ok thank you dave and mark for postin that great info. i read it all, and also read the instructions which i prob should have done before. the power knob adjusts the output power, and the rf gain adjusts the loudness. so i put the nb switch in nb/anl which is a noise blocker for ign noise.. stuff like that. i re-tuned my antenna, and it works amazing now!! i have the squelch all the way counter, and with the rf gain knob low i can hear ppl loudly, but the fuzz is very faint. i guess tha rf gain knob controls the fuzz.. so to speak..
on my swr test now the meter barely even moves 1 to 40!
so the problem... i bought a great advanced radio and didnt read the manual and that was the problem. everything i installed was correct.
also snugged antenna down with pliers too.. a lil tighter than hand.

lesson learned!!

 

Good deal.......the RF gain is your ears/receiver. Meaning you can turn it down when there is say......a trucker running big power right on top of you as to not overload the front end of your radio. But for the most part leave the RF gain turned all the way up as to hear even the weakest signals. Never know when you might hear a very weak "mayday-mayday". Use your squelch only if you get tired of hearing air noise, and turn it up only to the point of blocking it out. That way any decent signals should break the squelch allowing you to hear them.

 

i also noticed that the meter level will tell me how far away the signal transmitting is. very cool!! still figuring this thing out but i think i am glad i got this radio!! ran my mic cord across top to driver side and hung the mic on one of the two holes just to left of the visor.

 

As far as I know there is no such thing. Your meter is called an "S" meter. Signals received are valued in "S" units. It all has to do with how strong or weak the signal is, but not how far the transmitting signal is away from you. Meaning......you could be hearing a guy that's running hundreds of watts that shows an "S" meter reading of 9+. But he could be hundreds of miles away. On the other hand, you could have a guy 1 mile away running 4 watts and still show a 9 or more on your S meter. Or you could have say two guys both around 3 miles away. Both running 4 watts. One shows say a 5 on your meter, but the other may not have as good of an antenna system so he may show only a 2-3 on your meter.

Many times, I have been told "You sound like a local" and he will give me an S9 plus 30 over signal report. But he may be in Japan and I am in Alaska. Then again I may talk to a guy somewhere in ALaska, and he may only give me an S3 report.....and visa versa.

An "S" meter reading only has to do with how strong a signal your radio receiver is picking up, it has nothing to do with the distance between you and the station that is transmitting. Yes, a station may be so far away that you can barely hear them and your radio is only showing 1 S unit. But it's not always the case.

 

that makes perfect sense dave!! u prob know alot more than i about cb, so i trust your statments, plus it just makes sense.

i am having fun with the radio now.. picked up someone 9 miles away yesterday so i'd say its workin, and he heard me loud and clear. i guess as more time goes on i will perfect my cb skills and no one can take knoledge from u!

thanks again dave!

 

Well........I haven't kept up on my CB "skills" for quite awhile as I don't even own one now. But RF is RF......no matter if it's 11meters (CB band) or 10m (HAM band). It all pretty much acts the same.

Have Fun...!!!...