"J.A. Rodgers" wrote in message
...
Ok Magnum,

Thanks for the input.

I'll check my fuse box to see if I blew a fuse. I was just sitting in
the driveway when I started the engine. The CB came on at the same
time as the radio. It looked normal for a few seconds, then it went
black and no amount of fiddling with it, or the lighter connection
would make it light up again. The antenna fell off when I started
backing out of the driveway, and it fell off again as I was going down
the road about 400 yards away.

If the fuse is blown, then maybe I need to install a stronger fuse to
handle the CB action?

The fuse has blown for a reason (if it did actually blow) If the antenna
feeder was damaged and the rig was struggling with high SWR on TX then it
would draw more current which might possibly be why the fuse blew (if it
did). I wouldnt go over a 3A fuse if you do put a higher one in though...

I'm going to look for a larger diameter magnet after while, or go down
to the 4 foot.

It will still come off in high winds without a decent magmount...

Of course being a novice that might not be the best thing. so I'm open
to all suggestions.

Go for the triple magmount base....
Good luck,
Graham






On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 17:34:14 -0000, "The Magnum"
wrote:


Then the radio just died. Maybe the antenna was to much for that 25
year old Cobra 148 GTL?

If the antenna was correctly tuned it would make no difference what it
was
to the radio you were using. Three things spring to mind.

1/ The co-ax was damaged when the antenna fell off the roof in the first
place causing a possible intermittant break of the inner core .. or..
2/ The radio itself has an intermittant fault. Quite possibly dry joints
on
the circuit board on a model that old.
3/ The power supply lead you have connected the radio to is dodgy. Try
taking a couple of wires (fused near the battery of course) from the
battery
to the CB radio... possibly through a supressor of some kind ...
by-passing
any possible faulty wiring in the car itself.

There are plenty of heavy duty magmounts available for the larger mobile
antennas including a tripod type magmount affair with the antenna
mounting
on a bracket between the 3. The wind will never blow this off... only
thing
is you might have trouble getting it off at night but if you leave the
base
on the car there would be no problem.
The surface area of a 5ft firestik is pretty large and suffers from wind
shear much more than a base loaded coil. Unless you have something pretty
severe as a base you will have problems, even with the 4ft version.

Regards,
Graham











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