vintage CB radios, and some buying questions...

[big dave]

Hey guys,

I have a Cobra 19DX in my Pathfinder, and my output is very poor. The guys ahead of me on the trail cant even hear me, or understand what im saying. I bought this radio from a radio nut up in the bay area who said it was "peaked and tuned". What does that mean? There are no adjustments on the radio except for volume, and squelch. Some guys who i want to Big Bear with last weekend said there should be more knobs on it to adjust my mic.

My setup is made up of the 19dx radio, 15-20 feet of coax, and a 5ft Firestik. Steveo from doitontherocks.com (SAS Pathfinder) installed it for me. There is nothing wrong with the installation, everything is tight and connected. I just cant figure out WHY im not transmitting loud and clear?

The second thing i want to know, is if anyone knows much about vintage/classic CB radios. I found a Cobra 29 Plus in my garage yesterday. Its a little dirty, but will clean up nice. The manufacture date is March 1986. It has lots of buttons instead of knobs and switches. If it works, would it be capable of replacing the tiny 19DX, and do a better job?

Im on the edge of just purchasing a new radio and a new mic. What are some good recommendations for an entire setup under $100? I did some window shopping today on the net, and saw quite a bit of new equipment for under $100. Feel free to discuss any other options just over $100, such as a $150 setup etc.

Thanks, and looking forward to being learned!

[cruiserlarry]

Hey guys,

I have a Cobra 19DX in my Pathfinder, and my output is very poor. The guys ahead of me on the trail cant even hear me, or understand what im saying. I bought this radio from a radio nut up in the bay area who said it was "peaked and tuned". What does that mean? There are no adjustments on the radio except for volume, and squelch. Some guys who i want to Big Bear with last weekend said there should be more knobs on it to adjust my mic.

My setup is made up of the 19dx radio, 15-20 feet of coax, and a 5ft Firestik. Steveo from doitontherocks.com (SAS Pathfinder) installed it for me. There is nothing wrong with the installation, everything is tight and connected. I just cant figure out WHY im not transmitting loud and clear?

The second thing i want to know, is if anyone knows much about vintage/classic CB radios. I found a Cobra 29 Plus in my garage yesterday. Its a little dirty, but will clean up nice. The manufacture date is March 1986. It has lots of buttons instead of knobs and switches. If it works, would it be capable of replacing the tiny 19DX, and do a better job?

Im on the edge of just purchasing a new radio and a new mic. What are some good recommendations for an entire setup under $100? I did some window shopping today on the net, and saw quite a bit of new equipment for under $100. Feel free to discuss any other options just over $100, such as a $150 setup etc.

Thanks, and looking forward to being learned!

Several things. "Tweeked and tuned" usually means someone went inside the radio and played with the adjustment on several tuning capacitors located in the output circuit of the radio, attempting to generate more output power and transmission frequency range / accuracy. Unless done properly, it can damage the radio's output transistors and cause the radio to be unable to transmit well, if at all. So, you might have a damaged radio. The coax for the CB should be in a 9-foot interval, i.e. 9ft, 18ft, etc., so if it's been cut to a different length, it may not allow for a proper low SWR, also resulting in poor to non-existent transmission ability. Lastly, the mounting and location of the antenna is important, too, as a bad ground plane, poor connections (corrosion on the connectors, dirty contacts, etc.) will keep the radio transmissions from getting out. If the antenna is not at least 1/3 above the highest point of the vehicle, it may not radiate signal properly, either. And mounting the antenna to a corner of the vehicle can cause directional transmission, so that you can be heard much better from one side of the vehicle than from the others. You didn't mention if you had checked or adjusted the SWR for the radio, but this would be a tell-tale sign of a problem. If the SWR reading is low, your radio might be bad. If the reading is high, you most likely have an antenna problem to deal with.

The cost of a new CB is relatively cheap - some as low as $40-50 - so I would splurge on new gear and leave the old stuff for a swap meet or garage sale. CBs are not usually the highest grade of electronic components or assembly, so an older on that has been subjected to dirt / corrosion / moisture from sitting for 20+ years is likely to have a problem when put back into service. And a new coax cable is about $20 with connectors. And be wary of any unit s that someone claims to have "tweeked" - very few people are qualified to do this, and it is against the law to modify an FCC -type transmitter, formally speaking.

Good Luck...

[big dave]

Im pretty sure the radio i found in the garage is toast. I get NOTHING out of it other than some static at full volume. Some of the bars on the numbers dont light up either. I plug in my 19dx, and at least i get reception. My antenna is about 2-3 feet above the top of the car, mounted on the rear tire carrier. Everything is seriously tight, i dont think i have a grounding problem. Maybe ill try a couple of things, like adding a grounding strap to the antenna mount.

[sdnative]

I purchased my uniden 520xl and a wilson "little-wil" mag mount antenna for $100 including tax at a place called "mud shack" on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego (SDSU area). The price was around $120, but I was able to haggle with him a little.

So to answer your question: yes, you can get a good radio and antenna for $100

IMO, I wouldn't spend more than that on a CB. The uniden is an excellent radio, but for some reason doesn't have scan ability (do you really need to scan CB channels?) The only thing you may change is upgrading the antenna to a wilson 1000, if you're trying to squeeze the last drop of transmission ability.

Check out the uniden/wilson combo for $100 and save your money for ham equipment

[big dave]

Good thing you like the Uniden. I found a nice offroad package from rightchannelradios.com with the Uniden 510xl http://www.rightchannelradios.com/jeep- ... l-418.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

for $100:
Uniden 510XL
Wilson FLEX 180* antenna
Firestik stainless steel antenna mount
Fire-Flex coax
SWR Meter and Jumper

Hell of a bargain they put together. This guy does a nice writeup on it. http://www.stu-offroad.com/cb/cb1/cb-1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Needless to say, ill be buying that entire kit if i cant get a better ground on my current setup. Ill just mount everything somewhere else with the new stuff