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antennae warning light

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rafale01010

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On the past cb and present one i have now, the warning light comes on when i transmit. ive swapped antennaes and radios and bought a new antennae and the blasted light is still on. Ive checked all wires, connections, and swr reading. Everything checks out so im stumped, and as mentioned earlier a new antennae didnt change a damn thing, any ideas?:confused::confused::confused:
 

rafale01010

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The previous cb i had was a Uniden pc78xl with rx/tx light and beneath it the ANT light. The one i just got, a Cobra 29ltd classic, is laid out just the same so im pretty sure it is the warning light. confused the hell outta me cuz the radio and antennas didnt change a thing. I can still hear people talkin and i can talk back so i dunno what the hell is wrong.
 

ArtU

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I have one of these.

It is very hard to read the built in SWR meter. It was good enough to match the antenna that I bought with it on a rental car for the day and a-half. But when I got home and put it in the truck and the antenna on the truck, I still needed to use my MFJ-949 to tune it perfect.

Even then, when it snows or rains, I get a high swr on 20-40 and a lower one on 18-1 then normal.
The ANT light will light up as I talk.

If it lights up with just a key down on a stock radio one of two things are wrong:
1) Most Likly the SWR is too high.
2) the ANT trim pot inside was set too low at the factory.

ArtU
 

rafale01010

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I got tuned to what the meter says 1.0 ir very close to it, wood i be able to move it a little and see if the light goes off? It cant be internal because both radios were doin it and both are perfectly fine when i got them and gradually started to flicker, now stays on so yea
 

ArtU

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If you had two radios say the SWR was was fine and NO ANT light, and now both light up the ANT light; something is UP outside the radios right?

IS it snowin', humid, or raining where you are at?

All those cause the ANT light to flicker when talking in my experience since the wet weather conditions does change the SWR.
 

jackj

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Those antenna lights are very gross. They are triggered by the internal SWR bridge, are adjustable and you can set them anywhere from 'always on' to 'never on'. You really need to get an external SWR bridge with a short pig tail between the radio and the bridge (less than 3 feet). If the external bridge shows a good match (<1.7 to 1.0) then ignore the light.
 

rafale01010

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.1 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; ) 400x240 LGE VX10000)

figgered out the problem th cobra does NOT like magnet mount antennas and very few fiberglass whips, got it hooked up now and light is off. i picked up a swr meter at radioshack to calibrate it, and what is the ideal range for it to be set at?
 

jackj

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Ideally, when you switch to SWR, you don't want the meter to show anything. That will be almost impossible to achieve across the band but put the dip on or close to the channel(s) you like to use. Mag-mounts generally don't supply enough of a ground at 27 Mhz to operate well. If you are able to get the SWR down to acceptable levels, the radiation pattern will be elevated above the horizon. That might be fine for working skip but really hurts your local range.
 

rafale01010

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Well im back to using the whip i have had the best luck with, running dualsand picking up damn good. Will post a pic of my nice "redneck" get up whenever i can
 

Allan_Love_Jr

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Some may find this really corny. But if you want to test your Radio's SWR. Your better off going out in the middle of a corn field away from cars,buildings,hills, and so fourth. Anything that can cause the signal to reflect back into your Radio will cause problems. Give this a try. I have done this many times. The results do work.
 

SCPD

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Feb 24, 2001
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I got tuned to what the meter says 1.0 ir very close to it, wood i be able to move it a little and see if the light goes off? It cant be internal because both radios were doin it and both are perfectly fine when i got them and gradually started to flicker, now stays on so yea

That antenna isn't shorting out at the mounting point, is it? Since you said truck, I'm guessing that this is a mobile install. Gee, I guess the model number of the Cobra tells me that too, duh. Anyway, is it possible that the hole you made on the vehicle, has come into contact on the sides of the hole? I had a ball and whip antenna mounted on a side panel, and when I first installed it, I was experiencing issues much as you have described.

I talked to a radio tech friend who suggested checking the install point, and verify that it wasn't shorting out to ground. Likely not your situation, but if it persists, it's something to check for.
 
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