CB help

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Dent

New Member
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1,051
Location
North shropshire
Just got round to fitting an old cb in me disco, thought it would be a good time to do it as the tractor boys are on the silage , and all use them. It's an old maxcom 20e ( I know nowt about them ) the problem is the sound, lots of noise very faint voice, what sort of external speaker can i use, tried a disco door speaker, less hiss but won't turn up as loud, is it just a crap cb, crap speaker or signal. Any advise much appreciated as i'm on the point of bin'in the fookin lot .
 
I'd start by presuming a crap signal, and probably the squelch turned down.
First off, have you set the SWR with a meter and trimming the areal?
What IS the areal, and how/where have you mounted it?
What sort of range are you working on?
Where is the rig mounted?
Have you got a 'clean' earth?
To the rig AND for the areial?
External speakers normally need some amplification.
You can get amplified external speakers, but first try might be plugging it into your car radio via one of those widgets used to attach an MP3 player, such as an FM transmitter, a cassette adapter, or if you hav an aux in, simply a jack-lead.
BUT if you are picking up static, then you will simply amplify THAT, so you need to get a clean signal first, and be able to turn down the squelch so all you get is voice transmission, before you try boosting it.
Hence work on the twig, the SWR and the earths first.
 
Thanks Teflon, the aerial is a mini springer, mounted on roof light bar, as for SWR and trimming, thats lost me :), the range is close ( the field next to me ) the set has a good earth and the lights earth through the bar so that should be okay but i will try another earth to be sure. It has a meter on the cb not sure what it's for, signal strength ?,moves a bit but not a lot .
 
Meter will be a sig-strenght meter, so does sound like weak signal.
Twig's on the roof-bar, how's it mounted?
Does the rig have twiddle knob tuning or press button channels?
May be that it's not tuning in properly....... if os well beyond my scope of fixes!
One thunk, listening you aren't getting a decent signal, but what about transmit?
Can any-one hear you clearly?
Just wondering if the circuitry has been 'blown'; often transmitting from the set with no areal to defray the power blows the transistors or frys components on the boards.......
Anyway, about installing and setting up, these may be of use:-
CB Radio
Two-way traffic!
Radio - getting technical
 
If you unscrew the antenna plug from the CB itself and pull the plug out a little so that only the inner pin is connected, do you get a stronger/louder signal from the guys nearby?
 
The earth seems ok, but can't test it as there's no one about today, think i need more beans though, it's no use to me if it just sounds like the fookin moon landin .:mad:
 
Cheers for the advice, don't know what i've done but it works fine now, what's your thoughts on quick release aerial mounts, I've got one here to fit but it seems poor quality, paid six quid for it,when you take it apart the spring flys out, do they affect the signal much, now it's working well i don't want to mess it up.
 
Just bort a midland cb off ebay... been a long time since i used one, could anyone recommend a good aerial? its a midland 77-099 and do i need a swr meter?
 
Any of the stinger or modulator antennas would be ok. They're a decent size and are pretty resilient.

You will need an SWR meter to initially set the antenna for transmit, but you wont need one in-line all the time.
 
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