Newbie intro and uniden

[brownie12]

Hi All , Brownie here and have just purchased my first CB to fit to our F250 that tows a fifth wheeler so I can talk to the trucks and let them past when I am a Bit slow , I look forward to talking to you all in the future once I get it all set up and going .

Is a Uniden pro 530XL purchased Second hand on the net . When I got it I found that it would transmit clear as a bell but would not recieve when the other truck was close by. Have cleaned the button in the handpiece with CO cleaner and spread the prongs where the mike screws in but it made no difference . Have not hard wired to the truck as yet so was bench tested with a jerry ariel but would have thought it would have transmitted 8 meters to the other truck . All suggestions are welcome as I may have missed something easy :blush:

Keep enjoyin the good things

 

[pistolero]

Hi All , Brownie here and have just purchased my first CB to fit to our F250 that tows a fifth wheeler so I can talk to the trucks and let them past when I am a Bit slow , I look forward to talking to you all in the future once I get it all set up and going .


Is a Uniden pro 530XL purchased Second hand on the net . When I got it I found that it would transmit clear as a bell but would not recieve when the other truck was close by. Have cleaned the button in the handpiece with CO cleaner and spread the prongs where the mike screws in but it made no difference . Have not hard wired to the truck as yet so was bench tested with a jerry ariel but would have thought it would have transmitted 8 meters to the other truck . All suggestions are welcome as I may have missed something easy :blush:

Keep enjoyin the good things

First, WELCOME to the forums.
Second, you are going to have to clarify your problem. First you said it would "transmit clear as a bell" but not receive. Then "would have thought it would transmit 8 meters to the other truck".
Take a few minutes to go over and explain exactly what happened and you may get some answers.

 

[brownie12]

Doh

Hi There,
Hey thanks for that ................. yep my bad ............ I can see it would cause confusion .

Everything the same as above except it shoud have read " would not recieve from the other truck 8 meters away "

Checked the following :: on same channel , both AM CB , Squelch adjusted , have 12V getting to CB

Hope that is more helpful
Brownie

 

[pistolero]

It's not a problem with the mic or you wouldn't be getting out.

 

[hotrod]

if it wont recieve . then id say its in your antenna sytem
bad antenna or poor performer
bad coax or connections
or high swrs
if this is all good then finally id say the reciever section in your radio is bad
or someone tried to mess with it.

 

[AudioShockwav]

It's not a problem with the mic or you wouldn't be getting out.

Unless it is like a lot of CB radio that will not RX unless the mic is plugged in, I have seen radios that have a broken wire in the mic cord that stop the radio from having any audio on RX because of it.
Do you hear anything at all with the squelch open?
Not sure, but does that radio have an external speaker jack or can you pull the cover and see if the internal speaker is working to eliminate that?


73
Jeff

 

[jazzsinger]

You mention it not getting to a truck 8 metres away on a jerry antenna,not sure what that is (I'm from the UK so no specialist on US cb terms) but assuming its a rubber duck or something, given it can be heard ok on an antenna,suggests the output transistor (2sc2078 I believe) might be blown and your transmitting driver power.

Have you tested it on a watt meter into a dummy load to see what power it is or isn't putting out.

Do 3 or 4 of the tx LED's light up whilst tx'ing,normally 4 would be lit with a good swr maybe 2 or 3 with a bad swr.

On the rx side,
Is there any sound,
Is there any rx LED's lit,again someone transmitting within a mile of you should light 3 or 4.
No sound or lights you could be looking at a blown audio ic or front end rf amp transistor,usually 2sc1674,if I recall, I have the european president later version of this chassis with fm and 120 ch but I would imagine there's a few differences.

The other possibiity is someone has been messing about with the rx/tx/IF coils/transformers and screwed up the ferrite cores.

Does the tx/rx LED's switch when you key up?
The more you observe the more people can help you.

 

[AudioShockwav]

I found that it would transmit clear as a bell but would not recieve when the other truck was close by.

would not recieve from the other truck 8 meters away

IF I am understanding the post correctly he can NOT HEAR the other truck close by....
Maybe we need a bit more clarification.


73
Jeff

 

[Robb]

Brownie:

Never read once that you checked the SWR of that jerry-rigged antenna.

Since you said that you are a noob; then this might help if your radio hasn't been toasted yet:

SWR

 

[brownie12]

Hi There,

Sorry about the New Zealand Slang .......... Jerry arial ......... means it was home made arial constructed out of electricial wire. It transmitted great, so would have thought it would recieve. Yes can hear speaker when squelch is turned anticlockwise, No I cannot hear the other truck or hear any noise or see any lights when he triggered the Mic.
Sorry do not have a watt meter , mic was plugged in , will check wires in mic for any breaks with a multi meter.

I will grab the correct arial etc for it next time I am in town

Thanks for all the help
Brownie

 

[jazzsinger]

Hi There,

Sorry about the New Zealand Slang .......... Jerry arial ......... means it was home made arial constructed out of electricial wire. It transmitted great, so would have thought it would recieve. Yes can hear speaker when squelch is turned anticlockwise, No I cannot hear the other truck or hear any noise or see any lights when he triggered the Mic.
Sorry do not have a watt meter , mic was plugged in , will check wires in mic for any breaks with a multi meter.

I will grab the correct arial etc for it next time I am in town

Thanks for all the help
Brownie

]

Hi Brownie, didn't realise you were Kiwi,sorry,jerry built in the uk tends to refer to houses built badly,hence so many british brickies joiners etc working in Germany.


Hearing speaker is good, suggests audio ic is fine, your antenna you describe should pick a truck up 8 miles away let alone 8 yards, I think your either looking at a blown front end rf amp transistor and possibly bad alignment of rx strip,you'll see small metal cans with ferrite slugs in them,look for screwdriver damage,I'm on the mobile just now,I'll see if I can locate the schematic have a look for most likely sources,

I'm assuming your tx
Is giving audio as well as signal.if so and signal is strong chances are driver and final are ok, I'm not sure what that radio uses as a detector for AM, I assume its the same chassis as the US AM only one,a chassis number would help,generally printed on uniden boarded radios,,another possibility is the detector chip/diodes are blown, its also possible an rx only oscillator signal is missing/low, a good clear pic of the component side might help too, if you lack test gear and its not the rf amp (usually 2sc1674 but could be a mosfet) but poor alignment,test gear really helps and should be left to someone who knows what their doing.

Takes a hell of a lot of experience to align rx or tx strip without test gear,and even at that you'll get close but not perfect,the tx alignment really does need test gear as without it you can never be certain the radio isn't spewing harmonics.spectrum analyser is what's really required but even 2nd hand they cost thousands of pounds/dollars.

An oscilloscope with pan adaptor is a cheaper solution but not exactly cheap either.

 

[brownie12]

Thanks for reply

Hey thanks for all the replies but to be honest I am a bit lost reading all the terms and descriptions. Me thinks I will take it to the CB doctor or cut my losses and just buy a new one for $200.00 . :bdh:
Keep Smilin
Brownie

 

[rockymount622]

One more thing to check... Is the External speaker switch set to cb or ext. speaker?

 

[9C1Driver]

At this point first check the antenna system with a cheap radio, if it works then you know your antenna is good. Next, double check radio settings, mic, power cord, and see if it works. After that have the radio bench tested by a shop. I can't see why a new Uniden is 200 bucks, wow.