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cb radio help please

1699 Views 16 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  milo
i just bought a cobra cb radio it lights up and stuff and its pretty cool. i got a 29'' antenna that sticks on the back window and then the piece with the wire goes on the inside of the window. i live in the city and not too many ppl have cb's so i havent got to try the channels yet but it comes in clear when the car is off and seems to work fine the weather channel does atleast. but when i turn it on it gets fuzzy. the pa doesnt sound fuzzy unless on the weather channel. but idk what it is. is it making a wire loose or something? my car vibrates because i have a a somewhat radical cam, but idk if its the vibration or maybe not having enough power. i spent over 200 on the setup and just would kinda like to know whats going on and if i should worry about it.
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msd. which i think is starting to mess up so im taking it out soon hopefully
18camaro said:
i just bought a cobra cb radio it lights up and stuff and its pretty cool. i got a 29'' antenna that sticks on the back window and then the piece with the wire goes on the inside of the window. i live in the city and not too many ppl have cb's so i havent got to try the channels yet but it comes in clear when the car is off and seems to work fine the weather channel does atleast. but when i turn it on it gets fuzzy. the pa doesnt sound fuzzy unless on the weather channel. but idk what it is. is it making a wire loose or something? my car vibrates because i have a a somewhat radical cam, but idk if its the vibration or maybe not having enough power. i spent over 200 on the setup and just would kinda like to know whats going on and if i should worry about it.
Does the sound change when you rev the engine? It is most likely the ignition system but without more info, it's hard to tell. Make sure before you transmit that you have the SWR's set correctly or it won't last long. Bad SWR's while receiving won't hurt the radio but bad SWR's transmitting will.
18camaro said:
when i turn it on it gets fuzzy.
You have a Ford, so take a look HERE. This mainly pertains to trucks w/an electric fuel pump.
i followed the instruction manual on the swr's and did what it said. i will try revving the engine tomorrow my dad got mad at me tonight for the PA so i had to quit. what would the ignition be doing? also my radio wont go to the normal volume without crackling bad. would that be a sign of the ignition system too? my neighbor says its missing and going bad so hopefully that fixes it. and i havent transmitted yet because of lack of cb uses around here.


and no its an 81 chevy camaro
check your body ground i work at an audio shop im not as familiar with older cars but always a problem with newer cars
can i do it to a fender? or the door hinge? the cb ground is on a bolt i found in the car thats hooked up to metal im not postitive what it is
best thing would be to check the ground from the battery to the body if theirs not one iv seen them come from the block and so on so forth just add one from battery to body see if that helps
my batter has 2 things on the side and 2 on the top. do i ground the side one to the body or the top one to the body?
either one will work although it would be better to use the same one that your car currently uses
18camaro said:
its an 81 chevy camaro
I was looking at another thread, my bad.
o true no problem. but i went ot he link you attached and read that forum and it sounds like my exact problem
Here is a way to check how your noise is getting to your radio,
With your radio on and your car running,disconnect the coax from the back of the radio ,now if you are getting noise from the radio that fire in step with the engine(rev the motor to see if it changes with the motor) it is coming in on the power wires.........As has been said in previous posts, filters will take care of this problem (the large filters that resemble a power transformer but with only two wires are the best) that and the aforementioned run separate power wires (with fuse!!!!) direct from the battery.
If by disconnecting the coax your noise goes away you probably have a deeper problem called RFI..............Radio Frequency Interference.Any power source that produces a electrical arc will make Radio Frequency waves be it electrical motors, spark plugs , switching equipment or that power transformer out side of your house arcing because of dust build up or water vapor.
The only way to cure this one is at the source of the interference ,if it is coming from your vehicle it can be done (all though not completely in some cases) just by figuring out what is the source of the interference and what to do it . Some of this has already been posted in this thread.
electric motors....blower fan ,fuel pumps(both in line and in tank)
spark plugs...Non resistor plugs and wires,this includes the distributor and cap
On the motors, bypass with capacitors (non-polarity type)as stated before
On the spark plugs,replace with resistor plugs and wires(I doubt this is part of the problem as standard non-resistor plugs and wire are not sold for auto apps unless for racing) on the distributor I have yet to find a sure fix for this one,replacing the wires usually cured this one.
Also you mentioned a CB antenna that uses induction to transmit (sandwiched plates with the rear window glass between them) toss this antenna and buy you a good magnetic mount with the coil in the middle or close to the top of the antenna,or get a 102" whip and mount it on you bumper. The induction ant is junk!!
This is just some of the stuff that I have learned in the 40 plus years that I have been installing car radios an CB"s.Over the years I have run it to some strange problems such as the one that I traced back to turn signal flasher. With auto electrical systems you never know.
Good Luck!!
Kenny
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Look for a Wilson 1000 ..
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here's another project from the west coast ..

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