When my wife and I travel in different cars we like to use the CB. She uses the handheld, I have a CB in my truck. When transmitting I know she is talking but it is all garbled. She hears me fine.

How do you know that the radio does not transmit? The batteries need to be fully charged, or new to transmit. The radio is old, and the cost to repair it may be close to how much a new CB radio is.

Good luck.

First, lets make sure that the unit does transmit. Get a power meter and see how much power it transmits. If no power is being radiated, you need to have a technician check out the unit.
If you have power then pick a less crowded time to test out if anyone can hear you. Other people with more powerful equipments can only be a problem when you are transmitting on the same channel and both of you happen to transmit at the same time all the time. Chances are remote that this is your problem. Good luck. es

Poor power supply filtering.

what time of day are we talking here? usually skip is so heavy from 0800 until 1600 that no radio has a chance of transmitting or receiving.If you turn the squelch the other way what does it do?

That will depend on your setup and the other person's setup. there is no answer for that. but on average, a cb like a 29ltd and a 108" whip can in theory transmit 10miles with no problem. now if you use a shorter antenna like 3ft or 4ft types expect way less like 1-5miles. a good setup to a base station can reach 40miles without using the "skip" depending on weather, clear days rainydays and storms make the radio waves travel differently. but expect 5-10miles almost everyday. If its set up right.
Make sure to check your SWR's..!!!! anyone or any cb shop should do that for FREE!! we do.!

Modding your CB for more channels puts the radio into Ham bands which you need a license to transmit on, also modding a CB violates FCC part 95 rules and is therefor illegal to transmit with and the hams report most illegal transmitting on there band

CB radios and hand-held CB radios can operate on the same channel and be in contact with each other. Other hand-held radios do not operate on the same frequencies and even though they may have channel numbers the channels have different frequencies and will not operate to CB radios.

bobengelman,

Typically and unmodified handheld CB will have a decent talk distance of 1-2 miles with both being a handheld. Further distances can be had if one of the radios was a mobile or base station with distances of more than five miles with weak signals. In some cases the antenna can be changed to a better longer antenna. Extention type antennas typically transmit about a mile per watt. Conditions such as terrain will have an impact on signal specifically mountains or buildings. Better results may also be had by purchasing a mobile magnet mount with a PL-259 to BNC to fit the radio. A magnet mount placed on a air conditioning unit or large cookiesheet as high as possible will make decent gains for distance if the radios are intended to be stationary.

JT Radiojunkie

Its just RF feed back, that's normal, try to re-route the coax, or just turn the FM down, o try turning your modulation down....hope this was helpful....

Well, first of all, it's your radio. The Cobra 75 is about the worst money you can spend. They transmit at about 3 watts and all of Jeep customers have opted for bigger radios and I have gotten them away from the handheld units and they appreciate it. The issue is your antenna, what kind is it, where is it mounted, has it been tuned? let me know.

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