Whine in Audio on Handeld CB

[Sherman]

Ignats - maybe you need the Crancor (sp?) setup:

 

[FJRandy]

Ignats - maybe you need the Crancor (sp?) setup:

Holy shit! I just fell on the floor!!!

Hilarious!!

 

[Wingman]

It's better, but still not working as well as I would like. I have to turn the squelch up (at least 3/4) to listen to the music on the Starcom. When I transmit, people tell me it sounds like "overmodulation". I tried turning the mic sensitivity down on the Starcom with no better results.

Question: Does the squelch setting have any effect while transmitting? I've always been under the impression it does not, but a lot of people I talked to feel strongly that it does. Anyone know for sure?

We were about 150' to 200' apart at the time. I didn't try the low power setting on the CB because the radio quit transmitting part way through the day. Radio worked fine with Starcom unplugged. Tested the PTT switch later and found nothing wrong. Next morning everything was working again, but still had the noise while transmitting.

Is it possible we have an impedence mismatch between the Starcom mic and the radio mic input?

David

 

[Ignacio]

All good questions and over my head.

I haven't resolved things and am in final prep. mode for a ride to start tomorrow after work.....so I'm going to just run batteries for this trip. The guy I'm riding with, DougC on this forum, has the same setup I do so we'll get a change to compare notes and setup.

After the ride I need to go into the plastic for several other projects and will come back to this issue.

Meanwhile, cross your fingers for Doug and I. We're hoping to visit all 39 county seats in Washington......in less than 48 hours.

 

[vectervp1]

Good luck on the ride! Make sure you don't raise too much hell.

 

[kaitsdad]

Matt,

Be safe dude -

Contact me if you need bail money ..

 

[Wingman]

I should have mentioned that the problem exists whether using bike power or batteries. The ground loop isolator has allowed me to save a lot of money on batteries though. I also tried using the rubber ducky antenna with noticable shortened rx range, but tx noise problem still there.

I just need to have my brother ride the bike and follow him in my truck so I can hear what it is doing for myself. Maybe later in the week, if this rain lets up.

David

 

[Ignacio]

Contact me if you need bail money ..

The irony is that if PoPo's were to look at us with a furrowed brow and contemplate a u-turn....we're always headed to the next local courthouse/jail to snap a picture. They'd have 3-5 minutes to catch up with us on 39 separate occasions and just tell us to walk inside the building. That's the best odds they're ever going to get.

 

[Sherman]

Ignacio,

I bought the same CB radio setup.

Did you resolve the CB issues and hardwire it? If so, what did you do?

I bought a PTT sw but it was stuck on so I have to send that back (if I didn't pinch it.) I could just reach up and and hit the button and go that route.

Also, how many hours of battery usage did you get?

Thanks,

Bruce

 

[Ignacio]

Not resolved yet. Ended up doing my last ride solo and didn't really need it....plus a Starcom issue I think I may have sorted out with Jeff's help.

I may work on it a bit this weekend at TechWest.

Still will report back when I have something new.

 

[FJRandy]

Is it possible we have an impedence mismatch between the Starcom mic and the radio mic input?
David

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I'm leaning more toward this theory every time I try something else. I think the same mismatch exists with the Starcom and the Autocom units.

An impedence mismatch like this will surely introduce noise into the system.

 

[Ignacio]

HEY, I made two big steps forward....and one back.

I think the issue wasn't excessive alternator whine, but was actually a combination of two settings on the Starcom Advance. I had one way up and another down to compensate. Should have been the other way around or towards the middle.

So, now I can use the CB while I have ER-6's in the ear and talk to people.

However, when I have the CB bike powered....the audio channel that goes to my GPS mutes when I give about 1/4 throttle. I don't think it's VOX level as it does it regardless of that setting and doesn't mute when I run on batteries.

Any thoughts?

This is the last piece I have to get solved before the Big Ride next week and I'm not quite ready to switch from bike power to 8 D cell batteries....but will if I have to.

 

[Grumpy]

Sounds like the kind of chit I always get into with electronic communications. If it helps, remember Jim's first law of electricity, "You can't see electrons, you can't trust them!".

Jim

 

[FJRandy]

However, when I have the CB bike powered....the audio channel that goes to my GPS mutes when I give about 1/4 throttle. I don't think it's VOX level as it does it regardless of that setting and doesn't mute when I run on batteries.
Any thoughts?

Sounds to me like you have the inputs mixed up. Unplug the CB input. (leave it on and powered up) and try it again. Still the same? Then it's one of the settings on the Starcom

 

[Gary D]

Question: Does the squelch setting have any effect while transmitting? I've always been under the impression it does not, but a lot of people I talked to feel strongly that it does. Anyone know for sure?

I believe that the squelch setting only cuts out unwanted signals on the receive side. I don't believe it does anything when transmitting. It is used when there is a lot of noise on a frequency to clean up the reception so you can hear a more "local" station.

Good luck!

Gary

 

[Ignacio]

Sounds to me like you have the inputs mixed up. Unplug the CB input. (leave it on and powered up) and try it again. Still the same? Then it's one of the settings on the Starcom

Not the same when one unplugs the CB and one can only plug the CB into one port. This only happens when the CB is plugged in AND the CB is powered by the bike. It's goes into a very specific port for radios.

Question: Does the squelch setting have any effect while transmitting?

No, but I don't think the squelch has anything to do with the muting of my GPS. Certainly if I lower the squelch to the point I hear CB static...it mutes the GPS, but it is not at all throttle related.

 

[bogey]

Ignacio

I have the same issue with the radio muting when adding power. It also fades in and out as you're riding along, depending again on how much power you use on the throttle - which for the FJR we always are adding more power! I've tried different settings, using both the PTT and VOX and neither makes any difference. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Ignacio]

At this point I'm going to just use battery power (having built a brick of 9 D cell batteries) for the IBR. There's one other small possibility I'm chasing down....and if it fixes it I'll report back.

 

[Bounce]

i may have missed it, but have you grounded every audio item back to the battery neg (-)? avoid chassis grounds because of how the R/R dumps excess power to chassis. i had my ground bar bolted to the R/R mounting bolt and had alternator whine in all my audio. i kept the ground block, but ran the main lead back to the neg terminal of the battery and BINGO! clean audio with no whine.

 

[FuzzyRider]

I've got all my equipment (Autocom & CB) grounded to the Blue Sea and the Blue Sea ground running directly to the battery. I'm still getting annoying whine in my CB - both sending and receiving. I believe it's not true alternator whine but instead RFI from the coils being picked up via inductance in the power line running from the Blue Sea (under the rider's seat) along the right side fairing and to the bars where the CB is mounted. I'm going to try running the power line through some braided tin covered copper shielding (and I'll ground the shielding) and report back on whether it helped or not.