Help, I'm Confused!

[Down_South]

OK, so I'll start by telling you that I have A Cobra 19 Ultra III in my car and I can hear truckers really well. I've checked the SWR using a Radio Shack SWR/Power meter and it reads under 1.5 SWR when I key the radio, but when I speak into the radio the SWR jumps up to a reading of 2+ SWR. What the heck? My antenna is still attached and in one piece.

[LouisvilleScanMan]

Sounds like someone has taken a "golden screwdriver" to your radio and "peaked it up". Have you taken power output readings?

[Dodgem250]

The SWR reading is measured from a "dead key" point of view, which means, keying the microphone with no audio signal injection, or keying but not talking into the microphone. The SWR will change when you inject a signal or sound, if your SWR is 1.5, then that is ok. don't worry about a thing if the SWR goes up when you talk into the microphone, it's going to do that, it is supposed, and no one took the golden screwdriver to the radio.

Thanks,
Dodgem250

[sjlamb]

Originally Posted by Down_South

OK, so I'll start by telling you that I have A Cobra 19 Ultra III in my car and I can hear truckers really well. I've checked the SWR using a Radio Shack SWR/Power meter and it reads under 1.5 SWR when I key the radio, but when I speak into the radio the SWR jumps up to a reading of 2+ SWR. What the heck? My antenna is still attached and in one piece.

Your SWR reading on a "dead key" (unmodulated) is what matters. When in normal operating mode, you should switch over to the "power" setting. It would be normal for the the meter to jump around if you are transmitting (modulating) with the meter in the SWR position.

[Dodgem250]

yeah, what I said LOL

[Down_South]

OK, Thanks All! I had an inkling that something was at work. I'm glad that it was a matter of simple physics. I checked the power reading and the meter indicated 500 Watts. I thought CBs were 4 Watt?

[Down_South]

Do I need to ground my antenna?

[hockeyshrink]

Originally Posted by Down_South

OK, Thanks All! I had an inkling that something was at work. I'm glad that it was a matter of simple physics. I checked the power reading and the meter indicated 500 Watts. I thought CBs were 4 Watt?

Unless you have some other "equipment" hooked up you are not telling us about, you are not transmitting 500 watts.

Check your meter to ensure the RANGE is set to 20W. When checking power, ensure the FUNCTION switch is set to POWER.

Now, when you key up you should see the needle approach 500. That is on the top line with the "H" indicator. You need to read the bottom line with the "L" indicator, which is 0 to 20 watts. So if you follow the line from close to 500 on top to the hash marks on the bottom, you'll see 100 on top leads to 1 on the bottom, count off 2, 3, 4 hash marks, and 500 on the top is 5 watts on the bottom scale.

OK?

[TomMinkler]

Originally Posted by Down_South

Do I need to ground my antenna?

where is your antenna on your vehicle? if you have it on your bumper or roof it will work just fine... is the vehicle a newer or older vehicle? these things you need to keep into consideration... the reason being if you have a newer vehicle and it is on your roof... you probably need a heavy duty magnet setup for your antenna.. not a rinky dink one from the store. you will be fine if it ia attached to a metal bumper on your vehicle... If you are having trouble still let me know....

what kind of antenna are you using? (steel whip / fiberglass / other) all these things like i said before are all things you need to take into consideration.

[Down_South]

No other equipment is hooked up, I had my meter set wrong...sorry. I have a 102" stainless steel whip. I'll have to take some measurements this weekend. Am I looking for average power output or peak envelope power? What should a typical power reading look like for a stock 4 Watt CB with a 102" whip?

[hockeyshrink]

Average. You should see the needle around the 4 watts mark (the hash on the bottom "L" scale before the one that is connected to the 500 on the "H" scale).

(PEP is for SSB and your radio - Cobra 19 - does not transmit SSB. Besides, this particular meter is horrible for PEP readings.).

[Down_South]

I have a damaged cable. I'd like to know where to find cable at a reasonable price. Also, is the PL-259 Male connector easy to put on the RG-58/U cable. I have RG6 TV antenna cable, will it work with a CB?

[TomMinkler]

Originally Posted by Down_South

I have a damaged cable. I'd like to know where to find cable at a reasonable price. Also, is the PL-259 Male connector easy to put on the RG-58/U cable. I have RG6 TV antenna cable, will it work with a CB?

RG6 will NOT work. that is cable COAX not CB Radio Coax RG 58/u is decent COAX... if you want to get better try RG8/u you can find either at radioshack or possibly any electronics store.. like frys electronics ... as for the pl-259 connections you can also get them at radioshack or Frys Electronics...

[orpen499]

i am from ontario and on channel 6 i seem to pick up people from down in the states?? anyone else?

[va3hub]

Originally Posted by orpen499

i am from ontario and on channel 6 i seem to pick up people from down in the states?? anyone else?

I pick them up also.

[015reddog]

They call that channel the "Super Bowl." A bunch of CBers use great big linear amps and all try to out talk each other on that one. You can hear them from all over the country. Funny.

Red

[va3hub]

Originally Posted by 015reddog

They call that channel the "Super Bowl." A bunch of CBers use great big linear amps and all try to out talk each other on that one. You can hear them from all over the country. Funny.

Red

Cool,thanks for the info.

[orpen499]

anyone in the perth ontario area on cb??

[orpen499]

any ideas for home made antennas?

[015reddog]

Originally Posted by orpen499

any ideas for home made antennas?

Your question would get a lot more attention as a new thread. This is getting way off topic anyway.

Just a suggestion,
Red