De-tune cb

[rickardracing]

I would like to know if there is a way to de-tune my range on the cb. I have the squelch set all the way up on 20 and I get chatter like crazy. My brother in-law has a Midnight and on the way to and from MD Saturday I was getting a TON on trucker chatter, he did not get any. My wife has a J&M on her Shadow and she does not get the chatter. I swear my radio must be picking stuff up from 20 miles away. It's very annoying. Makes it hard to listen to the radio. I almost had to turn it off on the way down. I do not want to hear all the other stuff, just the poeple I am riding with. Does anyone know how I can reduce the range?...........without breaking off the antenna!!!!

[Owen]

Were you on channel 19? Many of the truckers are running a lot more than the legal limit. Move up the band to the venture channel (29) or higher. If you are not on channel 19, then you have a passband filter problem with your receiver. No fix for it but replace the unit.

 

Update, see my later post.

Edited June 21, 2010 by Owen

[Eddie Fulmer]

I would suggest to do nothing but wait a few months. Right now the "skip" is working. Skip is a term that describes how usually short range radios, due to weather, reach long distances. I was on my bike yesterday and it was awful. The Venture "hears" well. This skip cycle will not last long and you should be back in business. This advice is coming from a ham operator with many years of experience. Hope this helps.

[rickardracing]

Were you on channel 19? Many of the truckers are running a lot more than the legal limit. Move up the band to the venture channel (29) or higher. If you are not on channel 19, then you have a passband filter problem with your receiver. No fix for it but replace the unit.

 

 

We were on 29. It's on all the channels. Terrible.

[MiCarl]

Sounds to me like something is wrong with the squelch.

[Owen]

Ok... I had a chance to check things out and it looks like HF propagation is starting to pick up. I had turned off my HF rigs a couple years ago due to poor propagation. We had been in the doldrums of an 'end of cycle 23' solar activity for what seemed to be an especially long cycle minimum of about 2-3 years. Normally the solar activity runs an 11yr cycle but there has been an unusually long period with little to no activity. The last month or two has shown some activity and we are clearly in the cycle 24 upswing. Here is the latest activity chart.

http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/Owen064/201006_01_background_xray_flux-lrg.jpg

 

What does all that mean to our CB radios? It means get ready for several years of the 'noise' you described. There will be so many stations heard on the radio that it will be almost un-usable at times. There is nothing wrong with your radio, it is working fine. The other bikes that where not hearing the signals obviously are not receiving very well. That is bad for the CB radios, but very good for us that are Ham radio ops. This will continue to increase for about 6 to 8 years and then start to drop off.

 

For a little more in depth look at propagation, click here.

Edited June 21, 2010 by Owen

[rickardracing]

Owen...........it still does not explain why I am the only one out of 6 or 8 people that I have ridden with, that I am the only one getting the chatter. If what your saying actually is correct, everyone else should be getting it too. The guys that came with me on Saturday, three Goldwings and another Venture.....nothing. My wifes J&M....nothing. My father in-laws Harley....nothing. I think it's more likely my radio is either tuned really well or the squelch is not working properly. I am going to have to see if someone can actually check it out.

[dingy]

Can you change the length of your CB antenna?

 

This will de-tune the radio. I know it will affect transmission, but not sure about reception though.

 

When I was into CB's, we would use a SWR meter to tune the antenna for optimum performance.

 

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/Equipment/How-to-Tune-a-C-B-Radio-Antenna.htm

 

Gary

Edited June 22, 2010 by dingy
grammer

[KiteSquid]

rickardracing,

 

What side of your bike, when viewed from the rear, is the CB antenna on? The CB antenna is the one with the black plastic lump (AKA load) in it.

[MiCarl]

Isn't it still under warranty? Take it in to the stealer and let them sort it out.

[rickardracing]

Isn't it still under warranty? Take it in to the stealer and let them sort it out.

I have not transfered the warranty from the previous owner yet. My bad. I think this would end up being one of "those things" the dealer would not be able to fix after having the bike for a week. I am going to call C&C in Brighton and talk to a mechanic and maybe just swing by on the way home later this week.

