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im just a cb'er but ive got a question for you hams . i know some ham radios are SSB only . how do you set the antennas vswr on a radio that doesnt produce a carrier like AM does ? do you use a different radio that is am capable near the ssb channels youre using and then swap back to the SSB model ?

Just put a steady carrier into the mic like, saying the word oonnnee (1) or ffiiivvvveeee (5). Or better yet tuning forks work great. Please don't whistle into the mic. !

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Everyone drives like crap but me.

Booty',
Most 'ham' radios are not just SSB. The mode can usually be changed from CW, AM, FM, and SSB, to almost any 'digital' mode by using various computer programs and feeding the audio into the mic-jack (and who knows how many other methods). So, finding SWR is done basically the same way as any other kind of radio. Depending on the particular radio, it can be just a matter of pushing the right button, the radio does it all by it's self, sort of.
Maybe just a little clarification about carriers/SSB/SWR and so on. A carrier isn't particularly needed to find SWR, only a signal going through the meter. Using a constant 'carrier'/signal is 'better' than using a varying one cuz then the 'needle' isn't jumping around because of that signals 'variation', or exceeding the meter's calibration limits. With a radio that only has AM mode, that's easiest by just using a carrier, no audio so no fluctuations. The same thing can be done on SSB by using a non-varying 'tone'. There's never any carrier with SSB, that's part of it's definition, right?
- 'Doc

Any HF radio will have at least CW or AM mode in addition to SSB. 99.9% of hams use the CW mode to produce a constant level carrier to check SWR. My Kenwood TS-820S has CW/SSB/FSK modes plus a low power TUNE mode. I generally use the TUNE mode which is simply a low power CW mode. Occasionally I use the regular CW mode at 100 watts if I know the match is close.

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Light travels faster than the speed of sound, this is why some people tend to appear bright, until they decide to speak.

did you try the CW setting ?

A cross needle meter helps.

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XDX74

thanks guys . was just being curious . btw , my cb doesnt do CW

booty the jiminy cricket method works fine

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The antenna incorporating the present invention reduces by about fifty to eighty-five percent the lateral or radial space required as compared to a quarter-wave or five- eighths wave groundplane antenna while simultaneously providing better gain than a five-eighths vertical antenna.

Does it do AM?

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If you're like everybody else,
you're about average.
73 de K7KBN
CWO4 USNR RET.

yea it does am . no ssb . was just curious . thanks