PEAK PUTTERS

My wife and I bought our first Wranger last Saturday. It is a 2010 JKU Rubicon. We are looking to meet fun and interesting people that we can go off roading with. Neither of us work on the weekends and are up for just about anything. Please let me know when and where I can meet up with some of you.

My wife and I will be making a trip out to Hover saturday at about 10:00am. It would be nice to meet some of you out there for a little fun.

Welcome to the site. Nice Rubicon.

Keep checking the upcoming runs/events section. It's a little slow right now due to lots of family vacations and dusty dry conditions in the mountains.

But, it will pick up.

Sorry, guess we're not going out till Sunday. Would still like to meet some other people out there. Be out there Sunday at about 12:00pm.

How does one go about becoming a member?

Welcome

Yrjan wrote:How does one go about becoming a member?

3 meetings, 3 runs, tell us why you should be a Putter, we vote, you get put to work

A great club, I always have fun when I run with them !

Kris is so good for our egos

I think I qualify as fun and interesting (more like nuts), when you see my JK you'll understand. Nice to have another JK in the mix...

We are going out this saturday on our first run and I need help tuning my CB antenna. I work all day friday but I get off at 6pm. Is there anyone with experience that can help me out/show me how to tune my antenna? It needs to be done before 7:42am Saturday morning... thanks

What CB do you have? If it has a calibration thingy built into it then you might be able to get it setup at the gas station. I think I remember how I set mine.

If you need an external SWR meter then I am no help.

Yrjan wrote:We are going out this saturday on our first run and I need help tuning my CB antenna. I work all day friday but I get off at 6pm. Is there anyone with experience that can help me out/show me how to tune my antenna? It needs to be done before 7:42am Saturday morning... thanks

Iaccoca has an SWR meter. What kind of antenna do you have?

It's a Cobra 19 Ultra III. I'm pretty sure the antenna is not fiberglass it is very rigid. It's an older antenna I got from my dad. I've never tuned one before. I'm going to try the Two way radio store on Lewis st. In Pasco on my Lunch break. Hopefully they can get it done. If not, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I can hear chatter on ch19 but its pretty staticky and hard to understand.

The Two Way Shop is open today. Hopefully I can get this thing dialed in and I'm all set for tomorrow!

Yrjan wrote:It's a Cobra 19 Ultra III. I'm pretty sure the antenna is not fiberglass it is very rigid. It's an older antenna I got from my dad. I've never tuned one before. I'm going to try the Two way radio store on Lewis st. In Pasco on my Lunch break. Hopefully they can get it done. If not, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I can hear chatter on ch19 but its pretty staticky and hard to understand.

We typically don't have an issue with how close our range is. If it is a rigid antenna, it will typically have a copper wire wound around it under a plastic sheath. There will be a cap on top that you can remove to access the copper wire. Basically, you hook up the SWR meter, tune the CB to Channel 12, key the mike, and see where it lies. If the SWR is over 1.5, take off the cap and add a tiny piece of something like solder wire to the ned. See if it gets worse or better. If it gets better and it isn't too bad (under 2), then just put it all back together and live with it OR take it to the CB shop when you get a chance. If it gets worse, take off the little piece of wire and clip 1/8" of the copper wire off of the TOP of the antenna. Replace the cap, check again. . .repeat until you get down under 1.5. You are supposed to do it for the best average SWR across all of the channels by using a high channel and a low channel as a baseline, but since we always use Channel 12, I tuned it for that. When we were in Colorado this summer, we used all sorts of channels and it worked just fine.

There are lots of variables including the ground plane, length and type of coax, how the wire is routed, etc., but you can have good results if you follow the above.

Thanks OldGreen!

Oldgreen's info is good, just make sure the antenna is mounted to something metal and the more the better. Since the JK has a fiberglass roof the best place is in the middle of the hood. The hood isn't pratical so the more metal the better.

If the Two way shop doesn't take care of you, let me know, I'll be home tonight and have an SWR meter.

Yrjan wrote:Thanks OldGreen!

De nada amigo. I went soft on CB tuning for a few years and paid the price. Now, with a similar radio to yours, I get about 7 miles in urban terrain and a lot more from a hilltop.

Two Way took care of me. It's as best as its gonna get with the equipment I got. If it doesn't work out good this weekend ill buy a firestickII. Thanks for the help guys! See y'all tomorrow morning!

Yrjan wrote:If it doesn't work out good this weekend ill buy a firestickII.

Firesticks may be ok in town, but fiberglass will always lose out to a tree limb! Wire antenaas can take limbs and even roll overs with ease! (tested that one . . . more than once)

...and my wire one reaches out further. But my FireSticks were easier to tune. (Of course that is FireSticks plural.) I think I was going through a fiberglass one a year.

All true. I'm waiting to break "another" fiber antenna. When I do. . .I'll go wirey.

Roman wrote:...and even roll overs with ease! (tested that one . . . more than once)

OH Wait! Who am I riding with?

Don't worry, based on the average number of times Jose goes wheelin', there is only a (does math). . .uh. . .

28% probability that he will roll.