[VinnieBob]

My GL2WAY that I purchased in April squeals when transmitting and I haven't been able to figure out how to keep from doing it. I've made sure the ferrite cores were installed correctly, the unit is grounded to the FM antenna and the SWR is correct. So far I've replaced the factory style antenna I received as part of the package deal at CycleGiant.com with the OEM Honda CB antenna thinking it might have a problem, but the issue still exists. The CB unit itself will emit an audible squeal when transmitting at times, as if it's vibrating. Sometimes the squeals comes out over the headset, and sometimes it's only heard over the air. I've checked the grounding nut that grounds the CB to the interface box and it's plenty tight. I've found that if I run a ground strap from the coax connector on the CB unit to the FM antenna ground post, the squeal is almost eliminated and only squeals every other time I key the mic.

Everyting else works as it should, the unit responds to the handlebar contols and receiving is great, which seems to point to the CB/interface unit itself. I've been working on this for several weeks and am about to throw in the towel. Any help would be appreciated.

Vince Jacobs

 

[EarnhardtSPortsman]

Have you been in touch with Pete? His service is great..

 

[salyzyn]

Some random thoughts.

Check Ground strap to the CB antenna ground. Your CB antenna does have a ground strap to the frame inside the trunk right? Make sure your SWR is adjusted. Make sure there is no paint on the antenna grounding strap(s) to affect the grounding bolt's contact.

You did not mention the year and type of your bike, the '06 and up bikes have a relocated audio amplifier and in some cases a relocated Audio Unit that squeal with the OEM CBs. Made even worse if you have a trike. Honda was not as careful about the ability for these relocated units being RF tolerant and they may be feeding your CB microphone with a feedback squeal. You may have to put ferrite filters on the headset cable(s) or take measures to improve the Audio Unit grounding (it's best ground is typically through the FM antenna coax to the FM antenna ground strap, and not through the wiring harness to the audio unit).

 

[cajun sgm]

I have the same problem with CB

I have the same probem and my bike is a trike. Did everything that Pete told me to do. The last thing we are trying to is use two more filters, will do that this week. You have a email, I will sent a copy of the emails from Pete showing what we tried.

 

[Egltalon]

Same problem

I am having the same problem. My cb is virtually unusable as far as transmitting is concerned. I can hear others no problem. It's only when I try to transmit. I can hear the squealing sometime, however the receivers can't make out what I'm saying because of the squeal. I have a 2010 with airbag and nav. I have my GL2WAY grounded to the frame of the bike. I have the connection wire running down the right side under the seat. Any suggestions?

Don

 

[ED norton(CT)]

Snap Choke Core

Snap Choke Core Filters :thumbup:


http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3012599


Ed :coffee1:

 

[pedro66]

Hi let me explain what you should have as a standard part of your installation

First the ground wire needs to be on the FM antenna not the CB antenna (common mistake)

Second you need to wrap the CB antenna cable two times near the male connector around the large ferrite supplied.

Third there must be a ferrite fitted to the larger of the 2 cables linking the CB module to the GL2WAY (The is a small one built into the smaller cable already)

If any of the above is not done then you may get squealing.

This week we saw no less than 6 bikes that had arm rests fitted where the customer had fitted an antenna and not used the correct ground strap as the one supplied with the armrests looked the same, the armrest straps are fully painted and do not conduct the ground and should not be used this will also cause squeal.

Other causes of squeals if the above is correct are poor SWR, low battery so test with the engine running, bad antenna base either old or faulty, shorted headsets try transmitting without a headset connected, Airbag bikes sometimes need an extra ground wire from the CB to the bike radio.

I hope this helps and as always send us an email via our website if you need support

 

[goingballistic]

First the ground wire needs to be on the FM antenna not the CB antenna (common mistake)

Pete, can you explain why this would make any difference? I would not suspect an impedance mismatch between grounds, maybe a ground loop might create an issue, I'm curious why the FM antenna as opposed to say, the battery ground or any other solid chassis ground...............just curious.

 

[Socal Dean]

Single Antenna

On a two in one FM CB single antenna the ground is the same for both?

 

[pedro66]

Pete, can you explain why this would make any difference? I would not suspect an impedance mismatch between grounds, maybe a ground loop might create an issue, I'm curious why the FM antenna as opposed to say, the battery ground or any other solid chassis ground...............just curious.

Its to do with the ground being conducted direct to the OEM radio via the coax shielding thus creating one common ground between the CB and OEM radio, I realize in theory that everything is grounded on the bike but its just not the same potential, sometimes it works if you connect to the battery but often not so the FM antenna ground has shown to be the only constant point.

 

[goingballistic]

Its to do with the ground being conducted direct to the OEM radio via the coax shielding thus creating one common ground between the CB and OEM radio, I realize in theory that everything is grounded on the bike but its just not the same potential, sometimes it works if you connect to the battery but often not so the FM antenna ground has shown to be the only constant point.

Pete thanks for the explanation............what you are implying is that the bike has "not the same potential"......meaning it has/could have ground loops, meaning that the grounds are "floating" therefore not at the same potential. If that is true, there are much bigger problems on the bike than the OPs problem. Floating grounds would cause the "zero" or ground potential to be higher ( or lower) than "zero" volts and by default, the rail voltages ( in this case 0-12vdc) may not be that.

If the ground was floating higher than normal, say 2 volts, then the rails would be 2-12vdc, with only a 10 volt differential, not enough to operate the radio..........correct.......maybe, don't know your specs. If it was the other way the potential would be lower giving a larger swing, say minus 2 to 12 or 14 volts rail to rail........possibly cause all kinds of problems with the amps etc.

