High SWR with a whip. Not sure where to go.

[summitlt]

Totally new when it comes to CB's. I am running a Midland Model 1000 with a Radioshack 102" stainless whip. I have th ewhip mounted in the bedside without a spring.

When transmitting thorughout all channels I get a SWR of 3. Which seems too high. While searching I cam eto the conclusion that I need a better ground. I cleaned the connection ot the bedside. And it did nothing.

I did find if I take the whip a make it "wag" (like if the wind was pushing it) the SWR will peg out on the CB.

Im really not sure where to go from here.

Another thing is that when the truck is running, I get better SWR and if I turn my heat on (?!?) the SWR goes down.

And one last thing, I seem to get noise in a lot of places, enough to get two "blocks" on the meter on the CB.


Sorry for all the newb questions, and thanks in advance.

 

[EDUK8TR]

I did find if I take the whip a make it "wag" (like if the wind was pushing it) the SWR will peg out on the CB.

Summitlt,

The above seems to indicate that you have a continuity issue going on. Check the line for continuity and see what happens . You probably have a short somewhere in the line or in the connections.

Hope this helps :!:

73's :!:

Wayne C.

 

[Moleculo]

Also, what kind of stud is the whip mounted on? Perhaps the stud was installed backwards?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

My guess is that maybe the insulating washer at the base of the whip is damaged.If the only thing that moves when yoy wiggle the antenna then that is where I would start.

 

[summitlt]

wouldnt a short cause pegged swr? not just plain high?

 

[Cheech]

Never had a short but lack of ground plane will play a big part in it. You should check the mount and coax for shorts. Also may want to see if ground wires help anything. Like I said I never had any shorts here but some meters read difrent so check over things becouse the most simple thing can couse an swr of 2.5 or higher. Good luck!!!!!!!!

 

[nvcowboy25]

hum

your mount is touching the bed side and you mayhave a bad pice of coax once you get that fixed youll still have a high swr if it is too close to cab get the spring and move it to center of bed rail try to get most of the ant up above the cab with it on the side like that you are gonna be very dierecantel sorry for shity speeling

 

[Marconi]

Hey summitlt, tell us exactally what you are doing when you read you SWR on you meter.

 

[summitlt]

Im reading SWR on channel 1 and 40 off of the CB itself. After some reading I found this isnt really the way to do it, so I have a SWR meter coming from ebay. So ill try then.

 

[Marconi]

Ok can I assume that you are calibrating the meter in this radio every time you test it? Have you ever seen a good SWR with this radio on any other antenna setup?

If you have access to a good dummy load, you could put it at the end of the line where the antenna goes and check the SWR for it. If it shows the same 3:1 then the meter is either not being calabrated properly or it is bad.

Do you know how to use the SWR meter in your radio correctly?

 

[FL Native]

Im reading SWR on channel 1 and 40 off of the CB itself. After some reading I found this isnt really the way to do it, so I have a SWR meter coming from ebay. So ill try then.

built in swr meters are close enough to tell you if you have a problem. and like Marconi said are you calibrating it before checking swr????

 

[summitlt]

You can calibbrate the SWR on this meter. Im looking at what the meter does when I tranmit. Maybe its not a SWR meter ?

 

[Marconi]

That's OK man. I will have to guess what you’re saying here, because I don't know if you asking a question or making a statement. We often use of the (?) as an important signifier when meaning is important in the written word.

These radios have fooled plenty before you. You need to get a good inline meter and get someone to show you how to use it to read the SWR function. It is easy, but don't feel bad, you have learned a good lesson. Question what you don't understand. Question until you do understand. And remember, what you believe and what hear does not always mean you have a good understanding. Most of the time it has to make sense too.