Radio My radio does not play.It sounds as though that it has a ground on it. I have tried a couple of antenna, and the problem still exist. Thank you for any input that you might be able to provide. Babydump

Does it light up, or turn on? Did you hook all the wires the right way, the first time? Is there a ground wire or ground strap connected? Is the antenna plugged into the radio? Are any antenna wires broken, all the way to the antenna? Do the speakers work? Those are some of the self inflicted answers as to why.,,,

I would start there and ground the antenna to the chassis. Volvos' are made of fiberglass and fiberglass has no ground plane so you have to create one by grounding the antenna to the chassis. If you are using the antennas supplied by the truck be careful because they may not even be connected to the radio at some point in between the radio and the antenna . Get a volt ohm meter and disconnect the coax from the radio . Now take the pl-259 connector and make the coax long enough ( stretch it out ) so you can get the meter connected to the coax . Set the meter on ohms with sound and see if you have a connection . If you do then you can use the antenna provided. If not you may want to try to find the problem or just go get a new set of antennas ,match them up and make sure they are grounded and you should be good to go. remember you don't need a perfect match of 1.1:1 which is excellent but anything under a 2.5:1 is good.

you can try a AM/FM antenna booster if you know how to get to the back of the radio. Otherwise the radio ground needs to be checked out and the antenna ground would need to be tested to see if there was corrosion on the antenna base or the connector to the back of the radio. On some cars the antenna is located in bad area and they don't get the signal boost off of the cars ground plane The more reflective surface you have on the car the more radio waves will bounce back and increase signal strength. Also Depending on atmospheric conditions and skip conditions sun spots and other natural occurring things can cause poor reception. The signal booster is about $10.00 at any radio Shack or any auto parts store. Hope this helps.

Make sure the antenna has a good clean ground. I know it sounds silly, but here's what's happening: You're getting RF feedback. If you don't have a good ground at the antenna, some of the RF travels back down the coax and makes the whole radio "hot". Some of that RF couples back into the microphone input, and causes feedback.

It's also possible that if your amp is really big, you're getting RF feedback directly from the antenna itself due to the really strong field.

You could try moving the antenna further away from the radio, or if that's not practical, some snap on ferrite chokes (available at radio shack) around the mic cable near where it enters the radio will probably solve the problem.

Hello winfieldweth,

Have you tried measuring the power output of your radio? If you do, I bet you that the power output is over 4watts PEP. This could be caused by a component changing value over time. What I would suggest you do is to measure the power first to see if the power is over 4watts PEP and then proceed from there. I don't believe it's a grounding issue since the antenna being used is made for a no ground condition. Now if you are planning to use a ground type antenna, I would suggest that you not do that, only because just grounding the antenna will technically do no good, since when the say ground what they are talking about is a ground plane no just a grounding point.

Check your power and then we can start repairing this problem.

I hope this helps, keep me informed on the progress.

Thank you,

Shuttle83

http://www.electron-age-technologies-llc.com

A antenna issue would be all the time, not come and go, this is what I have learned from 100's of repairs, I would suggest you make sure the radio has a good ground to the chassis, a poor ground will cause these kinds of static issues.

Hello Lei,

It sounds like the antenna has came loose from the back of the radio and the wiring harness is loose.

Make sure you have a good ground going to the radio, or this will cause a short and make the radio do strange things, the fact you sometimes get a signal tells me the radio is in working condition.

Hello John. A good earth ground for your antenna is more important than for the radio. Using the closest possible point to the antenna pole, preferably within a couple of feet, you need to ground the antenna pole to the earth. Go to a hardware store and buy a copper grounding rod which will be eight foot long and buy, as little as you can possibly get away with, some of 10 gauge wire and some kind of clamps that will attach the wire to the antenna pole and to the grounding rod. Google "antenna earth grounding" may help also.

Even though I say you should use a better antenna, if set up properly, you should still be able to receive and transmit even with the window mount antenna, they just do now allow you to actually receive and transmit to the full capability of your radio. They were not designed for the practical use in mind, but more so for the looks.


1. For grouding the radio, you can ground it just about anywhere you like. I usually sugest running the power and ground right off of the battery.

2. When you say you grounded the receiving end of the antenna, did you mean that you grounded out the metal part of the antenna, the part on the outside of the window? Please clarify. If the actual antenna is grounded, it is like having no antenna at all. I have not used this particular antenna and am not sure if that antenna needs to be grounded. Unless the instructions from the antenna package said so, it will not need to be. On a regular antenna application, the base where the antenna is screwed into is grounded and the antenna itself is not.

Make sure your PA/CB switch is set to CB, they are easy to bump and not notice that they are set to PA. Turn your squelch all the way counter clockwise.

3.You don't have to use inline noise filters. People use those when they get like alternator noise coming through their radio, which will be a whining sound when you are acellerating, or turning your airconditioner blower between fan settings.

This is why I usually suggest people run their cb radio power straight from the battery, because it lets the batterywork as a filter, but you can try an inline filter if you don't want to go that route. But first, you have to any determine if you have alternator noise before you need to worry about it.

If none of this helps, please let me know. You can post here or email me at [email protected].

Dean

if you have lost am and fm it sounds like the antenna connector on the back of the radio has come off, if you find that is the case put it back on and secure it with a strip of tape