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wilson 1000 swr issues
- Thread starter eagleeyes
- Start date
I had a Wilson 1000 that I couldn't tune because the whip was too short. I found that they offered a longer whip for these cases but this was over 5 years ago. I'm still curious what your swr read on channel 1 and 40. Mine wasn't pegged across the band though. I've gone to a 102" whip on a 6 inch spring since.
I hope you got your Wilson 1000 issues fixed by now! I'm new here, but have installed about half a dozen radios and antennae on various vehicles, over the decades. I have never had to cut an antenna.
I used to run a K40, but recently bought a Wilson 1000 and am having an awful time figuring out how to get the SWR down on it. I've tried all your accumulated suggestions, except for cutting the whip.
My Wilson's integral coax continuity is good on the inner and outer parts of the line, from the Pl259 to the magbase plate connector, with no shorting evident, though I haven't put it on a dummy load at the magnetic base. The dummy load is on order. I also haven't put an antenna analyzer on it yet, as that too is on order.
When I tested the base coil there is no continuity from the center pin to the whip, only continuity from the whip to the exterior part of the connector and at the magnet. I'm waiting for a reply from Wilson about this situation. CB radios and antennae have always been easy for me, like plug'n'play computer stuff, but this Wilson 1000 is giving me a run for my money.
btw... I even tried using the 66" wilson whip with this base and that did nothing to help the SWR, which is off the charts no matter where I put it on my Santa Fe, hood or roof.
That is quite worrying. All CB antennas as supplied are usually configured to work with the lowest common denominator, i.e the poorest installation. The more efficient the installation, i.e the better the grounding, the shorter the whip has to be for the frequencies you're using. Assuming the need to shorten to get a good SWR isn't because its coupling to nearby metal, i.e you've mounted it low on a bumper so the whip is right next to vertical sheet metal, then that is an indication you've got a very good ground. When you've got a damned good RF ground then you usually find you need to shorten them more than the adjustment allows.
As one of you folks postulated previously, there may be quality control issues at play here. What I cannot figure out is whether the metallic glitter paint on my Santa Fe might be causing a poor capacitive ground by actually reacting with the magnet or reflecting the signal back to the antenna. I'm hoping that I can figure that out, somehow, with the antenna analyzer once that arrives. This troubleshooting part of radio is all new to me, though fascinating. I've never used a dummy load or analyzer before, but am watching a LOT of YouTube videos about those things and grounding issues, as well as reading a lot of stuff on forums. I'm wondering if there's anyone on this forum in northeast CT who might be willing to meet somewhere and go over my vehicle and rig with me.
I've got a Wilson 1000 magnetic mount that works pretty well. Out of the box, however, the SWRs were high: running 2.2 (channel 1) to 2.5 (channel 40) across 11 meters. I wound up snipping off about 3/8" and I'm now 1.2 at channel 40 and flat down at channel 1. I suppose I could snip off another 1/8" to even the SWR curve and try to be flat at channel 19, but I don't want to chop off more in the event I need more stinger to tune properly on another vehicle.
Properly tuned, this antenna is a solid performer.
Properly tuned, this antenna is a solid performer.
This is great, having you to share ideas and testing info! Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking? I"m in Northeast Connecticut, USA.
That's great that you were able to lower your swr to more acceptable levels. You could buy another Wilson whip and keep that on hand. the 66" that I bought for testing was only about $16USD with free shipping from someone on Amazon. That's a bargain when it comes to getting the radio up and running properly. If I need to trim my 62.5" whip to get this in tune, then I'll still have a lot of whip to work with on a different vehicle or radio. For the moment, I'm still trying to get to an answer as to the cause of my high swr.
This afternoon I bought a fancier multimeter than the old micronta that i've been using for decades. The new one does impedance, resistance, current, frequency, etc, ...even gives you the temp and humidity! Let me know exactly what my test finding mean on this wilson 1000 mag mount.
With the wilson off the car and laying on the toolbox I did the following with the new tester.
1. I tested the coax between the radio end pl259 and the mag mount base coupling: I got a consistent reading of 0.61nF on the coax.
2. With the load coil and whip installed to the antenna base I got 0.63nF, measured between the center post of the coax radio end pl259 and the antenna whip, then the same reading between the center post and the exterior of the radio end of the pl259.
3. With the whip and coil installed to the base and coax, I got a net of 0.5ohms continuity when testing across pl259 center post and exterior. The best continuity reading I could get with dead short of the leads was 0.2ohms. I have to find out how to double check the calibration and adjustment of the zero on this new gizmo.
I also tried to do a capacitance and continuity check of the vehicle paint to ground, but got no reading at all, so there's no evidence of direct electrical interaction between the antenna base and the paint. I forgot to mention that the new meter is an autoscale model, adjusting itself to what it senses in the selected mode.
So, What are my readings telling you about my wilson 1000?
