Cobra 29wx cb radio not transmitting.

[diesel4me]

Here's the test radio. When is the last time you saw a GE CB radio? Last time that SWR meter and radio were hooked together my Grandpa did it.


Took the Cobra out of the console if I can find somebody that can repair it.

A GE brand is one of few I haven't owned or still have..

I have probably a half dozen or more old CB's in my garage stashed away--some are so old they were only 3 channel crystal controlled ones,others are 23 channels,a few are 40 channels...brands like Roberts,Pace,Realistic,more I cant recall off the top of my head..

I used to be into CB's pretty heavily back in the 70's and 80's,then when the popularity died off when cell phones took over I mothballed most of my stuff--been a long time since I fired up the base station in my room,an old Courier Centurion 40 channel single sideband with "extra channels"..last time I tried it the relay for transmit/receive was sticking and the power mike's battery died and leaked ,and corroded the hell out of the battery connector..(A Turner 3+3 desk mike)..I used to talk skip all over the world back in the 90's with that thing..

Now that cell phones are all the rage,CB's are actually useful--it used to be you couldn't use one reliably with so many people talking at once and many had illegal linear amplifiers--now all 40 channels are "dead" silent practically..

 

[ZooMad75]

Picked up a killer CB from @bent72 today. Now I just need to make it fit in the hole in the console. Needs about a 1/16th on all sides. Time to break out the files and maybe the Dremel.



Can't wait to get this bad boy tuned in and fired up. Thanks again Mark.

 

[ZooMad75]

Got the cb mounted in the console. Had to get after the console with the steel and a cutter bit. The tuffy console is tough stuff to grind down. Finished off with a flat file and a flap wheel.



The radio dialed right in with 1.5 on channel 1 and 1.6 on 40 with my meter. I did use the swr feature on the radio and got 1.0 on both 1 and 40. My meter is easily 45 years old so I'm not sure which one is more accurate.

Tried it out and wow. Scan feature is cool. Got to listen to some anti government nitwits for a while in pretty clear form. Then some truckers on I25 when I'm a solid 8 miles or more from it. Did a radio check and the guy reported back my voice was clear.

Scratch one more thing off the list. This one is done. Thanks for the help guys and @bent72 for selling a great radio at an awesome price. Ready to go now!

 

[Bent77]

Glad all is good, too bad your old radio smoked out

 

[ZooMad75]

I'll keep it. Still might look to see if there is someone local that fixes them. If the fix is cheap enough I might keep it as a spare or set up one of my wheeling buddies with it.

 

[diesel4me]

The new Uniden is SSB?...

If so,you'll notice on SSB the range is much greater,I believe SSB is 12 watt output, instead of 5 watts the usual 40 channels have.

I was able to talk "locally" to others on SSB up to 50 miles away on a consistent basis,when I had my base station CB,and all I had was an Antron 99 fiberglass 18 foot whip on a pipe about 30 feet off the ground..the base had upper & lower channel mods,I had no fewquency counter though,so I wasn't sure exactly what frequency it was able to go on..(many guys had "Ranger" export model CB's with SSB that went from 25 to 30 mghz and even had FM as well as AM and SSB)..

I also talked skip to many different countries at night,during periods when sunspot activity was high you'd get CQ's from all over the world..Barbados seemed to be the country most often I'd pick up on my CB..

 

[ZooMad75]

Yep it's SSB. Never had one before with it. Not sure how far I can skip with my set up without an amp. Most reviews I read said this radio was a rock solid unit but not able to be modified with normal tuning tweaks. So without a linear amp to boost it, the output is limited to the 12watts that is legal. They all did say the unit was very consistent about being dead nuts on frequency with zero drift.

I'll have to read up on talking skip. Sounds like it might be fun to try out in the middle of nowhere when I'm out on a wheeling/camping run.

 

[diesel4me]

I had a few linears back in the day--one was a home built tube type,that put out almost 1000 watts..couldn't use it though,because the thing bled over and you could hear me talking on every TV set for 1/4 mile around !--tried a TVI filter,that only seemed to reduce the power output,not keep it from overpowering nearby TV sets..ended up selling it to a ham radio guy before the FCC tracked down my signal and confiscated it..

I still own a smaller linear,100 watt, that is solid state,it looks much like a car stereo amplifier,these were popular at truck stops back in the 70's...

I tried using it a few times,but I never could get either of the amps to work well with my base station,because it had been "peaked" internally and I also had a power mike--this made for lots of over-modulation and everyone I tried talking too said I sounded garbled and couldn't understand me--if the radio hadn't been peaked, and had a regular mike,it probably would have worked OK..

With SSB you dont really need much wattage--even 5 watts on AM can go world wide under the right atmospheric conditions..the fact the upper and lower SSB channels are pretty much "dead" without much transmitting going on,you can transmit and receive much further than on the usual 40 AM channels..the only bummer is your limited to talking to only others with SSB radios...