 

Kitesquid.......left side(drivers side in a car)

[Wanderer]

Owen...........it still does not explain why I am the only one out of 6 or 8 people that I have ridden with, that I am the only one getting the chatter. If what your saying actually is correct, everyone else should be getting it too. The guys that came with me on Saturday, three Goldwings and another Venture.....nothing. My wifes J&M....nothing. My father in-laws Harley....nothing. I think it's more likely my radio is either tuned really well or the squelch is not working properly. I am going to have to see if someone can actually check it out.

 

I have the same problem. When I rode home by myself I did turn it off. I too have the squelch all the way up, just can't cut out the noise.

[KiteSquid]

Kitesquid.......left side(drivers side in a car)

 

 

It is on the proper side.

[uechi kid]

I think you're going to end up taking it to the deal. You might as well pick a time when you aren't going to ride for a while and get it looked at. After you get that warranty transfered that is.

[rickardracing]

Well, I talked to two dealers about this. C&C Sports in Brighton and Nicholson's in Ann Arbor. Both dealers said that there is nothing that they can check or do. Just what I thought that they would say. I pretty much have no use for dealers, auto or motorcycle. I am going to call Yamaha now. I think that I am going to try and insulate the antenna a little to reduce the range. I do not like the idea of shortening the antenna and will not do that. I will try this this weekend and post the results.

[LilBeaver]

Well, I talked to two dealers about this. C&C Sports in Brighton and Nicholson's in Ann Arbor. Both dealers said that there is nothing that they can check or do. Just what I thought that they would say. I pretty much have no use for dealers, auto or motorcycle. I am going to call Yamaha now. I think that I am going to try and insulate the antenna a little to reduce the range. I do not like the idea of shortening the antenna and will not do that. I will try this this weekend and post the results.

 

I would push for a replacment. If I understood correctly, you said that you were getting transmissions from other channels on whatever channel you were on that NONE of the other bikes with CBs tuned to the same channel heard. You also said that it was the same thing on every channel - so that leads me to believe that it isn't a problem with you having some 'super receiver' it is a problem with the CB unit it-self.

 

Get it done under warranty because those boxes new are ~$1200.

 

You've tried two dealers now, and both have said they cannot help you (which may be true if you asked them to 'de-tune' your unit, not fix the problem). If you fully explained your issue and their response was 'they can't do anything to fix it' which encompassed or implied that replacing the unit wouldn't help, then I might try a third then call the Yamaha customer support/service and go from there.

 

Good luck.

[uechi kid]

I would push for a replacment. If I understood correctly, you said that you were getting transmissions from other channels on whatever channel you were on that NONE of the other bikes with CBs tuned to the same channel heard. You also said that it was the same thing on every channel - so that leads me to believe that it isn't a problem with you having some 'super receiver' it is a problem with the CB unit it-self.

 

Get it done under warranty because those boxes new are ~$1200.

 

You've tried two dealers now, and both have said they cannot help you (which may be true if you asked them to 'de-tune' your unit, not fix the problem). If you fully explained your issue and their response was 'they can't do anything to fix it' which encompassed or implied that replacing the unit wouldn't help, then I might try a third then call the Yamaha customer support/service and go from there.

 

Good luck.

Yep, that's exactly what I would do. It doesn't work properly and they need to take care of the problem.

[rickardracing]

This is what I ended up doing to the cb. My brother inlaw forwarded me a post on the cb locking up, so I tried it. All I did was open up the fairing and took the 4 large round connectors apart, sprayed some electrical connector cleaner in the plugs, put them back together and pulled them apart a few times. Sprayed more cleaner into the connectors and blew them out with compressed air. Then applied a light coat of di-electric grease to the female side of each plug and put everything back together. So far everything seems to be working good. Just about all the chatter goes away. With the squelch at 20, I have to get right ontop of a trucker before I hear anything. Simple. Probably should be done every spring when I break out the bike from the long cold winter.

[GeorgeS]

I have heard talk of the two antenna's on 2nd gens being switched left to right.

 

Is it possible your antenna's are installed on the wrong side?

 

Sombody here know exactly how to identify which side the antennas should be mounted on.

 

Otherwise, this sounds like you actually have a bad Receiver. If so, Dealer should replace it.