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Radio and CB radio problem

Ben824

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Woodstock, GA
ok i have an Alpine cd player and i have noticed that when i have it on i get bad reception on my CB radio. if i turn the cd player off i get great reception. any ideas?
 
Ben824 said:
ok i have an Alpine cd player and i have noticed that when i have it on i get bad reception on my CB radio. if i turn the cd player off i get great reception. any ideas?

Does the problem only happen when the CD player is on - i.e., not the radio?

Years ago I had a Discman that was plugged into my home stereo's aux jack. If I ran the Discman while the radio was on, I'd get interference on the radio. Could be the same thing.
 
turn your music off when you want to talk on the cb:)

any stereo mods?cb and stereo wires contacting each other? that would be my first guess
 
Are they spliced into the same power line?

Are the speaker wires running near the coax for the CB?

Are they both properly grounded?

Check those things.


Erik
 
it happens when the cd player is playin a cd or just the radio or even when i have the iPOD goin. i do have some stereo mods i have an alpine head unit and new infinity speakers in the front doors and i have an MTX 1500 watts RMS class D mono amp runnin 3 10" JL Audio W3-V2s all installed by me. i used to have the cb antenna wire and the RCA wires for the amp runnin next to each other but then i moved the CB antenna wire thinkin that might fix the problem but it didnt. yah i do turn the cd player/head unit off when i want to use the CB but it gets annoyin when im ridin to a trail with my buddies and im cruisin listenin to music and then one of my buddies trys to talk to me and i have to turn the head unit off in order to hear them from more than like two car lengths and talk back
 
its called dirty power. basically its feedback being transmitted through your electrical wires thats causing interferience with your radio. Very common problem and not much you can do to stop it unless you want to shield your wires.

same deal : http://www.endtimesreport.com/dirty_power.html

<- computer technician :D
 
Make sure no power wires are right next to the C.B. antenna. If they have to be near each other, try to get them to cross at 90* angles. I know, easier said than done.
 
Ben824 said:
it happens when the cd player is playin a cd or just the radio or even when i have the iPOD goin. i do have some stereo mods i have an alpine head unit and new infinity speakers in the front doors and i have an MTX 1500 watts RMS class D mono amp runnin 3 10" JL Audio W3-V2s all installed by me.

Okay. 1500-watt amp aside (I'm using the factory Infinity one), I've got pretty much the same setup - Alpine head unit, KCA-420i iPod adapter, Cobra 75WXST CB. No interference, though I do turn the radio off when using the CB so as not to make myself unintelligible to anyone listening to my broadcast.

Let's start with some basics:

- What year is your XJ?
- What model is your headunit?
- Are you using the KCA-420i?
- What model is your CB?
- How is the head unit wired in? Handmade or prebuilt harness?
- How is the CB wired in? What is it grounded to?

At this point it really sounds like an earth leak, but some more info would help.
 
Try checking your ground(ground it seperately from any stereo components, and power your cb directly to your battery. Also fuse the ground as well as the power.
 
Old timers trick for back when CB radio noise fiilters were not as good as now.
Get some RG-8 COAXIAL cable and use that for your CB power connection to the battery.
The reduction in noise is like 99%.
Even new radios work better because the noise will block your signal even though you don't hear it.
You can easly add a fuse and relay next to the battery so it will go off with the key.
RG-8 COAXIAL cable is the big 1/2" stuff with a 10 awg conductor.
 
caused by wires being in too close proximity to one another. Same principal and your power wire for amps bring engine noise through your speakers
 
bonzo said:
Try checking your ground(ground it seperately from any stereo components, and power your cb directly to your battery. Also fuse the ground as well as the power.
then if he forgets to turn off the CB he will have a dead battery
 
Timber said:
Make sure no power wires are right next to the C.B. antenna. If they have to be near each other, try to get them to cross at 90* angles. I know, easier said than done.

no, you want to twist them. having them at a certain angle will ensure nothing.
 
Wallymander said:
Frequency Grease, it solves everything. Then shake the RF out of the cable, reconnect. and all will be swell.
How do you tell when all the RF is out? The best Frequency Grease I've found is K-Y jelly but I never been able to tell when I've shook it too much.
I can still see good and don't have hair growing on my palms.
 
helix said:
no, you want to twist them. having them at a certain angle will ensure nothing.
Okay, live and learn, but I thought that only worked with a "dummy" wire in the mix, too. Dummy meaning connected to ground at one end and to nothing at the other. Kimber Kable used to do something like that years ago, and I think Rockford's higher end preamp cables do it now.
 
I dont know if anyone here has an EE degree (electronics engineering), I know i dont. Only several years in the electronics field. but i am sure all can agree on the fact that;
1) Proper grounds are needed
2) EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) is very present in vehicles
3) isolating wires as far as power/speakers/antenna coax(difinitly) as much as possible
all need to be payed close attention to.I dont know if it was mentioned in this post if it was tried with the amplifier discod' to eliminate its presence yet but it comes to mind since it creates most of the power, and therefore most of the EMI.
And of course all this equipment in a vehicle is going to make the charging system a little more unstable, so it is probably going to be makign more noise with a larger draw on it.
This is my 2 cents.
 
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