That's great that you were able to lower your swr to more acceptable levels. You could buy another Wilson whip and keep that on hand. the 66" that I bought for testing was only about $16USD with free shipping from someone on Amazon. That's a bargain when it comes to getting the radio up and running properly. If I need to trim my 62.5" whip to get this in tune, then I'll still have a lot of whip to work with on a different vehicle or radio. For the moment, I'm still trying to get to an answer as to the cause of my high swr.
This afternoon I bought a fancier multimeter than the old micronta that i've been using for decades. The new one does impedance, resistance, current, frequency, etc, ...even gives you the temp and humidity! Let me know exactly what my test finding mean on this wilson 1000 mag mount.
With the wilson off the car and laying on the toolbox I did the following with the new tester.
1. I tested the coax between the radio end pl259 and the mag mount base coupling: I got a consistent reading of 0.61nF on the coax.
2. With the load coil and whip installed to the antenna base I got 0.63nF, measured between the center post of the coax radio end pl259 and the antenna whip, then the same reading between the center post and the exterior of the radio end of the pl259.
3. With the whip and coil installed to the base and coax, I got a net of 0.5ohms continuity when testing across pl259 center post and exterior. The best continuity reading I could get with dead short of the leads was 0.2ohms. I have to find out how to double check the calibration and adjustment of the zero on this new gizmo.
I also tried to do a capacitance and continuity check of the vehicle paint to ground, but got no reading at all, so there's no evidence of direct electrical interaction between the antenna base and the paint. I forgot to mention that the new meter is an autoscale model, adjusting itself to what it senses in the selected mode.
So, What are my readings telling you about my wilson 1000?
Update today. I STILL have not been able to solve the SWR problem on my Santa Fe. I did get Wilson on the phone today. The customer service lady said to start cutting 1/4" at a time, and that the Engineer would call me back sometime. Well I"ve spent most of this evening cutting and adjusting, but the SWR is no better, and that is after having cut the antenna from 62.5" down to 58 1/4", removing 4 1/4" approximately 1/4 at a time, on the grinding wheel and dipping in water to maintain the temper of the whip. I'm exhausted! I'll pick up with it again tomorrow. If all the cutting ruins this antenna, I can tell always tell Wilson that they said to cut it 1/4" at a time until it got tuned. Hopefully, the cutting will pay off sometime tomorrow. I even tried the different cuts in different locations on the roof, but to no avail. I also went to the truck stop to see if a different locale might help, but that didn't either.
Sorry to tell you this but they tell you nothing as you're testing using a DC meter. You need to test using AC (which RF is) at the frequency you want. You will need an antenna analyser to do this which will give you a reactance and impedance reading. What we're interested in is the impedance, R, where reactance, X, = 0. Basically a quarter wave vertical over a perfect ground has a feedpoint impedance of 36.8 Ohms at resonance (reactance X=0) so that is our reference point for working out ground efficiency.
So you stick your antenna on the vehicle, doesn't matter a toss about where its tuned for for now, and with the analyser find where X=0 and see what the value of R is. The further away from 36.8 Ohms it is, whether below or above, the less of a perfect ground you have and the more ground losses you have.
Now if you go to www.k0bg.com, read the page on bonding and start doing that then do the above tests as you're going along you'll find you get closer to R=36.8 Ohms as you go along and you'll also notice that without altering the length of the antenna, the frequency where X=0 also changes and should rise. That is another indication you're improving the ground.
So you've done all the mounting, the grounding, the bonding and you've got as close to R=36.8 Ohms at X=0 as you can THEN you tune the antenna to have X=0 slightly below the centre of the range of frequencies you want to use. The SWR dip doesn't follow X precisely so where X=0 isn't where your lowest SWR is going to be, if it is you've a lossy install. Instead you'll find the lowest point for the SWR will be slightly higher in frequency.
THANK YOU, M0GVZ!!!! THAT is THE most informative response that I've received from anyone, including Wilson Antenna Co. I do have a MFJ-259C analyzer on backorder. I can hardly wait to try to learn the skills needed to use it wisely. Your comments are a BIG help in that direction. I'll look up that link you mentioned. I appreciate your help. Wilson told me to cut 1/4" off at a time to tune the antenna. Now it is 58.25" instead of 62.5" and the SWR was no better. I went to a radio guy I finally found, today. he slapped a cheap Valor antenna on the suv and I now have 1.7 SWR at the ends of 11 meters and about 1.5 SWR on channel 20. He tested the Wilson base coil for continuity, as I had done, and said that I was most likely right that the coil is bad since there's no continuity from base coil center contact to the whip. I called Wilson, again, and am waiting for the customer service engineer to call me. This is the second day that I'm waiting for him to call.
How much power are you using? Anything over 100W and you'll definitely benefit from hard mounting the antenna as magmounts work by capacitive coupling and can only provide so much ground. When that hits its limit it starts using the coax.
They also can't handle the antenna currents and start arcing thru the paint. I have seen more than one magmount with burn marks in the paint around the edge. They were tiny but nevertheless there.