Uniden bearcat 980 insane swr.

[jhooten]

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$6.99.

Scroll all the way down. There is a coupon Dropping it to $4.99.

 

[Dekgit]

going anywhere near So Cal in the future? If so I could check out your setup and dial it in.

Unknown, right now im just doing what they send for now.

 

[Dekgit]

Scroll all the way down. There is a coupon Dropping it to $4.99.

I have a decent meter at home, but its at home. Haha. All a process still, I'll get there even if it's a uphill battle.

 

[west-pac]

I have a decent meter at home, but its at home. Haha. All a process still, I'll get there even if it's a uphill battle.

Your good meter -should- stay at home; but a $5 meter could be lost, stolen, ran over, or catch fire without very many tears shed...

That's just my opinion.

 

[jhooten]

Your good meter -should- stay at home; but a $5 meter could be lost, stolen, ran over, or catch fire without very many tears shed...

That's just my opinion.

And the looks I get when a co-worker asks to borrow my meter and I hand him one of those instead of my Fluke are priceless.

 

[SmitHans]

SWR is an antenna problem, not a radio problem.

True. But his meter is pegged, yet he is still getting out. Without test equipment, he can use another radio to rule out a bad meter on the radio. I've lost count of how many radios I have had that had crappy meters on them.

 

[slowmover]

Wrenching the mount moved SWR from 7-9 down to 1.8-2.2 on AM-20. A little more wrench (this all at antenna stud; tightening antenna) sent it right back up.

There wasn’t a sweet spot. Hit or miss and didn’t stay.

The OP gets back around, have him summarize.

We swapped his 4’ for a 7’ Skipshooter that seems mechanically sound after 90k miles in my use.

.

 

[slowmover]

And the looks I get when a co-worker asks to borrow my meter and I hand him one of those instead of my Fluke are priceless.

I like that. Immensely.

 

[Dekgit]

Wrenching the mount moved SWR from 7-9 down to 1.8-2.2 on AM-20. A little more wrench (this all at antenna stud; tightening antenna) sent it right back up.



There wasn’t a sweet spot. Hit or miss and didn’t stay.



The OP gets back around, have him summarize.



We swapped his 4’ for a 7’ Skipshooter that seems mechanically sound after 90k miles in my use.



.

Yup was very weird. But switching to skipshooter and a road roadpro stud that is similar to one on that better mirror mount did help. SWR is around 1.8 on 20. Getting there for sure. Need better grounding. Have items on order, proper mount and such. Local CB shops a,ong my route were all closed today, just my luck. Haha

 

[slowmover]

We expect an install progress update after Thanksgiving. (I hope you’re headed home; ignore my flippancy).

 

[Dekgit]

We expect an install progress update after Thanksgiving. (I hope you’re headed home; ignore my flippancy).

I went home last week, heading back out tomorrow. Got new mount installed with recommended HD stud, added more grounding to mount and coax arrestor with woven copper wiring to grounding block that has grounding to frame, motor, and cab so everything is grounded besides OEM grounds. Added ferrite barrels to coax and power OEM power lead for now.

Haven't messed with running power for speaker yet, will do that on road.

Full gain with Uniden 990SSB still has same general static/noise, DSP speaker should take care of a good bit of this, but 'local' gain is super quiet even in home city now. It helped, speaker next and better power for radio instead of noisy OEM wiring.

Still going. Have to get another 7' skip shooter for other passenger and copy driver side. Have mount for it but sourcing replacement HD stud is annoying. Can't buy stud by itself anymore, only with extra steel bracket, which is whatever.

Will get pictures when I get to it.

 

[slowmover]

Great!

Whatever you add to the thread is grist for the mill.

The info available to drivers (a decent level of detail) is the hardest part for most guys. Knowing what to do pales compared to how to do it.

I’d appreciate some detail about the channel you used to run power & coax to overhead. My attempts were futile (design may have changed in past 4-5 years but I doubt that), and $$$ hiring a pro to help me.

.

 

[slowmover]

7ft skip shooter static #'s (Meaning, “parked”).

