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New User with Cobra 29LX and some questions.

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jfriedrich

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2013
Messages
7
Location
London Ontario
Hi all,

New to the CB game, I picked up a Cobra 29lx and a firestik 4 foot antenna. I have a few questions.

1. Is it better to hard wire it? I'm currently running out of my 12v outlet.

2. I'm getting all kinds of static, currently have the squelch set about midpoint and RF gain all the way up. Do I need a inline noise filter? I have the built in ones on the radio on.

3. I tuned the antenna using an astatic pdc 1 swr meter and got the following results: ch.1 = 1.9, ch.19 = 1.4, ch.40 = 1.5. Is this good or bad? Is further antenna tuning needed?

Thanks for any help,
Jordan
 

Zamson25

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
55
Hello, welcome the the CB game. I have always used 12v adapters for my CB radios without trouble. I would check to make sure the wires are in good shape and properly attached to the radio and the 12v adapter. I am unsure about needing a noise filter, but it would probably be a good idea to use one if the wires are in good shape. Your tuning could use some work. Here is the general rule for antenna SWR adjustments:
If the SWR on channel 40 is higher than that on channel 1, your antenna is too long.
If the SWR on channel 1 is higher than that on channel 40, your antenna is too short.

My SWR reading is Ch 1 = 1.1, Ch 40 = 1.3. I am not familiar with firestik antennas but their website should offer tuning advice for the specific antenna you have. When setting the SWR make sure the doors are closed and windows are up. It helps to not be right next to a building if possible too. I hope this helps. Happy CBing!
 

Gniederb

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
58
Location
WV
Hi all,

New to the CB game, I picked up a Cobra 29lx and a firestik 4 foot antenna. I have a few questions.

1. Is it better to hard wire it? I'm currently running out of my 12v outlet.

2. I'm getting all kinds of static, currently have the squelch set about midpoint and RF gain all the way up. Do I need a inline noise filter? I have the built in ones on the radio on.

3. I tuned the antenna using an astatic pdc 1 swr meter and got the following results: ch.1 = 1.9, ch.19 = 1.4, ch.40 = 1.5. Is this good or bad? Is further antenna tuning needed?

Thanks for any help,
Jordan
Hello I am pretty new as well, only about a year or so, so I don't have the same knowledge to share as most of these guys but I can tell you...

I have two cobra 29's one is a nice new lx the other is a decade old 29 classic. I recently graduated to a galaxy radio and on all three radios I have had to keep my squelch around the mid point or even higher if I want to keep out all the white noise and the unintelligible transmissions. I've gotten into wanting to push my range further and further and have had several antennas and I usually leave the squelch all the way open and let in all the white noise in hope of hearing something interesting in the distance. But if you want to keep it quiet you can keep squelch up or gain down. I know they do different things but either one has basically the same effect on the use of the radio as far as cutting out the gibberish.

the previous advice on swr is spot on so I won't add anything.

BTW all of mine have been running on adapters too.
 
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