SWR Trouble

[Silverton34]

Installed a new Cobra 75 and Firestick antenna in preparation for Moab and all seemed to go well. Ordered an eBay swr meter and attempted to tune the antenna. I followed the instructions hooking up the meter but it appears completely dead. The radio is receiving as I hear chatter, and it is transmitting as I have a low quality handheld I checked with but obviously can get it only a few feet away. I question the antenna ground, could this cause the swr meter to not show any needle movement at all? Maybe $21 is just too cheap for an swr meter!

 

[3Hummers]

SWR meters aren't all that expensive. Where did yours come from? It might just be full of melamine, lead and bad drywall.

 

[alrock]

A bad ground would cause it to go off the chart, above 3.

All I can think of is that maybe the setup isn't correct. Take a look on Firestik's website as they have good instructions for tuning

 

[f5moab]

Almost sounds like not enough power in radio. How's your ground connection to the radio? Not on the swr meter.


Sent from my Droid Razr Maxx HD

 

[Silverton34]

Power and ground to the radio are good, I used a plug in harness made for the vehicle. I've played with all of the antenna connections and all are clean and tight. I'm guessing my brand new cheapo meter is just too crappy. Anybody have an SWR meter that will be in Moab?

 

[alrock]

I can bring one if no one else already has one coming. BTW, didn't mean to imply that you can't hook up a CB, but a bad connection seems to be the obvious answer. Perhaps also look at that harness - I had an issue with a wiring harness a while back where the ground pin was pushing back in the harness and wasn't making a good connection.

 

[jakesz28]

If someone brings a see meeter to Moab can I use it, also. This is something I was hoping to do before the trip. I have a meter or had one before I moved up here. I was hoping to find it before I bought another one but I can't find it any where. If I find it I will see if you need it before the trip.

 

[f5moab]

I have a few meters. No problem in that area. Also have a pretty good electrical splice kit.

But a few questions:
A soft top or fiberglass roof?
Antenna mounted to rear?
Ground plane or no ground plane antenna?

CB antenna's are designed to plane off the roof (or hood) of the vehicle. Jeeps don't have roofs...thus no ground plane antenna is the best bet.

 

[Silverton34]

I have a few meters. No problem in that area. Also have a pretty good electrical splice kit.

But a few questions:
A soft top or fiberglass roof?
Antenna mounted to rear?
Ground plane or no ground plane antenna?

CB antenna's are designed to plane off the roof (or hood) of the vehicle. Jeeps don't have roofs...thus no ground plane antenna is the best bet.

Running the fiberglass top now but will go soft top in a couple months

Rear mounted antenna to the tailgate using a steel bracket.

Dont even know what a ground plane is unfortunately. The radio, bracket and antenna are all in a kit identical to the ones used on my last three jeeps. I had the others swr adjusted by a cb shop and one by Timmay while in Moab. I think the radio and antenna are fine and seem to work, I just can't get the needle on this cheap swr meter to even twitch, it's just dead. When I get back to the Midwest next week I will have the neighbor turn his radio in his jeep on and we'll see how well we can hear each other. The electrical harness I used plugs in line to the jeeps ignition switched harness, pretty nice piece with no splicing.

 

[f5moab]

I had a bad meter, used a few times, then it took a $hit. We'll get it working in Moab, or else we can stack wood in your backseat and you can use smoke signals.:giggle: I know a great place to get wood.:wink: Fire gets too big you can douse it with beer.

 

[LagunaH1]

I can bring my antenna analyzer, that'll tell us things like SWR, impedance, reactance, etc etc.

However: Maybe take a few good, close up photos of your antenna mount and how it's connected, etc and post here? I'm guessing that could be pretty useful in helping diagnose this

 

[Silverton34]

I had a bad meter, used a few times, then it took a $hit. We'll get it working in Moab, or else we can stack wood in your backseat and you can use smoke signals.:giggle: I know a great place to get wood.:wink: Fire gets too big you can douse it with beer.

Did someone say beer? :thumbs:

 

[f5moab]

If the radio is working, we can get that CB working here in Utah. And like you say, it is probably the SWR meter. My one SWR also shows field strength and output watts. And beer will be in the chest.

 

[jakesz28]

I just tried one of the last homebrews I bottled. Its ready for Moab. Does any one like dark beers?

 

[jakesz28]

My wife found my swr meter. So if you want to give it a try I can run it over before the trip.

 

[Bigunit]

I just tried one of the last homebrews I bottled. Its ready for Moab. Does any one like dark beers?

Yes, yes & yes.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapataint

 

[Silverton34]

My wife found my swr meter. So if you want to give it a try I can run it over before the trip.

Im stuck in AZ for a bit (not a fun time trip this time) and likely won't have a chance to look at it before Moab. Thanks for the offer though!

 

[Silverton34]

I'm back home and called the neighbor across the street to have him turn his CB on in his Jeep in the garage. My radio receives fine and he said transmits perfectly clear about 200 feet away and through two steel garage doors. We tested only on chanel 20. I'm guessing the power supply and antenna connections are good while the Chinese SWR meter is simply a paperweight. What a surprise.

 

[jakesz28]

If you want I can drop of my see meter? Other wise we can check it in Moab.

I'm glad I checked mine. I don't think my radio would have been happy without adjusting the antenna. I only wish I would have bought a better radio now.

 

[Silverton34]

Thanks Mike, let's take a look while we are in Moab. I've been out of town too much and will be living at the office for a few days before I head toward Moab on Wednesday or Thursday. I really need to make it to the vendors show for the Jeep Safari to see some customers (and write off my trip).

 

[Green 1]

Thanks Mike, let's take a look while we are in Moab. I've been out of town too much and will be living at the office for a few days before I head toward Moab on Wednesday or Thursday. I really need to make it to the vendors show for the Jeep Safari to see some customers (and write off my trip).

So I have an appointment with Mile Marker can you hook me up with a write off?

 

[Silverton34]

So I have an appointment with Mile Marker can you hook me up with a write off?

Matt, you can write off anything you want, it's just getting away with it that's difficult!