A driver I admire for his dogged persistence.
An Evo. At Kenly. (Bet you know that one already).

An Antenna Analyzer on a 7’ Skipshooter for you, OP, link above.

Quarter Wave a few minutes later.

Same antenna mount and same basic approach to getting highest performance.

.

 

[slowmover]

Ha! Now installing my radio gear in same model truck and having same problems.

Can’t get SWR to decent range. (3+).

One frustrating day having swapped every single component 2-3 times for different except the antenna mount (on third different design of stud; now on Predator as shown above).

So, jumped the driver door hinges each with a single 3/4” wide piece of woven braid which was going to wait for another day. Another custom—cut to run to the A-pillar from the antenna mount was the expected fix

Five years ago didn’t experience any problems at all of this sort. Same exact antenna mount. No RF bonds initially.

— Had gone over every connector with De-Oxit D100L. Cleaned & burnished the mount. All the TLC stuff. Etc, etc.

Had a bad FME end on original coax installed. Guess my DVM missed that (cheap meter; janky readings). Threw a jumper thru window and “fixed” that. Still too high.

Have to leave in the morning, so this’ll have to wait till a day while on the road: Winter on the Great Plains (yeah, buddy).

Am using my 86V backup as test radio. Used it past five days with factory built-in antenna till I got tractor home to load up my personal gear + supplies, so I’ll continue with that till I get another FME-ended single jumper. And start over on mount & routing.

.

 

[Dekgit]

Ha! Now installing my radio gear in same model truck and having same problems.

Can’t get SWR to decent range. (3+).

One frustrating day having swapped every single component 2-3 times for different except the antenna mount (on third different design of stud; now on Predator as shown above).

So, jumped the driver door hinges each with a single 3/4” wide piece of woven braid which was going to wait for another day. Another custom—cut to run to the A-pillar from the antenna mount was the expected fix

Five years ago didn’t experience any problems at all of this sort. Same exact antenna mount. No RF bonds initially.

— Had gone over every connector with De-Oxit D100L. Cleaned & burnished the mount. All the TLC stuff. Etc, etc.

Had a bad FME end on original coax installed. Guess my DVM missed that (cheap meter; janky readings). Threw a jumper thru window and “fixed” that. Still too high.

Have to leave in the morning, so this’ll have to wait till a day while on the road: Winter on the Great Plains (yeah, buddy).

Am using my 86V backup as test radio. Used it past five days with factory built-in antenna till I got tractor home to load up my personal gear + supplies, so I’ll continue with that till I get another FME-ended single jumper. And start over on mount & routing.

.

I've gotten my swr down to 1.2-2.1. Have a grounding block with woven cable to engine block, bare metal cab bracket, and to door mirror bolt, and a lightening arrestor, all tied together. The more compact mount that was recommended and the seirio stud.

Setup with separate wilson coax from each side And 6ft skipshooter on each side. Ferrite on each end of coax and power lead from oem power run still. West mountain DSP spesker helps a lot but when you que up it loses its filtering and resets noise floor, which is very annoying.

I get more 'noise' with dual antenna but it did help coverage. Part of my noise is my inverter but it is what it is. I've grounded things as much as I can besides running new power lines from battery to radio, which likely won't change much. Getting a lithium battery generator and powering the radio is about only way to actually isolate noise from power.

 

[slowmover]

BATT isnt “quieter” than from main panel fuse center. Also, the run to BATT is too long. (Can you turn off inverter till parked, or is it running refrigerator? Mines hardwired FTL model).

DSP isn’t a cure, it’s a distinct marginal gain once other problems are rectified. Made best.

Something different between this 20 model and the 18 I was in originally. I suspect more powder coat (paint) layers from where antenna mounts at mirror to the metal that serves as the ground path farther in. The overall truck build quality is distinctly better than before, which is why I think it’s this way.

You’re running two pieces of RG59 to a T-connector and single RG58 to radio? (Think I have that right as to type).

— Problem of connectors is always they’re a potential failure point.

SWR goes up with ? You said from 1 to 2. Going from 1-watt to about 6-watts kills my reading. (Antenna ground; coax shield).

