Uniden 980 SSB RF?

[DavidL61]

Hello, I’m new to the forum and I’m just getting into CBs.

I bought a used 980 off of ebay a few months ago and when I turned it on there was no static or beeps coming out of the speaker. I got a full refund from ebay and bought an external speaker which is working fine. I’m hoping the rest of the radio is ok. So far I'm out only $12 for the speaker.

The CB is hooked up to a Solaris A99 antenna and on AM the SWR meters below 1.0 for both 1 & 40.

I’ve done a few radio checks on AM without any problems and can receive on both AM & SSB.

I have the antenna temporally mounted on a15ft pole in the yard without a ground and is taken down during bad weather. What I’ve read, grounding should have no effect on the CB and is more for safety purposes.

Here are my questions.
When I run the diag on RF power check and ANT check while it's on LSB or USB, I get a FAIL condition. Is this normal? Should the diag only be run on AM?

When I key the mic on LSB or USB and speak (aaaaaaauuuuuuuudddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooo) or whistle, I don’t get any RF on the meter. Not sure if it’s sending out a signal and I don’t know anyone in my area that has an SSB radio to test it. From what I’ve seen on Yotube, it should show RF on the meter as you speak into the mic.

Am I missing something?
RF gain is set at 3
Mic gain is set at 2

Thanks

[prcguy]

If you have the meter circuit set to read receive signal strength and transmit power it should show movement when you speak or whistle in SSB mode. In SSB mode the meter will go from nothing to at least half scale or more on a whistle. In AM mode it will go part way up with no modulation and should wiggle or go up with voice or a whistle.

I would run the mic gain on that radio all the way up and report back on what its doing.

Originally Posted by DavidL61

Hello, I’m new to the forum and I’m just getting into CBs.

I bought a used 980 off of ebay a few months ago and when I turned it on there was no static or beeps coming out of the speaker. I got a full refund from ebay and bought an external speaker which is working fine. I’m hoping the rest of the radio is ok. So far I'm out only $12 for the speaker.

The CB is hooked up to a Solaris A99 antenna and on AM the SWR meters below 1.0 for both 1 & 40.

I’ve done a few radio checks on AM without any problems and can receive on both AM & SSB.

I have the antenna temporally mounted on a15ft pole in the yard without a ground and is taken down during bad weather. What I’ve read, grounding should have no effect on the CB and is more for safety purposes.

Here are my questions.
When I run the diag on RF power check and ANT check while it's on LSB or USB, I get a FAIL condition. Is this normal? Should the diag only be run on AM?

When I key the mic on LSB or USB and speak (aaaaaaauuuuuuuudddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooo) or whistle, I don’t get any RF on the meter. Not sure if it’s sending out a signal and I don’t know anyone in my area that has an SSB radio to test it. From what I’ve seen on Yotube, it should show RF on the meter as you speak into the mic.

Am I missing something?
RF gain is set at 3
Mic gain is set at 2

Thanks

[599]

Check if your microphone is actually working. Even if your meter shows output on AM doesn't mean you've got modulation. If no modulation, no output on ssb.

[DavidL61]

I turned the mic up to 4 and that did the trick. Meter shows around 10 watts. I havnt made any contact on SSB yet.


Thanks for your help

[Fast1eddie]

You want that ground more for RF purposes...A radio wave has a positive and negative (ground) component...eliminating the ground will not help. Before I divorced and moved, my antenna mast was a series of interconnecting masts, the ones Radio Shack sold before they croaked. I removed paint from each connecting end and blasted bit tip screws in. Connected a SOLID THICK ground wire to each screw before tightening and THOROUGHLY coated each mechanical connection with RTV. Installed my antennas (Made several of these) and also GROUNDED the mount to the antenna. Once the mast was installed against my garage, I GROUNDED the mast to a SOLID COPPER GROUND STAKE. Kept the GROUND moist when I had to relieve myself at 0200 or when the neighbors were not around.

Look in any military communications field manual, especially a Army Special Forces Communications book...If this worked for them, it worked damn well for me. Enjoyed some very unique VHF/UHF DX, such as monitoring Philadelphia PD here in Pittsburgh (GO FLYERS!) which is damn near impossible when band openings would occur....

Never, ever underestimate the quality of a good RF ground.

Trust me.

73 and Happy DX,

ed

[FiveFilter]

Lots of conductivity in salty water; don't try that on an electric fence :-)

[iMONITOR]

Originally Posted by Fast1eddie

Connected a SOLID THICK ground wire to each screw before tightening and THOROUGHLY coated each mechanical connection with RTV.

Certain types of RTV release acetic acid during the curing process, and this can attack solder joints, causing the solder to detach from the copper wire
[source]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTV_si..._disadvantages

I learned this when I bought a newly constructed home back in 2001. I sealed a copper water line for my sprinkler system where it passed though the brick into the basement. A moth later is was green and corroded so badly I had the line replaced in that area.