CBs are a pain in the ass when they dont work right. Look on youtube, there are a bunch of videos about tuning and stuff. Mine works great, but i have no idea why.

 

The funny thing is that before I would buy a cheap radio throw it in the Jeep and it worked great. Now I have a top of a line radio that has been tuned and an adjustable antenna that has been matched tuned, and it does not work.

 

I'm thinking you just need to tune your antenna. You'll wanna run down what's wrong piece by piece. It's getting power and receiving a signal, so it sounds like transmission is your issue.

First, see if someone local to you has a SWR meter who can help you dial in your antenna. If that still doesn't solve it, check the mic and cable to see if maybe they're no good.

BTW, you might end up getting some non tech answers since this is in chit chat. But since there's not really a tech section for com devices, I can see how you would think to put it here.

Good luck with getting it up and running.

 

It powers up and I could hear everyone but they could not hear me. I had the unit tuned and it looked to be fine, so I’m thinking that my MIC is bad but I did replace it last year and I don’t remember it getting wet or anything. As far as the antenna not being tuned I would think that is should still work it may not reach the distance it should but it should still work some what.

What are your thought on the all in one unit like the Cobra 75 WX ST?

 

Are you using the same mic to test all three?

 

Two of them are hand held units. I found a place by me that I'm going to take all my stuff too and have them check it out.

 

Probably the antenna. Its easy to get a signal on a CB or any radio for that matter but sending a signal requires a good antenna. I had to take mine in (its a Cobra 29) and have it tuned and then have the antenna matched to the radio and to the Jeep. I also had an issue with the ground for the antenna where the bracket bolts to the body. The guy I had tune it told me that CB's (at least the vehicle mounted ones) have to have large body or mass that virtually acts as the other pole of the antenna, so the antenna itself is one pole and the body of your vehicle that the antenna is 'grounded' to is the other pole. When they tune it they usually will open up the radio and tune that and then take out so many wraps of the antenna using a meter to check to see if its right. Also check the mic...I had an issue with mine since new (the guy said it wasn't unusual) so I just bought a better one and haven't had problems since, and now I get better signal than a lot of guys. I skimmed and saw you said two of the radios were hand helds, so not sure if those would work the same way. Sorry this was lengthy...hope this helps

 

Topgun thanks for taking the time and writing so much. Today another member of my local Jeep club told me about a CB shop in Fort Lauderdale that was really good with Jeeps. I spent a good amount of time of talking to the tech and he told me that you can receive a signal with a wire hanger but you need a properly tuned antenna to transmit. He also told me that the hand held CB don’t work very well and he would never recommend anyone to buy one they just don’t work. He did take my radio to the back and tested it and it all tested fine, he was able to send and receive. I would still like to buy the OEM Cobra mic. I left the shop with a new 18 foot cable and 3 foot antenna; I may buy a 4 foot antenna to have just in case I need to transmit over a greater distance. I hope to be making a new CB mount this weekend and setting everything up. I can’t wait to have a working CB again. Oh one more thing. My CB can receive weather stations but I was not able to receive any one them, he told me that was also, due to the antenna.

 

I ran the coax cable last night and powered the CB up. I did run a small ground cable from the body to the tailgate. I still have to make the mount for the antenna. It's coming along. I love the space on my new JKU on my TJ the CB really took allot of space in the cab.