I run a preditor10k but not sure at this point what to think. I have a Cobra 29 kicking out 50w alone and than a kicker which together put out 200w. The problem is I only get out about 2 miles up/down the road. Now I have heard some guys at around 8miles before but very rarely and they never hear me. I don't think my SWR's are good right now, just put it on the truck I got a month ago and never had them checked. I run just one do to all the talk about running two. I am looking into a whole new setup but man this radio thing is killing me. All I want is to be able to get out around 5-10 miles or so, that would be FANTASTIC! to say the least. To much info to desifer what is real and what is BS.
Sheepdog, sounds like your SWR's are high, people swear by the Predator 10K's but I rather have a trusty ole Wilson 2000 and you don't need that much freaking power, man that 50 watts in the box is plenty brother. When you go to check the SWR, make sure the amp is off when you check it and get the swr down to 1.1-1.5 cause anything over 1.5 will burn the finals in the amp and/or radio. You can run a stock barfefoot radio at a swr of 2 and be fine but you will sacrifice a lot of performance literally but have an amp behind with a swr of 2 and like I said you'll fry the amp and/or radio.
Thanks Larry,
Here is my thing, I know I need the SWR's checked but I have been trying to figure this one out..they say the coil needs to be above the cab right, well you do that the wip will be too high and get nocked off. My wip is already too high so it has to be angles at close to 45deg's, which don't make sense to me either, if it is angled you can't be getting the best signal.
Here is my thing, I know I need the SWR's checked but I have been trying to figure this one out..they say the coil needs to be above the cab right, well you do that the wip will be too high and get nocked off. My wip is already too high so it has to be angles at close to 45deg's, which don't make sense to me either, if it is angled you can't be getting the best signal.
Tilting it 45 degrees is too much, it should be tilted no more than 10 degrees. As far as the coil needing to be over the cab, yeah it's best but not necessary. Those who drive T600's/T660's the mirror is blocking some of the coil and they still get out. In order to lower the swr you need to trim it in 1/4 inch increments. If it's higher on 40 than 1 the antenna is too tall and you need to trim the stinger. If it's higher on 1 and than 40 you just need to pull the stinger out some in 1/4 inch increments. On the 10K's I don't remember if the stinger are flexible or not. That is why I prefer the Wilson 2000's or 5,000's the stingers are flexible. I feel those open coil antennas are more for looks than anything, they do the same job as a Wilson and I highly doubt there is much difference in rx/tx, some say there is but I doubt it. I know there is a tx/rx difference going from a fiberglass antenna to a coil antenna but you also got to figure in terrain, weather, and how much activity is on the cb channel you are listening will determine how well or poor it gets out. On some days I can get out 10 miles while on other days I can't get out for squat.
You may need to run a ground cause these new trucks are poorly grounded.
I know on the Volvo and Freightliners the stock antenna's are ran to a multiplexer which creates a flat swr so they say but also it's tied into the radio which limits your rx/tx from what I hear. I heard those new coax's on Freightliners are some cheaply made Chinese crap. While a properly matched antenna will do wonders, so will coax. If your gonna get new coax look for 50 ohm cause your wasting your time with 75 ohm cause most systems run on 50 ohm so you want them to match.
Oh ok so you got the new better coax running where the stock coax was running?
Roadmedic
Well-Known Member
That is the way to do it!
You should have got the swr's checked when you installed everything. I made that mistake and burned up a Galaxy 949, so I went back to a Cobra 29. Much better than the Galaxy in my opinion. I wasn't impressed with the Galaxy only thing I liked about it was the talk back.
The last time I had work on my radio, I had the guy check the SWR's and they said it was 1:1 but something didn't feel right about it. That is why I have come back to this forrum. The radio forrums are a bunch of Ham operators which some have good advice but I need truckers that actually use the same equipment I do. The next shop I come to I will get my antenna straight. I am thinking about getting one of those Stryker 440's, I heard a couple guys talking last week and man they sounded great. They both said they were barefoot and had never been touched, one was a 490 the other a 440.
Mike
Well-Known Member
I have a huge collection of antennas at this point. The one that works best for me is the Wilson 5000, with a 10 inch shaft. A simple francis antenna works great for me as well, but it can't handle the power when I have the box hooked up to it.
Given the state it says you live in, you have a great shop you can go to, west of Nashville. I think it is exit 163 on I-40. Of the shops I have dealt with in the past year or so, these people know what they are talking about.
One thing that some shops will try to tell you is that you don't need 18' of coax to get your SWR's right. This is true, however, I learned the hard way that just because the SWR's read correctly, doesn't mean the setup is right. Putting in 18' of coax immediately increased my range and cut static down dramatically.
Given the state it says you live in, you have a great shop you can go to, west of Nashville. I think it is exit 163 on I-40. Of the shops I have dealt with in the past year or so, these people know what they are talking about.
One thing that some shops will try to tell you is that you don't need 18' of coax to get your SWR's right. This is true, however, I learned the hard way that just because the SWR's read correctly, doesn't mean the setup is right. Putting in 18' of coax immediately increased my range and cut static down dramatically.
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