 whip? Now for grounding the CB the right way? Sorry for being a dummy but I thought taking the negative wire and putting it to the negative battery terminal would be able to ground it out? Or do I need to run a separate satirically wire from the CB itself to the frame/seat? See like I said I have the CB in a box I made and the CB itself isn't grounded.

 

[w9cll]

Not to be rude but maybe its best if you sold that radio and just bought a normal CB to use. As has been said that radio requires specialized installation and a rig in the box just is not going to be right

 

[222DBFL]

IMO a ground to frame as short as possible is best. JMO though. And believe it or not even though the vehicle type may be the same, that doesn't always mean it will tune the same, every install is different and shills be treated as so , especially with a high powered radio like that. Everything has to be right for it to work properly. Again JMO. But I won't run my radios without installing them correctly as I know what happens when you do. Radio goes boom and smoke is emitted. It happens believe me. If you like that radio then take the time and install it right. Use heavy gauge wire for both power and ground as well. No less than #8awg IMO. The larger the better. Any stereo shop or even walmart in the car dept should have it. Just some things I do. God bless

 

[9C1Driver]

Keep in mind you cannot run that radio off the dash posts, it draws too much. A slip seat box like you run will only work if it's done right. That radio can draw up to 20 amps. Make sure the wire is at least 8 gage, short ground to the firewall or seat bolt. Then the factory fleet truck coax needs to go. Make sure the mirror mount has proper ground to the frame of the truck. Some of these newer trucks are a pain to get right.

 

[Ruffy]

No I wont sell it. With enough info I could build something good

No I didnt run off the posts inside the truck. If you read I go straight to the battery

I took it to a good CB shop and showed him my setup. He said it was a very good setup and he found my issue. It was my antenna all along. So I bought a k40 helical coil CB antenna with the vise grip setup with new coax and SWR meter.
I did a cheap test and had it hooked to my Dodge Durango tow hook. I was extremely happy with the results! It reached out a good 20 air miles clean and clear. Tomorrow I will be hooking it up to the KW and retesting it.