• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Imax2000 swr

May 10, 2014
24
4
13
I have been trying to get the swr below 1.8 on my :blush::blush: install on the side of my deck ,I made a choke balun out of about 20 wraps of my to long rg8 coax .
But the antenna is super low at 28,300--28,500 swr there is 1.1
It about 8 ft high so I could play with the rings I tried cutting off 2" from the top
When I was tuning it for 27,3850 the highest I could go till new radio arrived
A2970 n2 working good though. Should I worry about the 1.8 swr
 

I have been trying to get the swr below 1.8 on my :blush::blush: install on the side of my deck ,I made a choke balun out of about 20 wraps of my to long rg8 coax .
But the antenna is super low at 28,300--28,500 swr there is 1.1
It about 8 ft high so I could play with the rings I tried cutting off 2" from the top
When I was tuning it for 27,3850 the highest I could go till new radio arrived
A2970 n2 working good though. Should I worry about the 1.8 swr

1.8 isnt anything to worry about however your losing performance a tid bit.
is the antenna on a mast or just mounted to the wood? try running a ground cable to a ground rod if you havent already .

Worst case, thats the lowest swr you can achieve... no worries or try better grounding or try moving it higher . i cant imagine it being all that high off the ground if its mounted to your porch. I actually had mine mounted to the porch for a while . and i was still able to work multiple countries . less than optimal setup but that made those rare contacts for me more pleasing . btw i had a higher noise floor when my antenna was mounted that low .

im no expert but i hope this helps you .
 
Antenna is hose clamped to deck 4x4 at 8 ft high so I could work the rings,I tried it at 18 ft but swr was still high,the swr is lower without to ground plain kit.i read some were to mount the antenna on plastic so the mast isn't acting like antenna also .
My wife doesn't like that duck taped up balun out her window.
How much coax can a person wined up in a choke ?
I do have my transition coming out of my subwoofers in living room
 
Easiest way to test Swr on a antenna is to get a antenna analyzer.
I have a MFJ 259B which is a very useful tool when installing antennas ect.
 
New antenna, I cut off 2" from the top trying to get swr down, I am plan to to get a tech ham license so I would be plum swell at 28,300 ssb.
I have a cheap 30 year old swr meter that reads 10-100 watts that may not be right,I had an old Motorola cb that has Built in meter that shows low for swr
I bought a used 3 meter micron ? From eBay and a 3 meter 600? Something from amazon neither is here yet ( swr,power,modulation ) the 2970 -n2 is running at 1/2 power on the knob and don't now what that is yet ,that why the new meters.nice radio....
 
If you trimmed 2" off the top, it should tune well on 10m.

Too many wraps in the balun; 5 turns @ 4-5" wide loop should do it. But that doesn't affect SWR. If one SWR meter says it is OK and one doesn't; then you have a confidence problem. That is, one meter is probably close to be correct and the other obviously isn't. Make/use a 2:1 dummy load and that should tell which meter is right . . .
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
You should not have to cut of any of the antenna:LOL:

From the factory it will cover 10 meters up to around 29 mhz.

It will cover all of 11 meters. all of 12 meters and all of 15 meters with less than a 2:1 VSWR.

Looks like it may be your VSWR meter.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1376

10 pages of reviews.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Rob

Took antenna down this morning,I put the ground plain kit back on it
Raised it to 28 ft from ground level,swr went to 1.9 on 27,3850...
I am using rg8 coax from a tower company,85ft used,tests good on ohms,
No opens,very stiff stuff,my choke bulan is about 20 coils of the coax wraped around a gallon windshield washer jug.very stiff coax .....
 
I used a 2-liter bottle and about 8 wraps of coax for the choke balun, which was placed as close to the antenna feedpoint as possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
You guys do know that improperly used coaxial chokes can be worse than no choke, right?

Too many turns, too close to the feedpoint etc etc
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Tucker442 has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    LIVE 10:00 AM EST :cool:
  • @ Charles Edwards:
    I'm looking for factory settings 1 through 59 for a AT 5555 n2 or AT500 M2 I only wrote down half the values feel like a idiot I need help will be appreciated