Urgent Question about Handheld CB radio

[ant888]

Hello all, I just bought a handheld cb, and the only way I can hear people talking is when squelch is turned OFF, and all the static is coming through.

When I put squelch up, I can't hear anything.


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[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Hello all, I just bought a handheld cb, and the only way I can hear people talking is when squelch is turned OFF, and all the static is coming through.

When I put squelch up, I can't hear anything.


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If you leave the squelch on the threshold and take the radio outside does it ever open?

You might only be hearing weak signals due to the sunspot cycle being so low. Also, the antenna on a portable CB is worthless, so you will be lucky to talk more than a mile or two. If you can substitute a base antenna it might work better.


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[ant888]

If you leave the squelch on the threshold and take the radio outside does it ever open?

You might only be hearing weak signals due to the sunspot cycle being so low. Also, the antenna on a portable CB is worthless, so you will be lucky to talk more than a mile or two. If you can substitute a base antenna it might work better.


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When you say threshold, you mean just leave squelch how it is? When I take it outside, and squelch is up, I still cannot hear anything.

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[ant888]

Also when I keep squelch down, and I go outside, it is a bunch of white noise along with speaking, that works fine.

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[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Also when I keep squelch down, and I go outside, it is a bunch of white noise along with speaking, that works fine.

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If you were to look at the CB band with a spectrum analyser, you would see noise peaks for every channel. It is simply an aggregate of every distant user on the channel. The UK converted CB to FM which improves performance.

Try this.

Does the radio have an RF gain control? Turn it up.
Does it have any form of noise limiter? Turn it off.

Any improvement?

Then get a piece of wire 8 or 9 feet long and attach it to the antenna terminal. String it up vertically. Still holding the radio, do you hear anything?

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[ant888]

No RF gain control sadly.
No noise limiter either. I'm guessing it's just because the actual transmissions are quite far away and being blocked by trees, buildings, etc.

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[w8prr]

Such is the nature of CB radio, an FM signal it is not!
Even on base and mobile radios the squelch is of limited value.
Even am, cw and ssb amateur radios often have no squelch control at all, and if they do they act nothing like an FM radio.
Just listen to the noise and you will hear something sometimes!

 

[KK4JUG]

It may be something as simple as there's no one talking on CB within normal range of your radio and you're picking up remnants of distance signals.

 

[KK4JUG]

Before you replace the antenna or go out and buy gold-plated connectors, go find a truck stop and listen on 19. Or, find out if any law enforcement agencies in your area monitor channel 9. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, though.

 

[SteveSimpkin]

When you say threshold, you mean just leave squelch how it is? When I take it outside, and squelch is up, I still cannot hear anything.

Turn the squelch down all the way. You should hear constant static noise. If someone is taking, wait until they stop or change the channel until you find one that has no one talking on it. Slowly turn up the squelch control until the static sound just stops. Leave the squelch there. The squelch control is now set at the "threshold" where it is just turned up enough to silence the background static. Anyone talking now *should* have enough signal to "open" (unmute) the squelch so you can hear them. When they stop talking, the squelch should kick in again and mute the background static noise. You may need to adjust the squelch control slightly up or down near this setting to get it so it just barely mutes the background noise.

What manufacturer and model is this handheld CB?

 

[ant888]

Turn the squelch down all the way. You should hear constant static noise. If someone is taking, wait until they stop or change the channel until you find one that has no one talking on it. Slowly turn up the squelch control until the static sound just stops. Leave the squelch there. The squelch control is now set at the "threshold" where it is just turned up enough to silence the background static. Anyone talking now *should* have enough signal to "open" (unmute) the squelch so you can hear them. When they stop talking, the squelch should kick in again and mute the background static noise. You may need to adjust the squelch control slightly up or down near this setting to get it so it just barely mutes the background noise.

What manufacturer and model is this handheld CB?

It's a Midland 78-785 40 channel handheld cb radio.

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[Chronic]

A handheld CB is about like trying to eat Chinese food with 1 chopstick

 

[ant888]

I think I just got a transmission with the squelch on. Guess it works after all.

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[SteveSimpkin]

I think this is the owners manual for your radio. I am surprised there is not a lot of information in there about using the squelch knob.
https://midlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/75-785-CB-Radio-Manual1.pdf

 

[SCPD]

Cb and NJ

Before you replace the antenna or go out and buy gold-plated connectors, go find a truck stop and listen on 19. Or, find out if any law enforcement agencies in your area monitor channel 9. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, though.

This is New Jersey, Law Enforcement has better things to do than monitor CB,we dont have any truckstops with cb's either.CB is quiet in New Jersey unless you have a good base setup with a rooftop antenna you are not going to be able to hear or talk to many people at all.The 80s and 90s were peak for CB.
You want to play CB,you better get a base or mobile radio ,antenna and be sure it has Single Sideband.
You want to mess around with walkie talkies I advise you to get your ham radio license then you can talk on repeaters that link to anywhere.
A Baofeng walkie talkie goes for $25 on Amazon.144/440mhz. Try a UV-5R.You will enjoy it.

 

[FiveFilter]

I have an old hand-held CB that is usable when attached to a vehicle-mounted antenna, like a five-foot Wilson 1000. I've had no luck with a tiny antenna attached to the hand-held CB itself. A VHF or UHF wavelength is much more satisfactory when using those tiny 10-inch aerials.

 

[W8RMH]

The problem with handheld CBs is no much-needed ground plane.

 

[Ravenkeeper]

I still have my handheld CB, that I bought in NM, and have used it in my vehicles until I got my CB set up in them. Lately, (ok, back in '04) I used it with a Wal-Mart special 12" "rubber ducky" antenna to drive my wife's car from ID to SoCal. Now that we have finally unpacked the moving box with them in it, I used them to function check and troubleshoot my Uniden PC122XL and FireStix, a couple weeks ago. That box hasn't been opened since we moved from Edwards AFB to our current home, 8+ years ago. When I bought the antenna, in ID, I bought an adapter to connect it to the BNC connection, and an external mic and speaker. I would have loved to have had it in our Pilot last summer ('16), when we drove up to the Bay Area, would have been well informed to jump off of I-5 onto SR-33 or something, instead of sitting in a "parking lot," on I-5, in the middle of nowhere in the San Joaquin Valley.

 

[prcguy]

I talked from Long Beach, CA to Ireland with a single chopstick, so they can work just fine.
prcguy

A handheld CB is about like trying to eat Chinese food with 1 chopstick