CB problems.

[rjewkes]

ok for some reason the ant warnig light comes on on my Cobra Night Watch 29 NW LTD Classic.

in the truck with either magnetic mount or my 6" shakespear attached to the mirror it worked fine and never spiked past 3 srw's, now installed in the cougar with the magnetic mounted on the roof in the dead center, and i have moved it around and adjusted the very tip of it too, it lights that red indicator warning me of a problem in the antenna but only when i key the mic.

[fordman]

did you remove the mic when it got swapped? if so remove it and reinstall it.

[rjewkes]

nope it's been on there since day one, i think i have it narrowed down to the antenna, it half way does it in the truck, i tested this by putting it back in the truck. also if i remove the antenna from the truck or the car the light stays off and it works perfect, as soon as it touches the vehicle it's like it over grounds.

when it was still in the car if i removed the ground wire from the ground it would work for a minute without problems then have 'em again. only way to make sure it ain't the antenna is to get a new wire for my shakespear and hook it back up. I've set the swr's with the built in adjuster on the radio according to instructions. also if i put something so thick it almost won't stay on there between the magnetic base of the antenna the problem goes away then too. ufortuneatly this means it almost falls off or will fall off going down the road.

only other thing i can think is the cougar could be positive ground but then it looks like the battery wires to the starter relay just like on the truck wich is negative ground.

[TheEskimo]

Definatly sounds like the antenna is grounding onto something, how's the coax and connectors?

[rjewkes]

Theirs a pinch or two where it went through the door i the coax, the connector looks to be ok.

[TheEskimo]

Most all coax for CB's will be RG58 for the mobile applications from what I recall. And most of those have a solid core, and it doesn't like tight bends much. My guess is there is a break in that area and it is grounding itself out. Might have been intermittent when it was being moved as the break wouldn't always ground it out, and this could explain why it worked for a while without the ground hooked up. Just my thoughts, but it makes sense to me that that could be the problem.

[70_F100]

The solid core also had a somewhat thin insulator around it. If it got pinched in the door too hard, it may have broken through the insulator and you may be getting an intermittent short between the core and the shield.