• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

CB install

Status
Not open for further replies.

patrolman123

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2004
Messages
276
Reaction score
1
Location
Baltimore, Maryland
Ok just got a cb off ebay. It arrived today and I need some information on the power cord. I want to direct wire it. The cord that came with it has a black red and yellow wire. I pretty much know that the black is ground and the red is power. Whats the yellow for and where do I hook it up.
 

LordJ

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
635
Reaction score
1
Location
South-Eastern, Ontario
Yellow would be for accessory power...If I'm not mistaken.. The red keeps power to the memory and the yellow is what controls the power for the unit.. or maybe vice versa...
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
308
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
I believe it's the other way around...or at least it is in car stereos....yellow is memory (always connected to battery) & red is the turn-on switch (connected to accessory so that user can turn it on only if the car is on).
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
308
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
Looking at the manual (page 3), there's no mention of a yellow wire...you may be able to ignore it and just connect the red wire to accessory +12V if you don't care about losing settings (if the radio doesn't have some sort of nonvolatile memory). Otherwise you can connect it directly to a constant +12V but be damn sure you turn the radio off when you exit the car! Or just wire a user-accessible inline switch on that wire.
 

XTS3000

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
1,098
Reaction score
48
That is the WRONG power cord for the C-29, but will work, don't connect the middle yellow wire to anything. Tape it, or just cut it off, you don't need it.

That power cord is for some older "Plus" models that required constant power to the CPU/PLL in order for it to retain what channel you were on when you turn off the radio. If you didn't hook up the yellow wire, the radio would always go to channel 9 when powered up. Think of the yellow wire as the same as your car stereo. Even with the car off, in order for it to retain your car stereo's programmed stations in memory, it needs constant power - which is the yellow wire. The Yellow wire is ment to be hooked directly to the car's battery.

The Cobra 18 from a few years ago and going back into the 90's, also needed a constant power source to retain what channel you were on when you power it back on. It's cheaper for them to add the yellow wire than make a PLL that is capable of retaining the last channel. The newer Cobra 18's have a newer pll capable of retaining last channel, so they "thankfully" removed the yellow wire that confusses many.

The cobra 29 has a manual encoded channel selector to the PLL, so constant power is never needed to retain last channel information - its manual!
 

jonny290

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
687
Reaction score
0
Location
Denver, CO
XTS3000 said:
That is the WRONG power cord for the C-29, but will work, don't connect the middle yellow wire to anything. Tape it, or just cut it off, you don't need it.

That power cord is for some older "Plus" models that required constant power to the CPU/PLL in order for it to retain what channel you were on when you turn off the radio. If you didn't hook up the yellow wire, the radio would always go to channel 9 when powered up. Think of the yellow wire as the same as your car stereo. Even with the car off, in order for it to retain your car stereo's programmed stations in memory, it needs constant power - which is the yellow wire. The Yellow wire is ment to be hooked directly to the car's battery.

The Cobra 18 from a few years ago and going back into the 90's, also needed a constant power source to retain what channel you were on when you power it back on. It's cheaper for them to add the yellow wire than make a PLL that is capable of retaining the last channel. The newer Cobra 18's have a newer pll capable of retaining last channel, so they "thankfully" removed the yellow wire that confusses many.

The cobra 29 has a manual encoded channel selector to the PLL, so constant power is never needed to retain last channel information - its manual!

Haha, that's such a backwards approach from the (proper, IMO) way stereos are done - constant heavy current wire for power, switched low-current 'logic' wire for turn-on.
 

cpuerror

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
4
Location
Ontario, Canada
jonny290 said:
Haha, that's such a backwards approach from e (proper, IMO) way stereos are done - constant heavy current wire for power, switched low-current 'logic' wire for turn-on.

What I dont get is that a PC can retain memory settings and the clock without standby power. I wish they would make those $400+ decks so you just put a lithium battery in every 6 years or so, and everytime your car battery dies or gets disconnected you don't lose all the settings. PCs have been doing this for over 20 years, brand new decks with DVD players and built-in screens still havent figured out how.
 

rvawatch

Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
274
Reaction score
1
cpuerror said:
What I dont get is that a PC can retain memory settings and the clock without standby power. I wish they would make those $400+ decks so you just put a lithium battery in every 6 years or so, and everytime your car battery dies or gets disconnected you don't lose all the settings. PCs have been doing this for over 20 years, brand new decks with DVD players and built-in screens still havent figured out how.

my home stereo receiver retains its settings if i unplug it...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top