New CB Radio can't Get A Signal

Nevermind people, I learned it was the length of my antenna, I need to find a place that sells a resizable antenna cause the one I have isn't.
 
Yeah, I guess we're not much help down here as we all use UHF which is not as susceptable to antenna length - I'm guessing you are using an AM CB?
 
Oh - where's my location gone! Sydney, down-under
 
Would be worth upgrading to UHF for the better quality- AM's are better in hilly areas and over distance, but the quality is quite poor. Mind you, sounds like you got the old AM unit for a good price, and you cannot ignore that!
 
^ depends what is in general use in the USA though! I noticed Ice Road Truckers were on channel 19 - is that a coincidence?
 
AM used to be in general use here, which was where all the idiots were, and UHF was feral free. Now the ferals have switched over to UHF- at least in built up areas. Not a problem out of town generally
 
Kevin said:
^ depends what is in general use in the USA though! I noticed Ice Road Truckers were on channel 19 - is that a coincidence?
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in canada and the u.s. we(truckers) use ch.19 as the official trucking channel. but more and more truckers now drive with the radio turned off because of the language on ch.19 or use another channel.
 
^ is that UHF or 27 MHz AM - I'm guessing AM.
 
It came from my grandfathers and I beleive the COAX is right as I can get the Weather band and when i connect the antenna I get a stronger signal. I do beleive I need to lower my antenna as it's extremly tall I just wish I knew a place that sold resiable antennas as I don't want to cut mine
 
Sounds like the ferals are on the loose in sunny Canada as well. Aerial height is critical to range, as is type of aerial and possibly its placement and type. I am assuming you are using 27MHz am radio. Aerials lengths are in fractions of the wavelength. I'm not sure what the wavelength of a 27 meg signal is, but when I used 27 meg on my big trips I used twin 9' aerials, mounted front and rear. This gave me incredible range and allowed excellent skip. In northern Queensland I could hear a bloke in Alaska, and communicate with a bloke in Perth (WA).

With aerials, you have ground dependant and ground independant, and from memory I think most if not all 27meg ones are ground dependant. This makes their mounting important. If you mount such an aerial on say the towbar, most of its signal will be to the front of the car, and if you mount it on the centre of a bull bar, most of the signal will go to the rear. The signal radiates over the metal of the car. This is why I used 2 aerials with a switchbox so I could have a better signal to the person I was talking to. The difference is significant.

This is why some people mount the aerial either through the centre of the roof, or on a roof rack in the centre of the roof. It spreads the signal more evenly. Or, they get a ground independant aerial and mount it as high as they can for best signal. (not sure if available with 27 meg)

The other difference in aerials is their Db gain. The higher the gain, the more vertical the signal goes, but over a shorter distance. Here, I am not so sure as I think this is more with UHF aerials- it has been some time since I played with 27 meg so this is why I am not sure.

You may also want to SWR the aerial to the radio, and do a continuity test before that just to ensure the coax is good. To SWR the radio, you will need a SWR meter and for that you need to speak tto a 2 way radio guru or similar. SWR'ing is not usually needed with UHF as the aerial and coax are sold as is, which is fortunate because they are far more delicate in their tuning than 27 meg.

Hope all goes well.
 
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Yes, I can spell spelling!
 
I mount the antenna (a magnetic base one) alittle to the back from the middle on the right side. As for SWR, mine has a SWR gauge built in in, and has a calibration process I can go threw, but I still need to cut the antenna down. I wish I could do what my buddy is doing but it would look stupid on my car, and that's get the military sized antenna, those things are huge, and probably give you some good length
 
AngelOfDarkness said:
Why language? what do u mean? Maybe that's why I don't hear as much chatter
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by language, I mean that there's a lot of name calling,racist,sexist comments,etc.... just go on channel 19 when stuck in a major traffic jam due to a crash, it doesn't take 5 seconds that drivers are yelling after each others for absolutely no reason, calling the other driver a f*** f*g or commenting on a female driver talking on the radio...the list goes on. a lot of drivers just chut the radio off these days. myself, i just stay on the french canadian channel(12) if channel 19 is getting too crowded.
as for channel 9, it's not the local channel but the emergency channel. normal you don't hear much chatter on that channel. for traffic,accident,etc it's channel 19 your way to go since it's the trucker channel. don't worry, it's not all about bad language :lol: it's worst in some parts of the u.s. but seeing you're from CO, it's generally pretty civilized on the cb up there. it's a minority of drivers who disturb but it's them we hear the most so... and don't be shy to ask for infos on 19, we're not all killers on the loose :lol:! just remember that we use cb lingo for alot of stuff like:

my favorites: meat wagon = ambulance
dirt nap = death
bubble gum machine = cop car with flashing lights on roof

I found this website with all the cb slang, quite funny and helpful if you wanna know where the cops are since there's so many different terms used for cops depending if sherriff,rookie,local,etc...have fun!

https://www.cbgazette.com/slang.html

my radio and antenna: (i use this radio in my forester as well but not the antenna)

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Yeah I found that slang site before and one of the main reasons i got the radio was cause of cops. Also where did you get your antenna I am trying to find one and can't find a place to buy one that would mount on my Subuaru. I am thinking of having cartoys install it for me and by that I mean all the wiring is behind the interior and the antenna be mounted on the back right of my subby (since I won't be able to get my Ford Explorer Sprots Trec cause my parents won't let me sell the subby even thought it was purchased with my money without my approval)
 
the antenna I have on the truck(the one on the pic) was bought at a Love's truckstop, it's about 60-70$. but I keep this antenna on the truck, as it would look weird on the subie because of it's size. I'd suggest you go for a wilson 2000, about the same price and more discret looking. you can find wilson antennas in any major truckstops(flying j,TA,pilot,Love's...). if you can have someone install it with all wiring behind the dash go for it and ask to install a filter at the same time so you don't hear all kind of noises(alternator,etc...)
 
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