I need some help

[macdaddy]

Ok, i have an old (80s) cb as a base station and a cb from radio shack in my car. both are hooked up to antennas i just picked up at radioshack. there both magnetic and stuck to a fence and the cars roof. I seem to have no range. any ideas?

[KILLROY]

For starters your Antenna and coax are the most important part of your set up.
You can hook a $ 5,000 radio to a $10.00 antenna and you will sound like you have a ten dollar radio.
You can start buy getting a better mag mount for the car. A fairly inexpensive one is the Lil will. but it works well.
And there are base Antennas that are around $ 100 that will get you out there.

[the_junkie]

Ok, i have an old (80s) cb as a base station and a cb from radio shack in my car. both are hooked up to antennas i just picked up at radioshack. there both magnetic and stuck to a fence and the cars roof. I seem to have no range. any ideas?

1-the magnet on the fence ain't really gonna give u range on the base

2-do you know that both radios transmit?

3-Are your swrs properly tuned?

4-I would get a new antenna. If you don't care about looks, get a 102, 10k, or monkeymade. If you do care, I would go with a wilson mag mount, on the TOP of your cab. Make sure your swrs are set, and you have your antenna system well grounded

5-If the radio hasn't had a peak and tune, you probably don't have a whole lot of power, so the lack of range, coupled with your current antenna system, would cause you to not have much range. What radioshack antenna are we talking about here?

I would try to check these issues. Find a local with a radio, or have someone in the house/mobile if you can hear on both radios, and talk, see if you can hear in both locations. I would say that the problem is a lack of transmit on your radio, or a problem with your antenna system. GROUND GROUND GROUND

870 GOT DOWN!

[INDIAN]

I use a magnetic cheapO antenna as a base antenna when I am working on a radio. I stick mine on my grill and then run a wire from the grill to ground via a iron pipe driven into the ground. I get good results and low swrs. The grill gives me enough metal under the antenna to act as a reflector and the ground wire gives everything a return path.
If I remove the ground wire I can't hear or talk. Bottom line is you need a chunk of metal under a magnet mountalong with a ground path. I have talked ground plane up to 50 miles away and even shoot skip when it rolls. You probably need more metal than the fence post to make it work.

[Circuit Breaker]

5-If the radio hasn't had a peak and tune, you probably don't have a whole lot of power, so the lack of range, coupled with your current antenna system, would cause you to not have much range. What radioshack antenna are we talking about here?

Peak and tune won't make that much difference on transmitting range...maybe 1 s-unit if he's lucky. It certainly won't hurt though. He definitely needs to get better antennas...especially for the base. A magnet mount on a fence isn't going to work very good. If the fence is metal and magnetic, then it will at least provide some ground plane or counterpoise so his match MIGHT not be too bad...but then again it could be through the roof. He definitely needs a way to check his SWR.

[INDIAN]

One more thing, Invest in a decent SWR\WATT Meter if you don't have one. They are not that expensive. A decent one can be had for around 25 - 50 bucks.
with magnetic mounts the more metal you canget under it the better. Do a little research on the net about how they work and you will see what I mean.
I set up a friend of mine with an old Cobra 25 and one of my cheapO magnetics before he moved to Texas. The day he moved we stayed connected for 65 miles before he fadded out.
The tlation otal cost of his rig was 15$. It was blown up when itwas given to me and I fixed it and did a modulation mod on it. Gave him an old magnetic that was given to me and wala he has a good starter rig.