how to tune cb antenna ??

[Zurk]

i have a wilson antenna with a midland handheld and an swr meter. i tried tuning it and the meter reads 1.8 with F.S. of 2 on channel 19. whats the F.S. and the meter showing ? on channel 1 its near 1.0 on the scale and on channel 40 is around 2.4....is that the SWR ?? the antenna is at its lowest point so it cant go any lower. its on the right hand edge of my roof...should it be moved ?

[stray444]

one tip, keep the antenna toward the center if it's a magnet mount.

[DeadReb245]

i have a wilson antenna with a midland handheld and an swr meter. i tried tuning it and the meter reads 1.8 with F.S. of 2 on channel 19. whats the F.S. and the meter showing ? on channel 1 its near 1.0 on the scale and on channel 40 is around 2.4....is that the SWR ?? the antenna is at its lowest point so it cant go any lower. its on the right hand edge of my roof...should it be moved ?

First of all, do you know how to operate your SWR meter? Are you aware that you have to set it to "CALIBRATE", dead key (key up without speaking), and turn the calibration knob so the needle points to the mark labeled "CAL"? After you do this, THEN you change your mode from "CALIBRATE" to "SWR". That being said, assuming you're operating it as I just explained, 1.0 on channel 1 and 2.4 on channel 40 could indeed be your SWR. In which case, you want to adjust the antenna so the SWR on channel 40 is as close as you can get it to what the SWR is on channel 1, but at the same time you want to get it as low as you can get it regardless. As you lower the SWR on channel 40, the SWR on channel 1 will most likely increase a bit. The end result may be an SWR of 1.3-1.5 throughout the band, gradually increasing as you go up the channels. This is acceptable.

one tip, keep the antenna toward the center if it's a magnet mount.

This is a very good tip. Place your antenna so it has an even surface on either side underneath it. For example, as center as you can get it on the roof or trunk. This could definitely affect your SWR.

Another possible issue could be the cabling running from the CB to the antenna. It could take some troubleshooting and narrowing down to figure out exactly what's going on. In general you want an SWR to be below 2. However, anything below 3 is USABLE, but definitely not OPTIMAL unless it's 1.5 or below.

[Orbital75]

As the user above stated you must tune your CB with an SWR Meter.
If you don't you could burn up your radio. If you go to radio Shack
you can get a pretty cheap one.

[Spinner55]

Hello,

Since the SWR is low on #1 and high on #40...the antenna is too long. Channel 1 is the 'lowest freq' channel and 40 is the 'highest freq.' channel. Drop the antenna down (If it isn't yet) and check it again. The SWR should go up on 1 and get better on 40. You are trying to tune it so the lowest SWR is in the middle of the band. You might have to cut off a small amount off the end of the rod to tune it. BUT remember never to cut too much off AND always tune in a 'clear' location. Meaning away from other metal objects, antennas etc.

Take care,

spin

[Zurk]

i'll move it to the centre of the roof and try again. the luggage carrier is in the way so thats a problem. suv roofs have ridges for teh carriers so they arent smooth like a car trunk unfortunately.
anyone have any idea what the gold antenna like thing with a coil on top is for ? it came with the swr meter in the box.

[Spinner55]

hello

The luggage rack shouldn't bother it too much.

If you cut off say about 1/4 inch and recheck the SWR you should get a idea how much it changed. Don't cut off to much, if you get it down to about 1.5 on either end of the band you should be pretty good. The newer 'wide band' antennas like the one that I cannot talk about on this board due to the name. Most of those type of antennas cover a pretty wide band with a good SWR.

Drawback to magnet types: coax 'burn' aka rubbing on the paint from movement of the coax going down the road. This is on reason I always drill a hole and mount it permanent a antenna on my truck / car.

You asked about the antenna that screws atop of the SWR meter is for field strength readings. Something I've never done or needed to do before. Should be something in the instructions.

As always, buy the best antenna you can. It makes the biggest difference on how well a radio system works. You can buy the best radio on the market, but use a crappy antenna and it will work like a piece of garbage. Use a fair radio with a great antenna, it works great. Never use one of those very short antennas as it is like transmitting into a dummy load making your radio system worthless. A 27 mhz antenna 1/4 is about 9ft long. Making it shorter is nice but cuts down the transmit range a lot. (should work on receive but on Tx...stinks)

It's 12:04 am, hope this makes sense lol.

Take care,

Spin