I'd be more concerned about an impedance mismatch between ground(s). I say that as an impedance mismatch would and can cause squeals and other "anomalies" in radios and comms equipment. If you are designed to, say a 50 ohm impedance and you now have 70 ohms, it might cause SWR problems, squeals etc due to reflections in the grounds. I'd be very curious if you've done any testing on mismatched impedances with the grounds.

BTW, I will be moving my ground to the FM radio antenna, I'll let you know if I see any differences, mine is currently on the CB antenna ground lug in the trunk left side and the impedance of the chassis may be "creating" some of my problem. I'll let you know what I find.

Cheers.

Cheers.

 

[jellyspapa]

Pete has helped me allot and the ferrite have stopped most of my squeal when xmiting. Howerver, strange thing is, when I am adjusting the SWR, if I touch the pl259 connector while xmitting, the squeal goes away and the SWR drops to a better reading........or even touching the metal housing of the swr meter can do it. Definitely a grounding issue with me at times. If it continues to pop it's ugly head up again, my thing is maybe it's the ground inside the gl2way that is not grounded properly or is loose. :shrug:. Hope this helps.

 

[salyzyn]

Pete thanks for the explanation............what you are implying is that the bike has "not the same potential"......meaning it has/could have ground loops, meaning that the grounds are "floating" therefore not at the same potential.

There is no such thing as a True Ground where RF is concerned. A piece of wire is an high-impedance inductor. I am sure Pete is talking about RF potentials, not DC potentials.

AG4YD

 

[goingballistic]

There is no such thing as a True Ground where RF is concerned. A piece of wire is an high-impedance inductor. I am sure Pete is talking about RF potentials, not DC potentials.

AG4YD

Just an FYI, I was more asking Pete a question and not slamming him, he has been MORE than helpful with my CB and system and has been great to work with, outstanding customer service, I can't say enough about him and his company.

You are right there is no such thing as a "true ground", the term ground refers to a reference point ( on things such as cars, motorcycles, airplanes etc), my point being that ALL the reference points have to be at the same potential whether RF or DC otherwise they are known to "float"......being at different references is bad, being at the same reference is good. For purpose of discussion, we call ground the "zero" reference in most electronic systems as that is the reference rail that we measure all potential from, negative and positive. This also includes all shields which should be "grounded" to provide the proper impedance.

The point I was trying to make is that if the system is designed to be used ( RF) on a 50 ohm impedance and due to grounding issues, the system is seeing something other than what is was designed for, say 75ohms, then there would/could be "reflections" when transmitting. This MIGHT cause a squeal as the energy is reflected back to the Tx amplifiers. Note the system works well when Rx but not Tx.

Take the OPs post above about the Pl259 connector. If he has lost the ground ( or reference ) point from the shield at the radio due to a bad connector, this would create an impedance mismatch between the radio and the antenna. He states if he touches the connector the problem gets better..............I am now assuming he is making a good "reference" or ground to the coax cable, changing the impedance to something the system wants to see (most likely 50 ohms in comm equipment) and the problem goes away.

I agree that the term "ground" is a misnomer and is merely a reference point but all reference points should be at the same "point" within the "system", if they are not, then they are said to "float", meaning they are not at the same potential and this is a phenomenon know as "ground looping". In an ideal system, everything (ground) would be tied at the exact same point ( a reference), thereby eliminating any potential floating points. Since this generally can't be done we design to make the ground or reference with minimal impedance ( resistance) between points thereby protecting the desired impedance of the system and providing a "true reference" point.............sometimes referred to as ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)

 

[pedro66]

Your correct I am referring to RF grounding, you guys are obviously more eloquent than I at expressing it.

Remember I am a wire and switches electrical engineer not an RF guy I have a very good collaborator on that side that fills the gaps for me.

 

[Morph]

I'd like to chime in here in Pete's defense. It may not be the GL2Way that is the problem.

The same thing shows up with the OEM CB. It's caused by the Audio Unit, of the GL1800, not the CB. Although a poorly tuned CB antenna can contribute to it and keying up inside a garage will cause antenna mis match.

The AU is supposed to mute when the CB is keyed up to prevent that very thing, but it sometimes does not. The CB RF energy seems to get into the AU via the rear speaker wiring and screw with the electronics. I'd expect that if you disconnect your rear speakers from the connector under the seat that the squeal will go away.

The only fix that I know of is to replace the AU. I attempted some filtering on the speaker wiring but to no avail.

One other cause could be within the headset cable. I've seen this. If you were to move the cable around the squeal may change.

 

[pedro66]

Thanks Bill for the input we have also seen headsets cause squeals.

The motorcycle is not the best place for a CB radio in any event especially one that modulates as high as ours does it has always been a battle with one noise or another.

We think we have the GL1800 resolved if you follow the installation steps outlined you should be quiet when TX.

Filter on antenna cable and link cable between GL2WAY and CB module

Ground on FM antenna

 

[goingballistic]

I'd like to chime in here in Pete's defense.

There is no need to defend Pete, (at least as far as I'm concerned).

If anyone took what I posted as a slam............my most sincere apology is offered and I hope accepted.

I was merely asking about the impedance based on a previous post by Pete as I would suspect that might create more of a problem and could be introduced as a grounding issue.

Again, if it was taken as a slam on Pete...........Pete, my most sincere apologies to you and anyone else who may have taken it that way!

 

[pedro66]

I never thought you did

 

[jellyspapa]

Agreed! Sometimes conversations like these bring resolution, sometimes enlightenment to the question, sometimes nothing at all. We are all grateful to Pete and what he has done for us. And I for sure know how he has helped me and others a great deal. It's questions and discussions like these that help everyone.......Constructive conversation is what I like to call it. :thumbup: