rcnutman

My Feedback: (22)

I just got to the part of putting my antenna extension on the lap cat( it connects to make it a metal antenna)......I have never done one of these before....It has a connection that looked like it had to be soldered to the antenna from the reciever,,,,,,,I soldered it and now i can only walk about 15 feet away with the radio antenna down( worked fine b4 i connected it)........I loose all power if i go any further??...Am I supposed to take apart the reciever and solder it where the old antenna went?? I just soldered it to the end of the excisting antenna...I was thinkn i should be able to go about 50 with it down.......Wonder whats going on?? Maybe a bad solder joint??..........Not sure what to do now......I can go about 100 feet with the antenna up.......But still i think somthings wrong..........what do you people think i should do??..........
any help much appriciated!!! here a pic of somthing close
thanks rcnut

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

You totally messed up the antenna length by adding that to the existing antenna. An antenna's length is determined by the wave length (something that I learned back in my CB radio days).
What that is for is to replace the length that was removed, i.e., if the antenna is 1 foot long you remove 1 foot of antenna wire. The length of the wire for your reciever is very critical and is preset by the factory, this is why in the instructions you are told not to add or cut off any wire. I personally don't trust any aftermarket antennas, I'd rather just run mine up through an antenna tube.
go back and read the insructions if you have any to correct your problem.

rcnutman

My Feedback: (22)

thats exactly my problem i have no instructions.......Im thinking maybe I should take apart the reciever and solder the connection to where the excisting antenna is...........Man hard to say I have looked at them online and the dont tell yea how to conect them.......So maybe the length of metal antenna plus all the connections is the same as my excisting anrenna wire???.......Im going to ask a few people with lap cats and see how theres are connected... If I dont get anywhere i will just do as you say and stick with the antenna through the tubing,...........Ron your a big help and sure know you stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Thanks Thanks!!!

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

I had some experience with those many years ago, it's been so long that I can't remember what I put one in. I learned that the antenna length is critical, kind of like tuned pipes. If a pipe isn't the right length, it isn't any more than a muffler or worse.
I got into CB a little more than the average CBer did but I'm no electrical genius by far. I did learn about tuning antennas and some about wavelengths and their effects.