Procomm Patriot 12 Foot CB Base Antenna advise

[Riverman]

B100 No Ground Base Station CB Antenna ????

Yep. That's the one I was referring to. The A99 and IMAX are too tall for me in my present location.

Am also wondering if a 1/2 wave wire dipole strung horizontal between my patio columns 6' off the ground would be better than what I currently have. I have no way of getting one high enough to place vertical. No locals here to talk to anyway.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

If you have no one to chat with up to 60 miles away then a horizontal dipole makes perfect sense. When I had my 102" steel whip mounted on my large array tv antenna I could at least talk up 30 miles away to others bases and 60 miles if that base operator had a set of beams pointed at me. When I installed my A99 with a modified GPK-1 ground plane,all if a sudden my receive went up another 2+ S-units. A step up from that would a 5/8's wave vertical. If you're going to work DX then a horizontal,inverted-V,or a sloper dipole will do you justice.
If I were you I would want the most antenna I could get. That means stay away from the no-ground vertical I posted a link to. Stay away from the Patriot unless you can somehow tune it for a lower swr. Stay away from quarter wave steel whips,anything that is shortened physically.

P.S. Working DX with low power is more challenging but more rewarding.

 

[Riverman]

Back to the antenna this thread is about.

(I'd gotten way off track!)

A thought occurred to me about my PAT-12 (which lies unused in the attic). According to the instructions: If the SWR is lower at the bottom of the band, raise the tuning rings.

All of my SWR readings were high, but they were lower on CH 1 than CH 40, so I raised the rings. The problem was I eventually ran out of room and could raise them no farther. It seems this is a common problem with this antenna.

The way I understand it, if SWR readings are lower on CH 1 than CH 40, an antenna is considered "long". If that's so, would it benefit me to trim some off the top?

What do you think?

 

[M0GVZ]

What do you consider high? Anything below 2:1 is quite good enough.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

What were your swr readings on channels 1,20,and 40?

Have you asked Sent Procomm a email asking for help?
Tech Support - ProComm, Inc.

Or better,here's the Procomm tech support number : (877) 331-5161

 

[Riverman]

Lowest I could get it was 2.2 on CH 1 and 2.8 or 2.9 on CH 40.

 

[Riverman]

What were your swr readings on channels 1,20,and 40?

Have you asked Sent Procomm a email asking for help?
Tech Support - ProComm, Inc.

Or better,here's the Procomm tech support number : (877) 331-5161

Yes. Received no response.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Lowest I could get it was 2.2 on CH 1 and 2.8 or 2.9 on CH 40.

Do you have the tuning instructions that came with it?

 

[Riverman]

Do you have the tuning instructions that came with it?

Yes

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Yes

What does it say about tuning it?
I tried searching for instructions. Haven't found any yet.
Well,there's always the PT99
PT99 Proton CB 10-12 Meter Base Radio Antenna


The instructions below are for the PT99

 

[Riverman]

According to the instructions: If the SWR is lower at the bottom of the band, raise the tuning rings.

All of my SWR readings were high, but they were lower on CH 1 than CH 40, so I raised the rings. The problem was I eventually ran out of room and could raise them no farther. It seems this is a common problem with this antenna.

The way I understand it, if SWR readings are lower on CH 1 than CH 40, an antenna is considered "long". If that's so, would it benefit me to trim some off the top?

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

First I would adjust the rings to where the readings are even at channels 1 and 40 and then see what we're reading. Another thought. What kind of coax do you have,how new is it? Have you checked it for a short? How long is it?
And yes, a 2.0 swr is better than a 3. Make sure that the antenna base has a ground wire running to a water pipe or a 4-8 foot ground rod. Ground the cases on your radio equipment.

Watch this video for equipment grounding tips
The 102" Whip CB Base Station Antenna - YouTube

P.S. I know the antenna gods will grill me for asking the length question.


P.S. You might be having CMC's on your coax if you don't have a sufficent ground plane.

 

[Riverman]

SWR is about 3.0 when CH 1 and CH 40 are near equal.

I have 50' of new RG213U. No short.

Have not grounded the antenna because I never got it to work like I wanted it to. It is my understanding that grounding does not affect SWR.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Try reading this
HIGH SWR TROUBLESHOOTING
If it were mine I would do something about providing the other half of the antenna and maybe incorporate a rf choke and grounding it as well as grounding my radio equipment.

http://www.rightchannelradios.com/high-swr-troubleshooting-flowchart

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Tuning Your Antenna - Helpful information for tuning Ham Radio Antennas!
CB/Ham Radio Base Station Antenna 210-0969 Troubleshooting
CB Ant. Tips
LEGS TIPS AND TRICKS



Question:does your antenna have a plastic cap on the top of the top section? If so,you might could experiment with the internal wire's length if you can access it. I would take a piece of wire and attach it to the short length of wire in the antenna(stuff part of it in just to make contact) and observe the swr reading. Use short key down and if it's lower than a three then you may have a length problem but then again you should focus on the coax end of the antenna.
Note: these are things I would try just to see what it's doing.