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Does swrs effect reception as well

U

undecidedcallsign

New Member
Nov 3, 2013
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I have a bearcat 980ssb. Stock and brand new. I have a lil will magnet mount and a hustler 43" magnet mount. I am only 3 miles off i95 and although I could here people no one confirmed my radio check. I was getting 1.3 swrs on 1 1.6 on channel 40 and around 1 swr on 19. Went to the radio shop to talk about a tune and peak and he was the second shop to say bad things about the radio. Ended up buying a connex 3400hp and the little wil antenna. Initial swrs are at 1.5 on 1 and 2.5 on 40. Haven't adjusted the antenna yet. I can't even pick up any traffic on it. The band is supposed to be set on "D" correct?

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So lets see, you had a normal cb and heard nothing and then were talked into buying an Export "CB" and you still hear nothing. I am thinking the first radio was fine and you are just in a dead spot or you're not using the SWR meter correctly. As a side note I would return the "new" radio as that was not the problem.

You should hear something if the antenna is mounted correctly. You have not said how you have the antenna mounted so lets start there. How is it mounted? If it's a Little Will then it's a mag mount so i can only assume that it's plucked on something metal.
 
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I will go with antenna is the problem
them things are good for riding with another driver in front or behind you you bet out of sight then it drops off pretty quick

make sure the RF gain knob dont get confused with RF power knob
make sure the RF Gain knob is all the way to the right
and the squelch knob is turned back to where you hear static and might hear one of them weak drivers talking

or do the old fashion radio check:
get your better half to ask for a radio check and a signal report
this will pull them out the woodwork
 
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Getting out is pointless if you can't hear...the lilwil has its place, but its performance is lacking.

Again, I made the step from a lilwil to a W1000 and then again from the W1000 to the W5000...the difference in receive between the lilwil and the W1000 was quite apparent.
 
I was just making a statement for comparison. If the antenna is hooked up right and not shorted and tuned right you ought to at least hear something. Transceivers if they're set up right hear better than they can tx. Personally,wilson antenna products isn't my cup of tea but they're good antennas. It's odd not to be able to hear somebody in the air that close to the interstate. Have you tried going near a truck stop? Most truckers run power and being in close proximity often results in co-channeling. I turn the rf gain down to keep from having my radio's front end destroyed.

P.S. My DTB tuned radios hear exceptionally well on my Sirio Performer PL 5000.
The only time I couldn't hear was back in the eighties I tried a R/S stealth FM and CB combination antenna. I was doing good to hear 500 yards. Another time when I had a substandard PL-259 connector. Another time when I forgot to hookup my antenna to my radio.
 
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The Jerk said:
Getting out is pointless if you can't hear...the lilwil has its place, but its performance is lacking.

Again, I made the step from a lilwil to a W1000 and then again from the W1000 to the W5000...the difference in receive between the lilwil and the W1000 was quite apparent.
Click to expand...
The OP said that he is three miles from a major highway, he should easily hear something even if he had a coat hanger stuck in an SO-239.

As for the Little Will, yes its not the best antenna but it does work. I had one that I cut for 10 meters, the antenna got the signal in the air and I was able to work several countries.

So the fact still remains that he is unable to hear anything so either the antenna is defective but the SWR reading posted don't bare that out so what is left. Radio? He has tried two and both the same issue so that leaves either the antenna is "bad" somehow, mounted bad or the radio's are set incorrectly or he is a radio dead spot.
 
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The Jerk said:
Getting out is pointless if you can't hear...the lilwil has its place, but its performance is lacking.

Again, I made the step from a lilwil to a W1000 and then again from the W1000 to the W5000...the difference in receive between the lilwil and the W1000 was quite apparent.
Click to expand...


Antenna is 90% of the radio game.
 
I had placed the magmount near the front edge of my trunk lid. I am going to move it out to center. Also my coax is about 18'ft long. I have it just strung out in the vehicle since I wasn't sure how to run it. The distance from my radio to antenna is about 9 feet. Should I route my antenna coax around my base board panels? I have a grounding cable in my trunk. Since this is a magmount shoukd I run a grounding strap to the strap in the trunk? If so how do I attach it? Make a loop and screw it down on the screw down removable part on the base? What material can I use? Braided line or just a piece of copper wire. Lastly I will check my position to see topographically if I'm in hole and lower the 95. Maybe I should move to higher ground and check again.

Thanks for all your replys

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 
You do have it trimmed for the set of frequencies you want to use? Is the Lil'Will whip adjustable?
You can put the cable anywhere you want except engine bay. Don't kink or pinch the coax. For testing you can mount it on the roof in the center otherwise you'll have to point the opposite end of the car in the direction you want to rx and tx. The trunk lid isn't the best location but keeps it from looking like a remote control car. Use a good swr meter or let a radio dealer check it for you and find out what the swr is. Make sure your coax's PL-259 connector is fully inserted into the SO-239 jack on the back of the radio. Make sure that your rf gain is turned fully clockwise and rf power fully clockwise and volume set to a comfortable listening level. You should at least hear static on your radio speaker. With the radio on and in the un keyed mode gently wiggle your antenna coax at the PL-259 plug after you've screwed in into the radio's jack. Sometimes you can have a bad coax connection here. If you do have a bad connection you will hear a change of sound in your radio.
This is something I learned from the K40 folks. Attach one end of a ground wire to the radio's case and the other end to a vehicle ground point,preferably the same ground point your radio's negative power lead to attached to. This works for K40 mag mount antennas to kept it from having a floating ground hence a constantly changing swr reading.
 

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Am mode,RF fully clockwise, 19 off,pwr fully clockwise, SQ fully counterclockwise ,mic fully clockwise,you guys know which band to go on,right?
Tuned to the appropriate channel.
 
undecidedcallsign said:
I had placed the magmount near the front edge of my trunk lid. I am going to move it out to center. Also my coax is about 18'ft long. I have it just strung out in the vehicle since I wasn't sure how to run it. The distance from my radio to antenna is about 9 feet. Should I route my antenna coax around my base board panels? I have a grounding cable in my trunk. Since this is a magmount shoukd I run a grounding strap to the strap in the trunk? If so how do I attach it? Make a loop and screw it down on the screw down removable part on the base? What material can I use? Braided line or just a piece of copper wire. Lastly I will check my position to see topographically if I'm in hole and lower the 95. Maybe I should move to higher ground and check again.

Thanks for all your replys

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
antenna is at WORST possible location. sure it works. but best place is always on the roof
cause antenna will be completely above the vehicle.next routing coax this can get tricky
i run mine down back by rear window into the trunk.
next i fold down back seat grab coax then just lay it out on floor ,then cover it with
floor mats,.then up too radio. any extra i pull back into trunk.far as recieving theres no
guide it comesdown to your antenna and how its mounted. yours is very short =not good.
location=not good. im surprised your swrs are good. and no swrs dont really affect
your recieve
 

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