SWR CB tuning

[poncho1965]

Installed my CB and put the swr meter on it. The best I can get is 1.3 on channel 40, about 2.1 on channel 1. Playing around with antenna length I could not find a sweet spot to get below 2 on channel 1. The excess coax is under the drivers seat, wrapped as suggested by firestik. Should I be concerned with this? Or is it acceptable?


Mike

 

[LagunaH1]

An swr of 2:1 is still pretty decent

 

[cbetts]

Agreed. Sounds pretty good to me.

 

[K5DBM]

Installed my CB and put the swr meter on it. The best I can get is 1.3 on channel 40, about 2.1 on channel 1. Playing around with antenna length I could not find a sweet spot to get below 2 on channel 1. The excess coax is under the drivers seat, wrapped as suggested by firestik. Should I be concerned with this? Or is it acceptable?


Mike

What are the swr's on channel 19? Generally, SWR's 1.5 and below is considered good. Less than 2 is ok - not great and probably won't hurt your radio as long as you don't key down for long periods of time and aren't running an amplifier. SWR's should be lowest on channel 19 and go slightly up from there on channels 1 and 40 (assuming you want to tune the antenna for the entire cb band).
Here is a quote from an antenna manufacturer:
"If the SWR on channel 40 is greater than that on channel 1, your antenna is considered to be "LONG" and reduction of physical height and/or conductor length will correct this situation".
If SWR on channel 1 is greater than that on channel 40, your antenna is considered to be "SHORT" and increasing the physical and/or electrical length of the antenna is required to correct this situation

Hope this helps.

 

[poncho1965]

I did go back and try some more, I ended up with 1.5 (1), and 1.9 (40). I didn't check any channels in between. Thanks guys


Mike

 

[alrock]

Sounds like you're set up pretty well now.

 

[poncho1965]

Cobra 75, not sure I like the built in speaker.


Mike

 

[cbetts]

Cobra 75, not sure I like the built in speaker.


Mike

I really like the external speaker up on the dash. Allows me to compensate for my hearing problems. Does the 75 support an external speaker?

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk HD

 

[poncho1965]

I really like the external speaker up on the dash. Allows me to compensate for my hearing problems. Does the 75 support an external speaker?

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk HD

Yes it does. I can probably plug it into Swarzttys adaptor, have not tried it. I plan on getting an ext speaker.


Mike

 

[poncho1965]

Update: I plugged the CB into schwartzzys adaptor, works fine, but defeats the sat radio. Not ideal but it's nice hearing the CB traffic instead of wondering what was said through the crappy mic speaker


Mike