I bought a factory re-furbished Cobra Classic 19 LTD II off of e-bay.
It was packaged well and in a new box.

I mounted the CB overhead on my "shelf - it" and ran the power wire directly
from the battery with an in-line fuse at the battery. Ground wire is connected to the firewall.

I ran a new 18' coaxial cable from the rear of the runner - the mount is on
the swing out tire carrier top body mount. The antenna is a 3' firestick
that is only 3 - 4 inches above the roof.

Here is my problem - I can hear other people talking but I can not get anybody to answer me. The radio has an SWR meter and when people are
talking the needle is over half way up the meter. When I key the mic to talk the red light comes on but the needle does not move.

What have I done wrong ? I've checked the continuity on the coax - ground to ground is good / center pin to center pin is good.
I checked for ground at the mount location by running a wire from the positive post of the battery and using my electrical probe - the light goes on when I touched the mount.

No - I do not have an SWR meter - yet

Thanks in advance

 

Sounds like that one needs to go back for replacement.

You will need to pick up a SWR meter for whatever radio setup you use.I see a potential problem with your antenna location as well.
While it wont cause the radio to do (or not do in this instance) what its doing,it could be a potential problem area.
Antennas like to be as high above the vehicle and as near center of the vehicle as possible.This aids in the efficiency of the antennas performance and keeps the radio from potential damage due to high SWRs or transmited power being reflected back into the radio.
PM me if I may be of further assistance.

 

Could be just that no one is answering.

Anyway, have a friend listen to your transmissions and see what they hear. Might just be noise because of a bad connection somewhere or just that your signal is not being received well by anyone. You need to tune your antenna to maximize the amount of radiated energy. In other words, you might hear someone who is getting good range, but since your antenna is poorly tuned, you just don't have the same range as the guy you're hearing.

 

I had the radio checked at a local Truck stop CB shop - zippo on the output.
I contacted the seller and he is replacing the radio - just cost me the shipping to return the radio. The new one has not arrived yet.

I had the guy at the truck stop check my antenna with one of his radio's
I was in good shape - clean installation. He suggested that I replace the whip antenna with a 4' and I did. I hope to modulate well when the new radio arrives. Thanks for the comments and suggestions !!

 

anytime,glad to help.