Here's a good one for ya!

[R33F]

Okay I recently installed a Galaxy 949 CB and a 5' Firestik. I have the cb running straight to the battery and the ground going to the frame.

Everytime I push the button to talk my sway bars disconnect.......:eek2:

What the heck!

By the way, I took it to the local truck shops cb shop and had them peak and tune it up. They said everything was hooked up fine and my SWR was great!

They sway bar will automatically reconnect a few seconds later, but it still has me worried.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Does this mean I have to hold the button and talk the whole trail ride! LOL

[JackMac4]

LOL that is odd. You said you're hooked up direct to the battery? I can't seem to think of any reason that would cause the swaybar motor to disengage the swaybar connect.

[WRAITHYJEEP]

not sure why but i think a direct ground to battery might be needed
i recall having an issue like that in the past with another car

just disconnect ur current ground and run a jumper wire to battery to see if that fixes it.

[R33F]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Well to I was showing my friend what is happening and it set off the sway bar and the EBS.
What is wierd is that it only does it if I have the roger beep function on the cb turned on. I will try and ground it to the battery and see what happens.
I could live without the roger beep, but I just don't like the fact that it is doing it at all.

[lnufnu]

Hey I wonder if that would work with my X, I am tired of getting dirty manually disconnecting mine ;)

[gtoneill]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Well to I was showing my friend what is happening and it set off the sway bar and the EBS.
What is wierd is that it only does it if I have the roger beep function on the cb turned on. I will try and ground it to the battery and see what happens.
I could live without the roger beep, but I just don't like the fact that it is doing it at all.

The roger beep is annoying as hell anyways. :eek2: It was designed for use in the ham bands for long distance communications. When the signal was weak, you could hear the beep and know the other guy was done transmitting. A lot of people use it because they know it's annoying, but useless.:yawn:

[tjarmstrong]

Similar situation. I have a Cobra 75 wired direct to the battery and once in a while while transmitting a random dashboard light will come on accompanied with a chime. The first time it happened I did not notice which light it was. The next time it happened it was the air bag light and one chime:thinking: Any electrical gurus out there have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Tim

[Jeff]

Sounds like stray RF is getting into the electrical system. Does the same thing happen on low power? The power line might be acting like an antenna. An RF bead (ferrite coil) installed on the power line might help. A ferrite is that little thing on the power line on your PC monitor. Lacking a ferrite try a loose figure eight knot in the power line.
Also is the power and coax routed parallel? Try rerouting so they are at right angles.

[R33F]

Thanks for the advice! :yup:

I'm going to mess with it as soon as this rain stops.

[hiteck]

Sounds like stray RF is getting into the electrical system.


That's exactly what I was thinking

[yellowjeeper85]

That's exactly what I was thinking

Me too, with the whole can bus thing, maybe the stray RF is getting into the canbus signal somehow and cuasing all these odd things to happen. Good luck.

[Ted_Grevers]

How many watts are you guys running? Anyone using a linear?

[tjarmstrong]

I am not using an amp of any kind. The output of my CB (Cobra 75WXST) is 4W.

[R33F]

Well after taking it to cb shop and having him crack her open he said I'm close to 25watts. If that's true are not I don't know. I do not have a amp or anything. I have a feeling its a ground issue with the antenna.
If I remeber correctly it worked fine until I grounded my atenna better.

[Flukinuki]

Well after taking it to cb shop and having him crack her open he said I'm close to 25watts. If that's true are not I don't know.

There is a chance that by having a "tuned" radio your throwing RF all over the place. Next time you drive down the street transmitting, check to see if your opening any garage doors or setting off alarms :) Seriously, a poorly "tuned" radio can cause interferance on TV channels, emergency frequencies, and am/fm radio, to name a few.

One thing I am sure of. I would definately not feel safe wondering if I key the mic at 70mph...are my sway bars gonna disconnect? Turning off the beep is great until...

[OIIIIO]

[QUOTE=tjarmstrong;313342]Similar situation. I have a Cobra 75 wired direct to the battery and once in a while while transmitting a random dashboard light will come on accompanied with a chime. The first time it happened I did not notice which light it was. The next time it happened it was the air bag light and one chime:thinking: Any electrical gurus out there have any ideas?


Similar situation here. I bought a handheld Midland CB for my first JAMBO next week in TENN and I decided to try it for the first time this morning. Press the talk button on channel 9 and the oil light comes on. Press it on channel 1 and the ESP turns off. I'm going to try the figure 8 in the power cord and check the hi/lo power but I guess I could fix it with battery use instead, correct?

