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Texas Star sweet 16 and higher SWR

TruckerKevin

TruckerKevin

KD9NTD
Nov 9, 2017
234
142
53
58
Buckner, Illinois
www.qrz.com
When I put my Maco v58 up I tried tuning it on the ground to the best of my ability, got it 1.1 on 1 but it was 1.7 on 40. No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get it to drop any further. Everything I did made it worse. Now it’s 60 feet up, it has pretty much stayed the same.

Is this too high to run a Texas Star sweet 16? From what I’m hearing it will swing about 1200 if driven right. My friend is telling me it’s too high and will burn the amp up.

I’m just looking for experienced opinions. I’m not long winded if that helps anything

Thanks
 

No. I actually have this big MFJ 868B meter, and when I try to calibrate it to check my SWR the needle doesn’t even swing high enough to the set position. That’s what’s strange about that meter. Now if I power up my little 100 watt kicker, then it swings high enough to calibrate. It goes to “set” on channel 1, but not on 40.

So I’m using the one that’s built into my radio I know that’s not good. I also tried another little cheap truck stop one that I had laying around and they were both about the same. 1.7 on 40. 1.2 ish on 1
 
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My first dummy load was a pair of wire wound resistors soldered onto some coax. Probably wouldn't have worked very well on vhf.
 
Now here’s what’s weird.

With my Texas Star 500V turned off, my swr is sky high. Like a little over 3 on channel 40. And 1.2 on channel 1. Because I keep my amp in-line but only use it when skip rolls.

But when I turn it on, they drop. To 1.5 on channel 40 and 1.2 on channel 1.

At this point, I’m scared to key my radio. I have no idea if this is good or bad or if I’m going to burn shit up
 
Buy or borrow an antenna analyzer? If you can't take it down then an antenna tuner would keep the SWR in check. The 1.7 doesn't sound that bad but if that is not the correct reading then you would be taking a big chance especially as the power increases. Common mode currents on the coax shield can do funky things with SWR also. I would not use the meter in the radio. You will need to have an inline meter after the amp at all times so you can keep an eye on it. Another SWR meter to go between the radio and amp will help you keep an eye on the amplifiers input tuning. The input tuning can affect the output tuning.
 
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TruckerKevin,
My MFJ868B takes 14 watts to swing the meter to full scale in the SWR calibrate position into a dummy load.

Your mileage may vary.

73's
David
 
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