Uniden 510 CB radio grounding question

Michael Roberson

Michael Roberson

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 19, 2016
Messages
441
Location
Ringgold, GA 30736, United States
I am detecting continuity between the tip and ring of my antenna connection on my radio. I have two brand new out of the box 510s and both are the same way. Is this normal?
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If you"keyed up" the mic without an antenna or dummy load, you probably fried the radio.

However, that's not how you test continuity, an Ohms meter is used to test that; you actually testing voltage with that test light.
 
Ray said:
Why would you use a test light on the antenna system?
Click to expand...

Originally I was using it just to check if my antenna system had any shorts to ground. It’s just what I had with me. I’ve since determined everything is normal with the CB. I’ve now got a SWR about 1.5 on channel 1 and 3 on 40. This all started when I checked antenna ground after I plugged into the SWR meter and radio, I should have used a meter and if I had, I probably wouldn’t have chased that dragon, lol. Anyway, I’m going to check again when I can move out into an unobstructed location.


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the radio produce power for transmission, in the form of wattage.

this can and will trigger the test light to illuminate, as well as other electrical devices, depending on the radius output wattage. when I use to run a linear amp, I could run havack on neighbors TV,

however, testing this in the manner you did, is at great risk to your unit, because there is no way for the radio to disperse the power, which results in you blowing a caps and resistors..
 
In the most basic terms, transmitting without an antenna means that there is no place for that energy to go which creates heat which in turn can damage the radio's output transistors or "finals." The common wisdom has always been to never, ever press the transmit key without first ensuring that an antenna or dummy load is connected to the radio.

It is stated in various places on the Internet that most modern solid state transceivers are designed with a "foldback" or other protection circuit to protect against damage from transmitting without an antenna, which may be true for some of the full size chassis or the "high end" CB radios, but I have found no verifiable evidence that such circuits are employed in low cost CB radios such as the Uniden 510/520 series.

Even so, it is unlikely that a CB radio transmitting without an antenna at the maximum legal power of 4 watts for the few seconds it takes to use a test light to test continuity will damage the radio.
 
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G-Whiz said:
the radio produce power for transmission, in the form of wattage.

this can and will trigger the test light to illuminate, as well as other electrical devices, depending on the radius output wattage. when I use to run a linear amp, I could run havack on neighbors TV,

however, testing this in the manner you did, is at great risk to your unit, because there is no way for the radio to disperse the power, which results in you blowing a caps and resistors..
Click to expand...

Totally agree. When I tested it, it was not hooked up. It just on my workbench with no power.


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