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can high swr cause higher power output?

C

cjruger

Active Member
Aug 13, 2012
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im trouble shooting a rash of mysteries with my set up. im using a home-brew 5/8 wave antenna. i had swr at around 1.3:1, i have been trying to get it better and things got worse and now my rado seems to be acting up. my watt meter which i was pretty sure worked fine, say my 2950 dx is dead keying at 4 watts, when it used to dead key at 2, i also have a dx949 that reads the same 4 watt deat key and it should read around 2., i have a older back up meter that is reading exactly the same. i cant understand this at all or what could have changed, all i have messed with is the antenna, I also hooked up a new texas star dx350 to try out and that is when i started noticing problems. could the amp have done something? could the antenna cause false meter readings?
also the swr swings up with audio. the swr gets higher with more power. this is true with the amp and also just with the radio power being turned up.
 

cjruger said:
im trouble shooting a rash of mysteries with my set up. im using a home-brew 5/8 wave antenna. i had swr at around 1.3:1, i have been trying to get it better and things got worse and now my rado seems to be acting up. my watt meter which i was pretty sure worked fine, say my 2950 dx is dead keying at 4 watts, when it used to dead key at 2, i also have a dx949 that reads the same 4 watt deat key and it should read around 2., i have a older back up meter that is reading exactly the same. i cant understand this at all or what could have changed, all i have messed with is the antenna, I also hooked up a new texas star dx350 to try out and that is when i started noticing problems. could the amp have done something? could the antenna cause false meter readings?
also the swr swings up with audio. the swr gets higher with more power. this is true with the amp and also just with the radio power being turned up.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. SWR must be measured at DEAD KEY, with NO MODULATION. You have to readjust the meter whenever you change power or change channels. Then check SWR again - no modulation, just dead key. Whatever is "swinging" is "swinging" because of modulation; the ratio between forward and reflected power remains constant.
 
Can it cause a higher power output?
If you mean a substantial, significant increase in power, or a beneficial, meaningful increase in power that can ever be heard or measured on the 'other end', then no. It's not a 'cheap-n-dirty' way to get more power, sorry.
Your watt meter can be read in such a way that it may seem like you've gotten a power output boost, but it's just not going to be very much of one, and it only means that you don't understand what's happening, misreading, misunderstanding what you are seeing.
- 'Doc
 
psycho said:
"Can high swr cause higher power output"

Oh Dude.........!
Click to expand...

NO... i realize higher swr means less powere that the antenna puts out , but for some reason my watt meter is saying my radio is putting out 5 watts when turned all the way down, where it should be putting out 2. so im wonder ing if a bad antenna can draw more watts out of a radio, or my meters are bad. my voltage is 13.8 and i did check it for stability when drawing power, it does not move at all
 
also about the antenna,
I made a 5/8 wave but i think the length is more like a .64 it was 272" with 1:3 swr but it was lowest up in the 10 meter band so i lengthened it to 278" now the swr is lowest in 11 meters but higher in the reading at 1:7. not to mention all the new problems
 
cjruger said:
NO... i realize higher swr means less powere that the antenna puts out , but for some reason my watt meter is saying my radio is putting out 5 watts when turned all the way down, where it should be putting out 2. so im wonder ing if a bad antenna can draw more watts out of a radio, or my meters are bad. my voltage is 13.8 and i did check it for stability when drawing power, it does not move at all
Click to expand...

I really don't think high swr's are getting more power out of your amp and your meters are no good just simply getting a false reading. You don't know exactly whats causing the high swr it doesn't sound like a tuning ring or something adjustable but rather something has recently gone wrong.
 
meters read the re-reflected power added to the incident or forward power from the transmitter, it does not matter if its a 10 dollar meter or a bird,
if the load is mismatched to the coax you can have more power seen by the meter than the transmitter outputs into the coax.
 
Man if I only knew this earlier. I wanted to get a bigger amp for more power, and all I had to do was run a 3.0 SWR barefoot. :) :) :)
 
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9C1Driver said:
Man if I only knew this earlier. I wanted to get a bigger amp for more power, and all I had to do was run a 3.0 SWR barefoot. :) :) :)
Click to expand...


Do you figure if I run 20V to my 8 pill with the antenna system reflecting 25%, I might bump 5000 watts pep? I really don't want to lay out the coins for a 16 pill.
 
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