AussieChris replied:

Just downloaded the manual for it online and have seen that the "ISC" button if for excessive noise and from memory 27Mhz CB's had excessive noise anyway so wouldnt hurt to have it on i guess:)
Forgot one other question......along with the Aerial i bought a "Boot Mount" bracket with it......all i did to attach the aerial was screw the mount onto the underneath of the boot and attach the aerial......is that all you do?

Cheers

Chris

Savvas replied:

This is going back a bit. I used to use a Pearce-Simpson 27Mhz AM/SSB unit a long time ago. Around 1988, in fact. I still have it sitting around somewhere.

With the boot lid mount, you attach the aerial base to the mount and then clamp the mount to the boot lid using the screws. It would be a good idea to get a solid pice of rubber between the screws and the boot lid to stop the screws cutting through the paint. Personally, I think the Z bracket mounted next to the bonnet is a better solution.

I found the antennas with the adjustable tip to be worthwhile. If you get a bit over ambitious tuning the other type by removing too much wire while tuning it, then there is no going back. With the adjustable type, you just lengthen or shorten the tip without worrying. With either antenna you will need a SWR meter between the radio and antenna to get the tuning right, unless your unit has a built in SWR meter.

Select Ch40, press the mic button to transmit and take a reading with the SWR meter. write the number down. Now select Ch1, repeat the procedure and record the reading. Ideally, the reading should equal 1:1 throughout the frequency range. However sometimes the best you can get is just to have the reading equal across the range but it must be less than 2:1 and preferably less than 1.5:1. Higher than 2:1 can damage the radio.

If the reading is higher on the higher channel, the antenna is too long and must be shortened. If the reading is higher on the lower channel, the antenna is too short and must be lengthened. An antenna without a tunable tip can't be lengthened.

Good luck!
Savvas

ozzyark replied:

Hi Chris,
Good to see you got it up and running okay.
Did you get hold of a SWR meter? Because if the SWR is too high it will affect the sort of reception you get. As for the ISC switch you would have to check that leaving it on isnt going to block out any faint stations as some of the noise limiters seem to do.
As for your antenae, if you get around to checking (what type of aerial is it?) the swr on the new antenae its a good idea if you tune it in on ch20 middle ground, that way it is about even on all channels. If it is a black helical type aerial you just have to grab a pair of snips and take of the pretty little red hat on the end and snip a very small piece of the end, recheck the swr if it has come down a bit snip a little more and so on till you get it down to about 1.5:1. If by accident you snip too much off we use to just unwind a bit of the wire used on the antenae and add a bit back on. In fact we use to wind our own antenaes, gettiing them smaller and smaller.
I actually put my AM rig in my camper this morning, just have to check the antenae tommorow I ended up puting mine on the bullbar so it will be interesting to see what the SWR says.
Cheers for now

AussieChris replied:

Hi KiwiAngler

If the aerial i have is a tuneless one do i just take it that all will be ok????
As Ozzyark said i can just take the little red tip off it and snip little by little off until its ok but i thought these aerials were tuned in automatically so you wouldnt have to worry about the fuss

Chris