Uniden CB Radio set up

[BarneyB]

Yowdy Nav Heads,

My new (2nd hand) Nav came with quite a few accessories (toys?). One of which is a Uniden 015SX UHF.

But it seems to be set-up wrong....or poorly programmed...or possibly faulty...

I couldn't get a sound out of it until I went thru the menus with the book in-hand. It was set to the headset mode so it wasn't transmitting sound thru the cabin/box speaker. Once I changed that I could get some "fuzz" from a few frequencies, but nothing useful.
I tried a "radio check" transmission on a couple of channels but got no reply.
I have deactivated or switched off all the extra modes & functions so that it it should just be working as a simplex CB (no police frequencies, no tone calling or group preferences or special modes etc etc).

It has 3 squelch levels and I have chosen the highest sensitivity/lowest squelch setting while I get it working.
The "monitor" button works for fully open squelch too.

The main problem I'm trying to solve is that I cannot get 40 CB channels via the rotary selector.
It will only give me 0 to 9. Which makes listening to trucks on ch. 40 pretty impossible.
Not only this, but it seems that the 10 channels I can access are programmed to incorrect frequencies (i.e. my channel 8 is a different frequency to the actual channel 8)

I have tried the scan and search functions and noted the process of storing useful frequencies as they are scanned, but it's kind of useless because even when it finds a frequency I can't access any channel numbers above 9 to correctly store them.

I think it's a pretty old model now, but does anyone have experience with these or a similar model from Uniden?
Is there a way to get the full 40 channels back when I switch it on?
All the buttons work and it's not doing anything weird or obviously faulty, so I think it's just a set up problem.

 

[Old.Tony]

According to the info I found on Uniden's web site, it has a lockout feature for some channels. Can you remove the lockouts? I couldn't get the full manual, just a "feature flyer".

 

[BarneyB]

Yeah I set a few lock outs and then removed them (I think).
It's called BCL...or summing like that. I think it's all open & clear now.

Last night I had another another play with it & I think I've figured out part of the problem.
I'm only seeing channels 0 to 9 when I spin the rotary knob because the "tens" column of the LCD is cooked!
I think it is actually displaying 40 channels, but you can only see half the number as it rolls thru the list.
So for eg. channel 16 and channel 36 both appear as 6. The actually frequency display is working properly.....so I can see
that it is moving up thru the full band (i.e. 16 and 36 have different frequencies)

But I'm still not getting any useful signals. Just static on some channels.
I would have thought from my place up on the hill, I would pick up plenty of chit chat across Launceston...??

Do the aerials "wear out' ?
Can I measure anything useful if I put my m/m across the aerial mount contacts on the bull bar ??
Any other voltages or resistance I can check for abnormalities ??

 

[Old.Tony]

There shouldn't be any continuity between the inner conductor and the outer. To test that the antenna is correctly adjusted for transmission (even slightly off-spec it will receive) you should use a SWR (pronounced "swar" ) meter which checks that the antenna's at the correct electrical length for the signal being transmitted (the output transistors on the older radios used to burn out if the SWR was out by too much).

There should be a good connection between the outer metallic part of the antenna base (when installed) and battery negative. With the antenna above the main part of the vehicle, the vehicle itself becomes a 'ground plane' to assist in transmissions.

I don't know what the CD scene is like in Launceston, but I'd imagine that Ch40 (truckers) would see some activity now and again, as would CH18 (caravanners). Maybe not so much on CH18 with winter approaching, I know I am reluctant to cross the Strait with snow on the way!

 

[BarneyB]

I have successfully spoken with Launceston Waste Disposal Centre!

A little perseverance and I think the UHF is now useful. They told me I was very clear.
It's clunky to change channels because you need to know the frequencies... but I prolly won't use it very often.

 

[Mcalpine801]

Yowdy Nav Heads,

My new (2nd hand) Nav came with quite a few accessories (toys?). One of which is a Uniden 015SX UHF.

But it seems to be set-up wrong....or poorly programmed...or possibly faulty...

I couldn't get a sound out of it until I went thru the menus with the book in-hand. It was set to the headset mode so it wasn't transmitting sound thru the cabin/box speaker. Once I changed that I could get some "fuzz" from a few frequencies, but nothing useful.
I tried a "radio check" transmission on a couple of channels but got no reply.
I have deactivated or switched off all the extra modes & functions so that it it should just be working as a simplex CB (no police frequencies, no tone calling or group preferences or special modes etc etc).

It has 3 squelch levels and I have chosen the highest sensitivity/lowest squelch setting while I get it working.
The "monitor" button works for fully open squelch too.

The main problem I'm trying to solve is that I cannot get 40 CB channels via the rotary selector.
It will only give me 0 to 9. Which makes listening to trucks on ch. 40 pretty impossible.
Not only this, but it seems that the 10 channels I can access are programmed to incorrect frequencies (i.e. my channel 8 is a different frequency to the actual channel 8)

I have tried the scan and search functions and noted the process of storing useful frequencies as they are scanned, but it's kind of useless because even when it finds a frequency I can't access any channel numbers above 9 to correctly store them.

I think it's a pretty old model now, but does anyone have experience with these or a similar model from Uniden?
Is there a way to get the full 40 channels back when I switch it on?
All the buttons work and it's not doing anything weird or obviously faulty, so I think it's just a set up problem.

(no police frequencies, no tone calling or group preferences or special modes etc etc).
Do all UHF have these abilities and what are the above that you mention. I'm very in the dark about UHF and I would like to get the most out of the one fitted in my NAV

 

[BarneyB]

(no police frequencies, no tone calling or group preferences or special modes etc etc).
Do all UHF have these abilities and what are the above that you mention. I'm very in the dark about UHF and I would like to get the most out of the one fitted in my NAV

I'm still very much learning the UHF lingo too mate.
The owners manual that came with mine is quite good. It explains all that stuff....a bit.
I don't know exactly tone calling is or why/when you use it. Might be for a closed group of users?
All I've managed with mine so far is to listen to a few truckies. I'm flat-out remembering which channels are meant for which punters!

 

[Mcalpine801]

Thanks BarneyB, I'm new here but I'll try and start a new thread as I'd be interested to know.