Need Some CB help

[JeepShaun]

Ok, I have the Cobra 29ltd army edition that has been tuned a little, and have a mag mount wilson antenna. I have them in/on my s10 Blazer. I have it hooked up to a plug in 12v port (cig lighter). my issue is, sometimes I turn it on and can hear static and people talking, other times I turn it on and get dead silence, no static at all. Also my Ant. warn light comes on when I key the mic. so I borrowed a buddies swr meter to try and tune it, but his meter keeps jumping all over the place cant get a steady reading on it at all. when it is hooked up to his swr meter the ant. warn light does not come on.

I had the same radio (with a different ant set up) on my Jeep and never had any issues with it at all.

Any ideas????

 

[Rt169Radio]

I would think it would have something to do with your antenna,how old is it? There might be a loose connection some where in the antenna or a problem with the coax,if thats not it I would think it would be something to do with it being plugged into a 12v port.

 

[LtDoc]

What you are describing sounds like something 'not right' with your antenna. If so, then the simple solution is to replace it, or, find out what isn't 'right'. There are three basic areas where there can be a problem, the connector, the feed line, and the antenna base. Those three areas are subject to 'shorts' and 'opens'.
The feed line usually isn't a problem unless there's some signs of deformity, it's been smashed, or it bulges, or if there's tape on it. There's not always a sign of some kind of damage, but usually there is.
As for the connector on the radio end, there are a couple of ways to check that, does it look abnormal, wiggles too much, does moving it make a difference, is it tightened all the way?
Something wrong inside the base of a mag-mount antenna is a bit harder to determine. You can't really tell unless you can get in there to look, which isn't the easiest thing to do. Does it look like someone may have looked in there before, or put it back together for some reason? Does it rattle, or make some kind of noise if you shake it? Does it look like it's taken damage of some sort, scratches, scrapes, been run-over?
And then if you have an ohm meter/multimeter, check things for shorts/open circuits. That's only a sign of a problem if you know exactly what kind'a antenna it is. Some antennas appear as a short circuit, some don't.
Can you try the antenna on someone else's radio/car?
- 'Doc

 

[JeepShaun]

It was the connector on the antenna, someone had replaced the connector at some point and did not do a good job. My buddy re-did the sotter (SP?) and made sure it was good. it now works good. Oh by the way it is a wilson 500 mag mount antenna