The Bomb

[MTec007]

picked up a "Cobra Electronics HG A1000 High Gear CB Antenna" looks like a cellular antenna, mag mount. good for up to 100watts. but i just cant get a good SWR on it. sometimes the meter will move and some times it wont... i cant get ahold of my friend (on his cell) to try and test it out... and to help me get this thing configured. ill be near the interstate on friday and will be able to test it for sure then.. i wish i knew what i was doing because that would help a lot

[DriverOne]

First of all, you want to be away from just about everything (power lines, buildings, other vehicles, the woods) when you test your SWR to avoid interference. I'm guessing you have a meter. If not, you'll need one of those. Go to Channel 1. Check your SWR. Go to Channel 40. Check it again. It should be the same. If not, adjust the antenna. Keep going back & forth adjusting the antenna until the meter reads the same at both 1 and 40. Your ground helps a LOT. If you can ground to the frame straight from the radio, that will help too. The closer to -0- you can get your SWR, the better. Good luck!

[MTec007]

where does the SWR CAL knob come into play? my CB has a SWR meter. your saying ground the cb to the frame/body? what about straight to the battery? right now its plugged into the cig lighter. im getting the ANT light coming on which means something isnt right.. but i dont know what

[DriverOne]

I believe the ANT light coming on means your antenna isn't connected properly, or you . I wish I could be there! I could help... The better ground you get, the better your antenna will reach within it's parameters, so try a few places to ground the radio. As far as the CAL knob, I've not used a radio with that, so you might check the websites for that info... Sorry, sounding like quite the novice here fast.

[MTec007]

actually im a real big noob when it comes to CB's. i cant get ahold of my friend and my brotherinlaw (ex trucker of 8 years) is always working

[MTec007]

I have the cb hooked straight to the battery instead of the cigarette lighter and i still have the ANT light on. Antenna is snug on the back of the cb and the antenna itself is snug on the mag mount base. Will an untuned antenna cause the ANT light to come on? Note that I'm not getting a reading on any SWR at all, so the antenna should be tuned right? But I call out and no one answers.

[wybnrml]

If you have a Cobra radio here is a link to some product manuals. Maybe they will help you? http://www.cobra.com/pages/product-manuals#CB%20Radios

[MTec007]

i appreciate that, and i have read the manual for the model i have (uniden pc78xl) and it doesnt really help me solve the issue. maybe time to find a good cb forum for help

http://www.uniden.com/pdf/PC78XLom.pdf

[MTec007]

turns out my new antenna is a piece of crap, now its time to go get a real antenna, recommened by the experts over at cbradiotalk.com

[DriverOne]

turns out my new antenna is a piece of crap, now its time to go get a real antenna, recommended by the experts over at cbradiotalk.com

Good to know it wasn't the radio. Which antenna did they recommend?

[MTec007]

at first i wanted a small antenna, they say wilson lil-wil is good but now i have decided to go full size so i will have to ask them again

[MTec007]

i had to modify the console for the cb (and did a horrific job), and the bracket since my car body didnt have the holes for the bracket, i mounted it to the bolts under the ash tray at the back

[DriverOne]

It's aliiiiiiiiiiiive!

[MTec007]

no i had it in because i thought the antenna i bought was good.. cb is actually back out and im waiting for a resistor, because i replaced the blown bulb in the meter with a led. and i still need to find a decent antenna

[MTec007]

well its in, i can find out if its going to work tommorow, ill be at work near the interstate