Thanks
I'm glad I'm not the only one, thought I was crazy.:wink:

Robert

[Offroadme]

that is weird. that was like an OLD Bmw i had if you hit the steering wheel in the right spot the brights would turn on. :thinking::thinking:

[N2MWL]

There is a chance that by having a "tuned" radio your throwing RF all over the place. Next time you drive down the street transmitting, check to see if your opening any garage doors or setting off alarms :) Seriously, a poorly "tuned" radio can cause interferance on TV channels, emergency frequencies, and am/fm radio, to name a few.

The radio has probably been clipped, Galaxy's are known splatter boxes its probably bleeding ten channels each way and transmitting 10k wide !! :what?:

If you plan on leaving the radio the way it is, lots of grounding might calm things down.... :thinking:

[piaa_nissan]

I agree with the stray RF, My Galaxy has been tuned and peaked and I have no problems with it causing gremlins. Check all the usual- grounding, antenna/mount, coax, SWR. Badly done Mods can make it all the worse with all the computerized controls though the CAN-BUS it wouldn't take much stray RF to wreak havoc on the whole shebang.

[grannygear]

About 8 years ago when I was driving truck I ran a high output radio and linerer. It was mounted up top just under my cab lights. Everytime I keyed up (all lights were turned off) the cab lights would give off a low to med glow. Sounds like you might be getting the same effect. Try relocating some things and see what happens.

[AK4Dave]

Just get a handfull of these things and slap them over any wires that you are getting trouble with stray rf and you will not have any more trouble.
http://www.radiodan.com/Henry/parts/RF_chokes.htm


Ha....I wish it was only just that easy sometimes...lol:naw:

[N2MWL]

Dave didn't you ever use those things they are great! Slap them on and away goes the rf. I was doing 432 mhz moonbounce and running 6 meters into stacked yagis at the same time running a kilowatt on both bands. I have them on everything , they really work and during contests I would dish them out at the door to the neighbors like it was trick or treat. The guy 2 houses down has a TV antenna up too, I made him a little coax jumper with coax wrapped around one of the big round ones and a radio shack filter on the end, he never complained again. That guy with the disconnecting sway bar all he needs to do is wrap the wire around one of those snap together ones right before it hooks to the disconnector motor and it will stop.....

I'll give them a try, with 100 watts into an Imax 2k on 10m I have the "talk back" effect going on the TV speakers in the down stairs computer room.....of course the Imax 2k is a bleed stick anyway..... :D

[N2MWL]

I bled everythnig in the house...even stuff that wasn't on, with bandpass filters on every band. The doorbell would ring, phones, garage door would open, computers would start typing by themselves. I put those things on everything. If you got seperate speakers from the tv, put them on the speaker cable right before they plug into them, wrap em around as much as you can they really work!!! I was cranking out so much rf on 432 it killed the trees next to the tower!!! Another ham told me I was screwing up his tv, when I turned the array towards his house...he lived 10 miles away haha! Those things took EVERY bit of it away.....
Let me know how you make out 73
Dave N3JFM
PS think I'm kidding about my station and it's capabilities? Read this....
http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/2003/JanVHF.pdf

Thanks for the help Dave its much appreciated, I'll give them a try....Forgot to mention I was running a Bencher YA1 and still got over on the TV speakers !!

[AK4Dave]

Dave didn't you ever use those things they are great! Slap them on and away goes the rf. I was doing 432 mhz moonbounce and running 6 meters into stacked yagis at the same time running a kilowatt on both bands. I have them on everything , they really work and during contests I would dish them out at the door to the neighbors like it was trick or treat. The guy 2 houses down has a TV antenna up too, I made him a little coax jumper with coax wrapped around one of the big round ones and a radio shack filter on the end, he never complained again. That guy with the disconnecting sway bar all he needs to do is wrap the wire around one of those snap together ones right before it hooks to the disconnector motor and it will stop.....

Oh yeah......I've used them quite a bit and have a few in the shack right now. And as far as the disconnect...that may be all he needs....and I hope so. I was just saying sometimes they don't "always" do the trick, as there can be a number of other factors involved, especially when it comes to mobile applications. It's surprising how even just moving your ground can sometimes make a difference........qsl? As we all know, RF can be a crazy and frustrating thing sometimes...lol:crazyeyes:
73....