CB Help

[Truck Driver Dave]

Hello, I am new to this forum and am seeking help..

I am fairly new to the CB world, I drive a truck and have used a crappy dying cobra 29 for over a year and finally got sick of no reception and poor sending.. So I went out and got a new rig..

General Lee - From RadioActive Radios
Predator 10k 9" shaft standard uncut whip (so far)
Astatic 636L mic
Firestik Firering coax 19’ with steel mounting bolts and an aluminum mirror bracket

This is on/in a freightliner, mounted on the top mirror bar.. I have made double sure all coax and mounting stuff is grounded and supplying correctly.. The issue is I cant seem to get my SWR's lower then a 1.9.. I first mounted the antenna at a 10 to 15 degree angel forward due to how high strait up is (still 14' 5" at 15ish degree tilt forward). I was getting 1.9 on 1 and 1.7 on 20 and 40. Tonight I adjusted the antenna back about 20 degrees cuz I was hitting bridges and am still getting a 1.7 on 1 and 20 and a 2.0 on 40.. So there was a change from front to back, but sorta conflicting info.. From what that tells me is forward it needs to be longer and back needs to be shorter? I have not tried the antenna at an upright angel cuz its just way to tall if I do that.. So Im kinda not sure what to do.. I also ran a ground strap to the mounting bracket tonight and didn’t make a difference on the SWR meter at all.. Oh yeah, Im using a Road Pro SWR meter..

I hope that someone might be able to give me a pointer and where to look to get my SWR's down some more..

Thanks!

 

[C W Morse]

Try this for an experiment. Take a coat hanger and straighten it out. Trim this (instead of the stinger). If the SWR improves, you can then cut the stinger to the correct length. If it isn't right, then you know there's something else going on!

CWM

 

[msherren5]

id say its a whip problem.are you running coax through the meter (instead of using the field strength) also should be clear of any buildings and such i found parking lots best for tests where there obstacles around.some of those whips you have to trim a fair bit off to get swr down too bad you dont have a old stainless steel whip to play with.lots of luck

 

[Thestonerguy]

Hello, I am new to this forum and am seeking help..

I am fairly new to the CB world, I drive a truck and have used a crappy dying cobra 29 for over a year and finally got sick of no reception and poor sending.. So I went out and got a new rig..

General Lee - From RadioActive Radios
Predator 10k 9" shaft standard uncut whip (so far)
Astatic 636L mic
Firestik Firering coax 19’ with steel mounting bolts and an aluminum mirror bracket

This is on/in a freightliner, mounted on the top mirror bar.. I have made double sure all coax and mounting stuff is grounded and supplying correctly.. The issue is I cant seem to get my SWR's lower then a 1.9.. I first mounted the antenna at a 10 to 15 degree angel forward due to how high strait up is (still 14' 5" at 15ish degree tilt forward). I was getting 1.9 on 1 and 1.7 on 20 and 40. Tonight I adjusted the antenna back about 20 degrees cuz I was hitting bridges and am still getting a 1.7 on 1 and 20 and a 2.0 on 40.. So there was a change from front to back, but sorta conflicting info.. From what that tells me is forward it needs to be longer and back needs to be shorter? I have not tried the antenna at an upright angel cuz its just way to tall if I do that.. So Im kinda not sure what to do.. I also ran a ground strap to the mounting bracket tonight and didn’t make a difference on the SWR meter at all.. Oh yeah, Im using a Road Pro SWR meter..

I hope that someone might be able to give me a pointer and where to look to get my SWR's down some more..

Thanks!

There's nothing wrong with 1:7 SWR, and even 2:0 won't kill you or your rig, especially on the higher channels which are SSB, you're not putting out a constant carrier. Even if you were to get the SWR from 1:7 to 1:1 you wouldn't notice any difference in your receive or transmit.

 

[Switch Kit]

I agree Stoner guy , but better should be better , especially if he wanted to run power later , it surely sounds like he's close to where he needs to be , sounds like a ground strap might make a different here ??? Hang in there Dave !! Your close dude !!

 

[King Mudduck]

I cant remember for sure what the mirror brackets look like on your truck but in the past i had to take them loose from the door. There is a small plastic insert that sits between the bracket its self and the body of the truck to prevent the mirror bracket from rattling. Remove this and the tighten the screws that hold the bracket to the body and this will help your SWR problem because it will get a better ground this way. Even with the ground strap you have ran it still may not be enough. By the way make sure your antenna is mounted as far out on the bracket as it can be. If its to close to the body it will cause a higher SWR reading.

 

[DTB Radio]

Truck Driver Dave, Please post the year and model of the freightliner you're driving. In general, most of those types of antennas will need to be trimmed to achieve proper tuning. I'd recommend you stop by a shop that has an antenna anlyzer, preferably soemthign that shows impedance AND swr at the same time. They'll be able to much more quickly diagnose the problem.

Stonerguy, his radio doesn't have sideband, its a General Lee. It will be putting out a carrier on any channel he uses. I agree that a 1.9-2 isn't a dangerous level, but it CAN lead to extra feedback problems in some situations.

 

[Truck Driver Dave]

Welp just to give an update.. I moved the antenna to a more upright position and got my SWR's to 1.5 1 and 20 and 1.7 on 40.. So that means that I will need to trim the whip a little.. Other wise its seems to be running pretty well.. Its a nice rig.. Im running in the city, so I’m not getting the range I thought I would, but I haven’t gotten it out on the road yet.. I will post up some pix when it stops raining! Does anyone have experience with radioactive radios?

 

[King Mudduck]

All i have ever heard abou them is that they will make your radio blow smoke........FOR REAL!

 

[BIONIC_TEXAN88]

i have had 2 10k's and had to trim a good amount of stinger off to get them tuned. since you have a short shaft, you wont have to trim as much off. kale makes his stingers long that way you wont have to cut too much off, and if you do, there is a good amount of travel your stinger can make to get it the right length and just tighten down the allen head.

 

[DTB Radio]

Welp just to give an update.. I moved the antenna to a more upright position and got my SWR's to 1.5 1 and 20 and 1.7 on 40.. So that means that I will need to trim the whip a little.. Other wise its seems to be running pretty well.. Its a nice rig.. Im running in the city, so I’m not getting the range I thought I would, but I haven’t gotten it out on the road yet.. I will post up some pix when it stops raining! Does anyone have experience with radioactive radios?

I had the opportunity to go through and inspect a "whackpacked" radio from them. It didn't put out any more power than a normally-tuned radio, and it exhibited significantly more distortion, both at teh audio and RF levels. Visit This thread to see some additional in-depth discussion of their mod(s).