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3 position coaxial switch box
- Thread starter TB01
- Start date
Well just in general. Not a specific one yet. I was just wondering what other people have had as far as luck goes with swr's and such. A 3 position switchbox would work fine for me.
Thanks, TB
This post is assuming you have some radio experience already, cause this might be more than you want to know.
If you have a dual polarity beam or multiple antennas, then a good switch box can be useful. Are you planning to switch radios or just antennas?
SWR should not be an issue using a switch box, but depending on the match at the antenna, adding a S/B will add coax and that can indicate a difference in SWR readings at the radio meter and/or the inline SWR meter. The SWR has not really changed at the antenna, but the SWR meter might see a different match...due to feed line transformation which is a complicated issue. So don't worry about it unless the SWR is above 2.0:1.
The answer to your question is YES, you could see some SWR difference. If your radio is a typical CB radio with an analogue type meter...then you may also see the meter act different in its RF power mode as well. In other words, and if you notice such things, you could see the normal swing you saw before the S/B was added decrease or increase some.
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Guys do it, and it will work, but switch boxes are generally not well isolated enough for that function. This problem likely will not hurt your antenna when the S/B is used in the regular way, but with radios attached to the switch box you could feed back RF into the other radios. Plus you can also forget to switch and be transmitting on the switch box instead of the antenna.
I know a guy that use to do that all the time and I never knew it to hurt his stuff, but I don't think it is a good idea and he could only talk about 3-5 miles when the switch was wrong. Plus, you can only operate one radio at a time, so switching coax is the best and safest way IMHO.
I don't see how you could possible hurt the radios unless you keyed a radio that doesn't have the coax switch put in the position for that radio. Just make sure that the unused terminals are grounded when not selected and you don't have to worry about a thing. I use a setup just like you are describing to switch between a couple of 100 watt HF radios and have never experienced any problem.
"... wondering if it would negatively effect my station in anyway."
If you goof and key the wrong radio and don't catch it in time, you could possibly do some harm to that radio, maybe. I would also be sure that the unused terminal are grounded, as already said. It lessens the possibility of getting that RF sent directly into the other radios. So yes, you can do that kind'a switching. Just be careful.
- 'Doc
If you goof and key the wrong radio and don't catch it in time, you could possibly do some harm to that radio, maybe. I would also be sure that the unused terminal are grounded, as already said. It lessens the possibility of getting that RF sent directly into the other radios. So yes, you can do that kind'a switching. Just be careful.
- 'Doc
I use this switch but it only handles 2 radios but eliminates all the negative aspects of antenna switches.
Handles radios output up to 100 watts.
H&Y Electronics
Handles radios output up to 100 watts.
H&Y Electronics
Good idea about getting a switch that grounds the unused ports.
As a note, beware that some cheap switches are nothing more than a single pole double throw toggle switch and are crap. The better switches are housed in a metal box and is not a simple toggle switch and look like this inside. This is the Diawa CS-201 switch.
This is probably a stupid question, but why does the switch have a center-off position?
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