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CB problems - seems to be the antenna

Alright guys.

I went with a friend today to pick out stuff for his CB setup. He got almost the same setup as I do (his has a little more durable coax) and his is a 3ft fiberglass antenna (going on a single cab pickup, 4' didn't look right and he wanted looks over signal I guess. He's not a hardcore CBer, but nor am I). We got his all installed today and his was picking up for over 4 miles, untuned. So....that got me thinking. As luck would have it he picked up 2 cables, because he told me that I may need it. Well, indeed I did. After installing the thicker cable, I got range of around 2.7 miles. Not bad, not bad at all.

We have an SWR meter now, but I have NO clue how to use it yet (the instructions are quite vague) but I'm reading up on firestik's Tech Docs page. I'll tell you guys how it goes after I get the SWR's in their proper place.

Thanks for all your help guys.
 
Re: o

C W Morse said:
If you had "X" amount of signal before and the thing got broken or something changed, THEN bought another antenna that has NOT been properly set up, then it may be that you had high SWR in the beginning and STILL have high SWR with the newer antenna. So you STILL don't have much signal. So,
get access to an SWR meter, or a CB shop that can check it for you. Just another guess. :)

CWM
Click to expand...

Another thought...I your old antenna was shorted and you attempted to talk very long you may have damaged your final (s). Check your power out also it could be down. If you try to use an SWR meter and you can't set it that would be an indication of low power. Good Luck.
 
You will be able to tell some things by testing your system with the SWR meter.
Is it a Power/SWR meter?
Let us know that.
Don`t throw your radio away just yet.

Here are some generic instructions for checking your antenna and feedline with your SWR meter.

Unscrew the coax cable from the back of your radio.

Screw on a short jumper (this is just a short pc of coax cable, got `em at R/S)
to the back of the radio, screw the other end onto the conecter marked "Transmiter" on the SWR meter.

Take the coax that your removed from the back of the radio and screw it onto the back of the SWR meter on the connector marked "Antenna".

Turn the radio on ,set the switch on the front of the SWR meter to "CAL" (it might also say "FWD" in place of CAL, same thing) then press the button on the mic to key (turn on) the transmiter.
There should be a knob on the front of the SWR meter, while you have the radio keyed up, twist the know back and forth, the meter should go up and down.

Look on the meter and find the line that says, "CAL" on it.

For right now this is the only line you want to look at.
It will have the number 1 on the left hand side of the scale, and CAL on the right hand side, with numbers 1.5 -- 2 -- 3 then (on most) a red area, then the leters "CAL".
With the button pushed (radio keyed up) adjust the knob untill the needle is lined up with the "CAL" mark on the meter.

--------------------------
At this point, if you turn the knob all the way up, and it will not go to the "CAL" line stop and let us know.

--------------------------------------
Let go of the mic button.
Move the switch on the front of the SWR meter to "SWR"(it might say "REF" same thing)press the button on the mic(key up) and note the meter readings
The needle on the meter should go up, (we hope only a little) read were it is on Ch 1, then Ch 20, Then Ch 40
write it down.
You want to see low numbers
lower numbers are better.
If it is above 3, it is a real no-no, and you want to stop transmiting untill you get the antenna adjusted, or correct any problem.
Most antennas can be tuned, so don`t panic(yet)
Let us know what ya got, and we can help you further.


73
Jeff
 
Mine has a meter for watts and SWRs. The "CAL" (I'm guessing for calibration) isn't there, but I'm guessing "SET" is the same thing.


Since I don't have a camera, I just painted one.

meter1kv.png


Oops. There's supposed to be a FWD/REF switch under the 10w/100w switch.
 
Umm might be but it is close. If he can check it on 1 and 40 we will have a point to start from.
Might just need to adjust the antenna.
Is it a "tunable" whip?
Did the package show how to adjust the antenna?
Some whips require that you remove small amounts of the wire at the top, some have a set screw that you can loosen and adjust a small stub on top.

73
Jeff
 
Very Nice DTB! :D
Ok, do not remove too much at a time take little snips and recheck the results.
As a "general" rule of thumb, if the swr is higher on ch 40, and lower on ch 1 you need to shorten the antenna.
If the swr is higher on ch 1 and lower on ch 40, you should add to the antenna.
That is why it is good to check 1 then 20 then 40.This will tell you what is going
on.

73
Jeff
 
He doesn't need to cut the whip, just move it up and down. If he can't get a good reading doing that he can cut small pieces off the end of the whp.
 
that's a big problem right?
Click to expand...
No not at all, just adjust the whips by removing a small amount of wire from the top of the whip, try not to disturb the coils a lot at the top, just locate the end of the wire and take about a 1/4 off of it, put the little rubber cap back on and check again.
You should see the SWR reading drop each time you do this.
The perfect reading would be 1.1, that is the meter would show no movement on ch 20, and go up an equal amount on ch 1 and ch 40.
Life is seldom perfect, so if you get it in the 1.5 range it will be fine.
You are getting it.

73
Jeff
 

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