I’m not so irked at a tech problem to solve, but that I’ve run out of time to do that while at home and in decent weather.

 

[slowmover]

Curious about your grounding block.
Snap some pics some time and post.

That may be a path forward.

Not recognizing what you describe with W-M speaker. There’s trade-off using an amplified speaker with an amplified lead from radio. Balancing volume of one with other. Lowest radio volume then using speaker to control the total is “generally” what works for me, but really needs an L-pad (attenuator) between the devices.

Digital radios (like the U-980) are “noisy”. Hash. Static. Feature of their design. It’s an entry level model and you’d find that something better, even same type, will be easier to which to listen. (Better circuits, better more controls).

As to this new job, can’t say it’s my smartest decision to have chosen reefer again, but the company, routes, and customers made it look good. Equipment is top notch. Texas to Canada from Rockies to Mississippi.


Anytone Quad 5 N2 on my short list (see dimensions).
.

I can retire the DSP speaker to the home station, also leave the KL203 at home and not need 12V distribution block any longer if I stay with single antenna (7’ Skipshooter). And just run 10-AWG to fuse panel.

That said, I haven’t investigated access to a metal ground point for the overhead (windshield header). Have you located a place to drill to set a DC ground up there? Ground is ideally only inches from radio.

.

 

[Dekgit]

SWR goes up with ? You said from 1 to 2. Going from 1-watt to about 6-watts kills my reading. (Antenna ground; coax shield).

Swr sits about 1.4 on most days on am20. Thays just the range I've seen it depending on weather and such.
Yes running 2 separate coat of 16ft each (to keep same length on both sides) to a T coupler into radio.

Block I'm using: Amazon.com

Woven copper from engine block to it, from ground block to bare metal support bracket for cab, then another run to mirror mount.

Inverter powers fridge and internet.

 

[prcguy]

Get it! Buy it now! Then tell us what you really think of it. Here is where I bought mine, its the latest version and they include the programming cable. AnyTone AT-5555N II 10 Meter Radio with AM/FM/SSB/PA/CTCSS/DCS 60W US Seller | eBay

Anytone Quad 5 N2 on my short list (see dimensions).
.View attachment 133645

I can retire the DSP speaker to the home station, also leave the KL203 at home and not need 12V distribution block any longer if I stay with single antenna (7’ Skipshooter). And just run 10-AWG to fuse panel.

That said, I haven’t investigated access to a metal ground point for the overhead (windshield header). Have you located a place to drill to set a DC ground up there? Ground is ideally only inches from radio.

.

 

[Dekgit]

Curious about your grounding block.
Snap some pics some time and post.

That may be a path forward.

Not recognizing what you describe with W-M speaker. There’s trade-off using an amplified speaker with an amplified lead from radio. Balancing volume of one with other. Lowest radio volume then using speaker to control the total is “generally” what works for me, but really needs an L-pad (attenuator) between the devices.

Digital radios (like the U-980) are “noisy”. Hash. Static. Feature of their design. It’s an entry level model and you’d find that something better, even same type, will be easier to which to listen. (Better circuits, better more controls).

As to this new job, can’t say it’s my smartest decision to have chosen reefer again, but the company, routes, and customers made it look good. Equipment is top notch. Texas to Canada from Rockies to Mississippi.


Anytone Quad 5 N2 on my short list (see dimensions).
.View attachment 133645

I can retire the DSP speaker to the home station, also leave the KL203 at home and not need 12V distribution block any longer if I stay with single antenna (7’ Skipshooter). And just run 10-AWG to fuse panel.

That said, I haven’t investigated access to a metal ground point for the overhead (windshield header). Have you located a place to drill to set a DC ground up there? Ground is ideally only inches from radio.

.

Yes I have lots of hash/noise constantly. Worse on some days than others. Better radio would be in consideration.

There is metal up behind radio cubby but would be hars to get at with drill. Running cables is okay, but madr easier undoing screws around map lights. Paneling on pillars just pops off, run cable and stuff in along windshield. Feeding into the cubby is tricky but following the center where the curtain rails meet there is path into cubby.