canuckrv said:
My new to me Motor home came with a Cobra 18 wx st CB.
Is this a good unit?
I was getting bad reception (really bad on the Weather Radio) until I started to take the antenna connection from the back, when I loosened the plug just a bit it worked great but if done up tight it will not, any ideas?
As always thanks
Jerome
You must be removing the ground connection on the cable at the radio when you do that. If that makes reception better, only three things can be wrong.
1. There is no connection between the antenna and the cable at the far end. So you're using the cable as an antenna until the shield is connected to the radio and then the cable can no longer be acting as an antenna. So then it works MUCH better, but not nearly as well as it should, when the shield at the radio is not connected to the CB unit. So when you loosen it, you get at least some reception. I would bet this is your problem, so check the opposite side of that cable where the antenna is on the roof or whatever.
2. The cable (or connector) has a short in it, so when you remove the ground it can use the entire length of the cable and antenna as one antenna.
3. The antenna is so far off from the correct resonance for that frequency, it appears as a short until you remove the ground connection from the cable to the radio.
Either way, the problem is the antenna or the cable, or between them. Most likely near the antenna itself (unfortunately).
And IMO, all CB units are about the same. But I see that the
Cobra 18 wx costs around $65.00.
Is that designed to use the CB antenna for the weather radio?
-Don- (professional radio tech for two more months and then I retire!) Reno, NV