calibration

[hunterguy86]

I just bought a 102 incg SS whip, spring and mount. They had no ball mounts though so I got the luggage rack style one that I think I can make work. Can I mount this thing on my stock bumper?

Anyways. What to I need to do to calibrate this thing? Anything at all?

 

[rebelk5frk]

You should be fine mounting to the stock bumper. It will not perform as well as it could if mounted higher since most of the antenna will be blocked by the body of the truck.

As for calibrating the antenna, you will need an SWR meter. Many radios have one built in(although they aren't the greatest). If your radio doesn't have one, you can normally find one at truck stops, cb shops, ebay, or maybe even a friend. Most 102" whips don't need tuning, so as long as you don't have a short in the coax or mount you are probably ok with not tuning it if you can't find a SWR meter.

 

[Z3PR]

I've never had too "tune" a 102" whip.

 

[divorced]

I've never had to tune a 102" whip, either. My only concern when mounting an antenna on a bumper is sometimes the mount doesn't get a good ground because of the rust that forms between the bumper brackets and the frame. If you don't have a good ground it will give a high SWR reading, even though there is nothing "wrong" with the antenna.

 

[Z3PR]

A ground strap to the frame solves that problem.

 

[cbbr]

I needed a couple of ground wires to the frame to cure my swr problem.

 

[MTChevy]

i bought my swr meter at radio shack for 25 bux... I think it works like it needs to. Now i just need a new antenna... the mag mount radio shack antenna is crap!

 

[hunterguy86]

Thanks for all the help yall.

I found a ball mount so I'm gonna use that. Now I just need to find the time to put it on.