The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[Rick W]

You still have a manual for that Cobra?

It seems maybe that model, maybe not, had a red LED light that would come on if the SWR is too high.



And to expand on my first question, is that an SWR or signal strength indicator on the CB? A needle indicator should go up for signal strength, and down for SWR.

"can't pick up anything and nobody responding", can either be an indication of how popular CB is these days or you do have antenna problem. Got a multimeter? Set for "ohms" or continuity; male pin on the PL-259 (CB connector) should have continuity to the whip only, and no continuity to ground. The outer ferrule on the PL-259 (screw collar) should have continuity to ground. Probing between the PL-259 pin and collar should be infinity (zero continuity).

You may have pinched the coax at the PL-259. I know that you used to be able to a 90" adapter to help depth issues.

Try in order: swapping the mic; substituting another (hopefully known good) antenna.

I think I might still have a working SWR meter, and I could walk you through how to adjust the SWR (beg pardon if you already know how).


Related, and maybe funny story. I'm cleaning out my decades-neglected junk shed today (damn I'm loving being retired!) and pulled out a JC Penney 23 channel CB. A few '60s and '70s factory head units, a few cassette decks, and one 8-track deck (so far). Damn I'm a packrat.

"Kick It Back, Good Buddy!"

and I ordered three of the right angle PL-259’s last night

 

[Rick W]

Antenna wire is sharp bent over 90 degrees. I’ll wait til I get the new 90 degree connectors before I tackle it. Still plenty else to do.

Also, Whadda y’all think? I’m contemplating putting in a 1 1/2 or 2 inch wide flag stripe above the windows with the leftover flag decal. Good idea or bad idea? What’s the vote?

 

[Sharky]

over the windows is to much IMO......

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Too much

 

[sgtsandman]

Too much flag.

I agree on the assessment that you probably damaged the coax cable for the antenna.

 

[Rick W]

No more flag!

I stripped and sanded my $10 Goodwill 7 gallon air tank that I’m going to mount behind the drivers door next to the toolbox, and I put the first coat of silver on it.

I want to pull the tank valve and tee it into a line to a little 12 V compressor I’m putting in the toolbox. I couldn’t get the thing to budge with a 10 inch crescent wrench! I’ll have to figure it out before I put on the final coat of paint.

Here’s my deluxe compressor. I’m also having delusions of putting a gauge inside the cab, but I think that’s a long shot even for me.

And my mono audio jacks came in so I can wire up a PA speaker to the CB. The right angle PL – 259 is supposed to be here about Wednesday, so I’ll do all of that at once.

Now I have nine extra for who knows what reason. Now that I have them, I’ll sure I’ll find the 10-20 I have saved in a safe place in the shed of miracles.

 

[sgtsandman]

If you haven't bought one yet and don't want to buy a name brand compressor, you might want to consider this one:

12V 150 PSI Compact Air Compressor

Amazing deals on this 12V 150Psi Compact Air Compressor at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Rick W]

If you haven't bought one yet and don't want to buy a name brand compressor, you might want to consider this one:

12V 150 PSI Compact Air Compressor

Amazing deals on this 12V 150Psi Compact Air Compressor at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I’ve had it in the “ 97 to do” box for a few years now…

 

[scotts90ranger]

That the ~$60 version? (my internet sucks, I don't click on much anymore), it's a decent compressor, the fuse contacts can melt out, I've had the hose end melt off too but turns out it's super easy to fix, I finally put mine in a 50 cal ammo can so it's protected in transport... I have the next step down too and it's ok as well but slower...

 

[sgtsandman]

That the ~$60 version? (my internet sucks, I don't click on much anymore), it's a decent compressor, the fuse contacts can melt out, I've had the hose end melt off too but turns out it's super easy to fix, I finally put mine in a 50 cal ammo can so it's protected in transport... I have the next step down too and it's ok as well but slower...

It was about $80 when I bought mine. It connects right to the battery and the hose has never threatened to melt but it does get pretty warm at the connector for the hose.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Mine has been abused in every way possible, the hose melted once on me and it was when I was camping in the sand and had to air down my F350 and was trying to air the tires up to 50ish psi, just airing the Rangers tires up to 25psi to get home in the snow has been perfectly fine...

 

[Rick W]

That the ~$60 version? (my internet sucks, I don't click on much anymore), it's a decent compressor, the fuse contacts can melt out, I've had the hose end melt off too but turns out it's super easy to fix, I finally put mine in a 50 cal ammo can so it's protected in transport... I have the next step down too and it's ok as well but slower...

Mine is the $10 version. I figure after I get it in and wired up and piped up, if it burns up, it’ll be easy to replace.

 

[sgtsandman]

Mine is the $10 version. I figure after I get it in and wired up and piped up, if it burns up, it’ll be easy to replace.

 

[sgtsandman]

Mine has been abused in every way possible, the hose melted once on me and it was when I was camping in the sand and had to air down my F350 and was trying to air the tires up to 50ish psi, just airing the Rangers tires up to 25psi to get home in the snow has been perfectly fine...

I’ve used mine to put up the rear tires to 50 but that is 31X10.5-15. I imagine the 350 tires have more volume to fill. Most times it’s going from 18 psi to 36. The coupling has gotten pretty toasty then but didn’t seem to be in danger of a melt down.

 

[Rick W]

All the parts came in, so I pulled down the CB console again. I ran an “ignition hot” wire to power the CB (with a couple extras), and I wired in the right angle PL-259 antenna plug. Came out great. Didn’t take long (I’m becoming an expert at taking it in and out).

Ignition power works fine. Still no broadcast/receive.

I bench tested the radio when I had it out. Worked fine. When I put it back in, for the first time, I noticed the “ANT” (antenna problem) light came in when I keyed the mic (can’t see it well where the radio is when you’re sitting on the floor with the seats out).

Ran out of daylight. I’ll check if the coax is shorted next, but I did a lot of reading today and I think my “cool” antennae installation might be swamping the SWR. Antennae are cornered, mounted on and behind the cab, and right next to the aluminum headache rack, and I knew they were a little closer together than is ideal. I knew about the spacing when I did it, but I figured they would work, just not work perfectly, which was fine with me. Damn. I’ll check it with a magnetic roof mount after checking continuity.

I had much more success rejuvenating my 40-yr old CO2 gasser

Fun, fun, fun (keep repeating until convinced)….