cb radio whats necessary?

[Maniak]

Originally Posted by Donner

I just picked up a Cobra replacing a Uniden a day or so ago... a bigger unit. I was told there are noise filters, but it sounds gimmicky. Do they really work?

The cb has been grounded, regrounded, and 2x more in different locations away from the dash - still noisy. I tried direct battery hook up, but the battery or the vehicle became slow to start up.

Compared to a Uniden, I can't say.. compared to a Realistic, at least the older realistic models, the Cobra handles noise much better.

The Squelch is a little touchy... Our our Cobra 29 it goes from no squelch to high squelch in a non liniear mode.. its hard to fine tune it..

I no longer use the squelch on the Cobra.. I use the RF gain to get it so the noise is barely audible.. I don't bring in the far away people but the squelch seems to keep out more people..

The statement about starting issues when you send direct to the battery don't quite make sense.. The CB will take just as much power away from the battery as it would though some other circuit. This is assuming that you are turning off the radio. I can leave my radio on over night (it is directly connected to the battery) and in the morning I see no difference in starting. Granted, I didn't try this in really cold weather and I don't recomend it but the CB doesn't pull much power when its just sitting there not broadcasting).

To get rid the noise you do need to know where the noise is coming from.. Through the antenna or through the electrical circuit.. Just pull the antenna wire off (don't key the mic with the antenna disconnected) the back of the radio and see if the noise goes away. If it does, connect the wire, but disconnect it at the antenna. That will let you know if you need to "move" the wire.

As already stated, If disconnecting the antenna doesn't make the noise go away then the noise is on the power or ground lines. That means route it differently, add filters and possibly connect it somewhere else.

~Mark

[Donner]

Whew! Got it... I'll see what happens. Thank you!

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by Donner

Okay, this is great info, I used 14g wiring... I'll switch back to the lower fuse. Thanks guys! My antenna has a ground attached... If it's bracketed and grounded to the metal bumper, why does it need an additional ground?

What is the Mfg. of the Antenna ?

Wilson has an extra ground wire but it should only be used if the SWR is too high.

Grounding isn't always the answer to noise, just make sure the system has a good ground.

As both the red and black power wires going to the battery ?

The more you pay for a radio the better the filtering inside of the radio.

Rat Shaq tends to put as little as possible in their Radios to keep the price down.

As stated by Maniak and myself earlier in the posting, determine where the noise is coming from, then you can TRY to get rid of it.

[Donner]

The Tennis Wilson?? Anyway, I picked this up from a trucking/mobile home supplier near by...

I tried running both lines directly from the battery, but the vehicle seemed to struggle to start - a slow cranking. I regrounded it to the frame, and it started up normally again.

[Sandy]

This thread is mixed up a little with questions from more than one person...

The antenna in my opinion is one of the best on the market.
It is a Wilson and you should be able to tune it without the additional wire at the base being connected.
Sometime the tuning needs to be in very small steps so take you time.
You starting problem as stated by Maniak has nothing to do with the two power wires going to the battery unless you disturbed the connections, made the connection worse and then made it better again when you disconnected the CB BUT I am grabbing at straws.. Did you run the wires to the battery or to the solenoid ?
The amperage draw of a CB in receive mode is 250 mW, about 1/4 of a watt, less than 1/2 an amp; not much so it really can't hurt the battery. If the CB was in transmit mode overnight maybe but I think the CB would burn up the finals in the CB before it hurt the battery.


big5dogg, how's your install going ?