COBRA 2000GTL (Poor Receive ?/Fix)

[KB3EJV]

I have a Cobra 2000 that was my grandmothers, she has since passed. It sat for a few years on a bookshelf. I fired it up and it works but the issue is it has very poor receive. If I key up a cb walkie talkie outside it sounds good and gets about a S30+. If a guy a few blocks over from me talks I can hear him or anybody in close will give me a S2 or S3, anything after that I hear nothing at all. I go to channel 19 if their close I hear them if not that channel is quite also. That is the only thing qwrong witht he radio, it is in VG condition for its age.

I replaced burned out lamps with leds. I also cleaned all the posts and switches. I celaer up the scratchiness which it had. I checked to make sure all switches and knobs were in the right positions. ie RF gain............I do use a back of the set antenna, but where I am located I should hear allot more then what I do espically on CH 19.

I wanted to see if anybody out their had a duplicate problem of the same to save me some time.

 

[JGP]

2000GTL receive

A Cobra 2000GTL is an AM/sideband base radio that should be used with a good outdoor antenna. Don't blame the 2000 for bad receive with the antenna that you are using.

I had a Cobra 2000GTL, and I talked sideband across Lake Michigan and local on channel 32 Milwaukee. I had no problems hearing with it. Antenna height means a lot too. The higher it is, the better you get out.

Try getting a good base antenna and get it up as high as possible. You will see and hear how good your receive will be.

I used the 2000 in the 1970's, and I wish I had that radio back.

 

[KC4RAF]

Not with a back of set antenna!

You need, as has been mentioned, an outside antenna. With just a simple ground plane tuned, you would be surprised at how will it receives. Remember, it's all about the antenna...
BTW, I had a PDL-II quad on my 2000, up 50' and could talk and hear (when the skip was runnin') all over the world. The 2000 is a great radio.

 

[k3cfc]

I have a Cobra 2000 that was my grandmothers, she has since passed. It sat for a few years on a bookshelf. I fired it up and it works but the issue is it has very poor receive. If I key up a cb walkie talkie outside it sounds good and gets about a S30+. If a guy a few blocks over from me talks I can hear him or anybody in close will give me a S2 or S3, anything after that I hear nothing at all. I go to channel 19 if their close I hear them if not that channel is quite also. That is the only thing qwrong witht he radio, it is in VG condition for its age.

I replaced burned out lamps with leds. I also cleaned all the posts and switches. I celaer up the scratchiness which it had. I checked to make sure all switches and knobs were in the right positions. ie RF gain............I do use a back of the set antenna, but where I am located I should hear allot more then what I do espically on CH 19.

I wanted to see if anybody out their had a duplicate problem of the same to save me some time.

You should be able to hear relatively pretty will with a wire stuck in the so239. what this great radio needs is a good alignment. i have repaired these and it's brother cobra 148 GTL the same way. don't let anyone tell you any different.

 

[JGP]

It can't hurt to have a good CB radio shop take a look at it and replace any worn parts and make adjustments.

I remember how I lost my 2000. There was a radio tech that had a good reputation for peaking out radios. He talked me into getting mine done. He did the same to many other people from Milwaukee, Racine, and Waukesha. He left town with all the CB radios and was never seen or heard from again. That was a lesson learned the hard way.

After that, I got an export am/sideband radio with the upper and lower channels, but I still missed using the 2000 with a D104 mic (the good old days).

 

[SCPD]

Before you take it in thinking it's the radio, find someone with a outdoor antenna or even try it in a vehicle with a antenna with low swr. If it still don't work then cb shop.

 

[shortride]

I don't think you have described what kind of antenna you're using on the Cobra 2000. You can't just plug anything into and expect it to work correctly. You must use a compatible antenna or you may burn the finals up in the Cobra if you haven't already. Preferably and outdoors antenna.

 

[k3cfc]

Like i said in an earlier post just a piece of wire 4 ft would do in the ANT so239 will tell if the radio will receive without someone being next door transmitting. there is no need to have an outdoor antenna 50 ft in the air to hear any signal. this radio is old and needs a realignment. i have repaired many like this.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

He mentions using a back-of-set antenna (Radio Shack had one for awhile, I used to own one myself). However, that little antenna is an extreme compromise. You just will not get more than a few miles from it. Go with an outside antenna.