Need help troubleshooting my setup

wakingtowinter · May 15, 2010

When I bought my truck it came with a radio already installed on the dash. It is a Uniden PC68LTW I believe. No antenna, but had a coax running back to the bed. So I finally got all my stuff in the mail and mounted my antenna. It is a 4ft Firestik fiberglass antenna. I'm using a spring on the bottom of it. I used one of those stakehole mounts and put it on the driver's side front stakehole. I ran a 10 or 12 gauge ground wire from the driver's side frame rail (used one of the bolts for the fuel filter bracket) and ran it up and put it on the antenna. Plugged the coax into the PL259 connector.

I cannot get anything on it, around town, on the highway, wherever, I have not been able to get anything on it. If I turn the squelch all the way down I can get static, but it's messy sounding, not smooth at all, and it comes in and out. I've tried several test transmissions but if anyone's hearing me, I certainly can't hear back from them.

I really know next to nothing about radios, so I need some help on this one. I haven't tried tuning the antenna yet, planning on going out and getting a SWR meter soon, but even without tuning it, shouldn't I be able to get something, even if it's not optimal? Do I just need to tune it or could I have something wrong with my radio? Thanks a bunch, appreciate it

mwood1985 · May 16, 2010

a firestick is a good antenna if you remember the 60% rule. the antenna needs to be at least 60 percent above the highest point of the bed for optimal range. thats why i use a 102 inch whip but its hard to tune lol.

1. the coax could be bad
2. Radio could be bad
3. swr could be off really bad so its not gonna transmit or recieve anything farther away than eyeshot distance
4. no one with a CB close enough to hear you....hey ya never know

id try to find a cb shop near you just google search it and let them take a look at it
make sure they set the swr on channel 20 that way when you are using 1 or 40 it wont be too bad off

wakingtowinter · May 16, 2010

I've tried looking for a radio store around here but the only thing I can find is radioshack, and they don't really deal with CB stuff. There is a television repair shop down the street, I'll ask them on Monday if they know any place around.

I read in a couple different places that you should not try transmitting without an antenna. Why is this? Does it damage the radio? I'm pretty sure when I was fooling around with it before I got my antenna I keyed in for a couple seconds. I was also wondering if that damaged my radio.

02RangerXLT · May 16, 2010

It can POSSIBLY damage the radio, but to be real honest it probably won't do anything unless you do it excessively.

Some radios tell you IN THE MANUAL not to key the mic without an antenna, thats what my Midland 1001Z says, but YMMV...

wakingtowinter · May 17, 2010

yep, the store in town couldn't even point me in the direction of any radio stores that would be able to help me. I don't think any are around anymore. Short of buying a SWR meter, tuning it, replacing the coax and radio, I don't know what I can do. This is probably way off, but I have a rollbar in my bed (next to the antenna) - that wouldn't interfere, would it?

4x4junkie · May 17, 2010

It could... (especially with a shorter antenna like that)

How close is the antenna to it?

wakingtowinter · May 17, 2010

The antenna's about 5" away from the side of rollbar. About 60% of the antenna is above the top of the rollbar.

4x4junkie · May 18, 2010

5" is way too close. 5' or more away would be better.

Maybe mount the antenna on top of the rollbar? That's where I put it on my Ranger. It works very well there.

ChrisW6ATV · May 18, 2010

If you have enough cable, at least try the antenna in one of the back stake holes. You really need to have another person with a CB radio to help test your setup. Swap radios into both vehicles, etc.

An SWR meter is cheap enough to be worth buying if that radio does not have it built-in.

Resurrection Ranger · May 25, 2010

I've found inconsistencies between external SWR meters and meters that are built it. I personally always use an external set up. And remember to keep your doors closed when you test. Just my thought. Good luck

MakerOfBeast · Jun 3, 2010

depending on how long you coax is it can change the resistance in your radio. If i remember right the average length for a coax used to be about 18 feet, and if you have extra i have heard from the old guys i worked with that looping it can cause interferance and ruin signal strength. also does your firestick have the full amount of wire wound on it as the longer one, some firesticks are set up to use two of them at one there buy increasing the resistance in the antenna circuit and getting better reception. defiantly use an external swr meter and not the one on the radio, also check under the rubber tip on your firestick and see if it is tuneable ( will have a little metal rod sticking out of the top and held in with a set screw)

wakingtowinter · Jun 7, 2010

update on this...I was doing the wiring for my new fog lights the other night and I was cleaning up a bunch of wires the previous owner left lying around, mostly from the sub and amp that used to be in there, but I found my coax cable running through the firewall and it was completely severed...haha don't know how that would have happened but something ripped it right in half. So that was an easy fix. Went to the radio store, got a new coax, put it in, had them tune the antenna, works great now! Very happy to have that for the long commute now. Now if I can do something about my wipers... :annoyed:

02RangerXLT · Jun 7, 2010

Nice, you may want to get some zip ties now and go through the whole area of your coax, and zip tie it down so it doesn't move...

ChrisW6ATV · Jun 7, 2010

Ouch... Cut coax is not good

4x4junkie · Jun 8, 2010

wakingtowinter said:
update on this...I was doing the wiring for my new fog lights the other night and I was cleaning up a bunch of wires the previous owner left lying around, mostly from the sub and amp that used to be in there, but I found my coax cable running through the firewall and it was completely severed...haha don't know how that would have happened but something ripped it right in half. So that was an easy fix. Went to the radio store, got a new coax, put it in, had them tune the antenna, works great now! Very happy to have that for the long commute now. Now if I can do something about my wipers...

That would certainly do it. Cool you found the problem and that by the sound of it, your radio survived as well :icon_thumby:

MakerOfBeast said:
depending on how long you coax is it can change the resistance in your radio. If i remember right the average length for a coax used to be about 18 feet, and if you have extra i have heard from the old guys i worked with that looping it can cause interferance and ruin signal strength.

A good quality (well-shielded) coaxial cable can be routed in pretty much any manner or length (it's always best to keep it's length to the shortest practical anyway so you won't have as much signal loss in the cable).

Need help troubleshooting my setup

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