CB Radio Talk

Hi all, been a while since I posted anything here, I've had lots of work to do with little to no materials.

Basically after having 2 radios "fail" a little while ago I've been trying to chase down exactly why it happened, I received them back the other day, they were checked as 100% OK, Final transistors are fine and the PSU I'm using is also fine, I tried running an ATX PSU from a pc but unfortunately it makes a little too much noise to be useful (fan noise mostly) and since the other PSU checked out ok I'll continue using it.

After checking the cable I noticed (waaaay up in the air) that the connector to the antenna was starting to get a little rusty so I finally took down the Antenna, it weighs about 80kg at half way down, the base post is about 12ft tall and weighs about 30-40kg, with another 12 ft extension of Aluminium and then the antenna it started feeling like i was trying to lower a car haha, it was funny taking off the base of the mast and realising just how light all that Aluminium really is on its own.

When I finally got it down without destroying anything I noticed the Antenna Base connector (plastic clip that secures base to the bracket) was broken, turns out that the Antenna was pretty much just floating around down there, the spring was moving in the wind and its been the cause of most of my problems, as that spring twists and contorts in the wind my swr goes totally insane, this can obviously happen while transmitting so it was my biggest concern, using (cheap) rope I've managed to secure it back to position until I can replace that clip, hopefully someone here knows what to ask for? is it a conduit clip of sorts?

On the plus side, once I cleaned the connector (Rusty, took ages to get the thread cleaned up) and got the base sitting close to it's home position, my swr went from the old 1.5-1.7 (1-40) to 1.1-1.2 which is the best I've ever seen here, when it rains or the wind really blows (the last 2 days) I can't really transmit as the swr is just all over the place (Worst being 2.5!!!) and I can't get the thing anywhere near as high in the air as I'd like.

I'll try and post some pics of my dodgy repair job in the facebook group later

Put a magnet on your coaxial center conductor..if it attracts the magnet...you have copper clad over steel center conductor
...the source of your rust

Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a try a bit later on

As you likely know already, a SWR under 3 is actually ok to use. Not preferred but ok. Unless your running massive amounts of power, your gonna be just fine. I use a dielectric grease on all my outdoor connections. Sure helps.

Ok the saga continues, I Visited a friend today and got some bits and pieces from him to help me out with my Antenna issue and a few extra bits too!, one "licorice whip" for my Philips FM 900 and a new (newer than my gutter mount anyway) Magnetic Base Mount, ran out of light to take pics today but I had just enough cable length to run it from the roof of the house and through the window!
I also got an old damaged Stationmaster to replace the broken base on mine, the spring on it is in really bad shape so that'll have to go and there'll be some cleaning and derusting to get it up to standard but apart from the spring and a little rust around the connector the Base itself is fine :D.
If I get a 10amp psu I've been offered a small Amp to have some fun with, I can be a slightly more annoying Mud Duck than usual haha