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I need a basic How To...

cbbr

cbbr

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Midland 79-290. Wilson 5000 through the roof near the front, center mounted. Palomar for use way off road. SWR meter in line between the CB and Palomar. I need to tune the thing and the SWR is high. The meter has a "slide" to adjust the SWR, but I would rather get it right. I have tried moving the antenna a little at a time on 1 and 40, but still seems to be high.

How to fix the SWR and what to lok for please??:dunno:
 
If the adjustment on the radio does not cut it , you need to trim the antenna . Most antennas have a set screw that lets you move the antenna up and down a bit to adjust the SWR ( In some extreme cases on homemade antenna where its still to long the antenna gets a little bit cut off the tip ) :xmas::xmas:
 
I am a true newbie to this. Is the adjustment on the SWR meter a good fix or a bad way to kind of solve the problem? My antenna has set screws and I have tried the up/down, but it does not get much better. I also have a full length roof rack - does this caues interference? Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
cbbr said:
I am a true newbie to this. Is the adjustment on the SWR meter a good fix or a bad way to kind of solve the problem? My antenna has set screws and I have tried the up/down, but it does not get much better. I also have a full length roof rack - does this caues interference? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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That doesn't adjust anything, thats too calibrate the meter too get a accurate reading.
 
cbbr said:
The great thing about it is the complete lack of instruction. :screwy: Anyone know how to use it or where to find a guide?
Click to expand...
SWR meter. Should have a switch and a nob. Set switch to Calibrate. Key mic, adjust nob till needle is pointing at set. unkey mic, slide the switch, key mic for SWR reading.
 
The meter needs to be between the amp and the antenna. The only way to adjust swr is by changing the length of your antenna. When checking SWR do not turn the amp on, just use radio power. SWR is a ratio and it will not change with the amp on, but the meter is easier to use with just radio power.
 
Alright, I got a SWR meter from Radio Shack. Seems to work well. The best I can get moving the antennd up/down is 2.5 on Ch 1 and 3 on Ch 40. What next.
 
Sounds like a crappy ground too me. Same thing happened to me when i first mounted my 102" whip. I ran a few ground straps and the SWR went down to 1.2 and 1.3, Just about as good as you can expect.
 
The antenna is mounted through the roof. Do I need to run a ground to the roof or the antenna or what. Maybe I need to scrape around the area where the antenna meets the roof??
 
Is it a mag mount? I am not exactly sure what you mean by "Through the roof" I think you are referring to the type where you drilla 1" hole and then 3 other holes that hold the bolt on mount to the truck.
If it is that type then attach a ground strap from the shield of the RG8X to one of the 3 mounting bolts.
I can e-mail you a pic of mine if needed. I would post it but the gallery is going to change soon.

Mine was mounted to my toolbox in the bed and even though it was bolted to the bed rails with 8 bolts it was not well grounded. I had to ground the lid of the box to the main compartment and the whole box to the bed. I then ran extra grounding straps from the bed to the frame. I found out it was needed with the palomar on. Barefoot i never noticed a change without the bed to frame straps.
 
Single 1" hole through the roof. Mount screws through and the antenna screws to the mount. Should be making good contact with the roof, but I will take it apart and clean everything. If that dosent work, I will run a ground from the body at the battery and see if that helps.


Tanks for the help so far and if anybody has a suggestion they are appreciated.
 
Here is what i am talking about with the extra grounding strap. I had to run a total of 4 of these to get the SWR readings down on my truck. Not all in the same spot of course. The problem seems to be that both sides of the metel where it is mounted to are painted. GGrinding the paint off helped a little but i had other issues with my install.
Hopefully this will help you.

The pic will only last a few days as i put it in my gallery so save it for referance if you need to

18248Mount_grounding_1.JPG
 
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