heath robinson Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Odd problem of the day - when flailing the lead for the aerial of the CB in the truck around (as I'm wont to do), it touched the bulkhead, and there was sparking. A tickle of the multimeter reveals that the outer casing's got a full 12 of my battery's finest running around in it. That's never right, is it? Never had or used a CB before, but I'm assuming that as the outside of the connector to the aerial is grounded, that plugging it in like this would be a faux pas... Any clues? Cheers Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 The outer braid is the earth, it only needs to be pulled back over the central insulator at both ends, not connected to battery or vehicle body, the centre core carries the signal from transceiver to antenna. lots of useful info on http://www.4x4cb.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heath robinson Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 But there definitely shouldn't be current in the sheathing though, right? I thingk the CB it's self must be U/S as it's just connected to the aerial socket at one end, and the other's not plugged into anything at the antenna end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edlen Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 But there definitely shouldn't be current in the sheathing though, right? I thingk the CB it's self must be U/S as it's just connected to the aerial socket at one end, and the other's not plugged into anything at the antenna end. The antenna should be passive. It possible the output power transistor has died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Correct, no power in the braided sheath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Check the ground wire of the CB power lead. The radio will pass current through the lowest resistance path back to the battery - if the radio ground wire is badly connected, then current will flow via the coax instead. Probably won't have caused any damage if that's all that's happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.