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Wilson Lil Wil SWR

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N

nicolet

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2014
Messages
18
Location
Three Lakes, WI
Greetings, I am new to CB radio. I received a Wilson Little Will and mounted it on my Tacoma over the cab. I checked the SWR, cut off ¼” as directed, and checked SWR again. Here are my results

First check 26.9 MHz 1.9
27.4 MHz 2.5

Second check 26.9 MHz 1.5
(after cutting ¼”) 27.4 MHz 4.0

My question is, is cutting another ¼” the correct next step? Let me know please and thanks for your help.
Fred
Three Lakes, WI
 
K

kf4eyr

Member
Joined
May 19, 2016
Messages
112
Location
plant city florida
next step is to try another antenna,, should have left it as is,,, if you cut it a again it will be too short,,, lil wil are not much better than a dummy load since the chinese started making them,,,,ya might want to go to a better antenna,,,,
 
prcguy

prcguy

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Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
15,361
Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
If the match is better on a lower channel than a higher one it generally means the antenna is too long. From the info you provided it looks like the antenna is extremely narrow band and may have needed a much smaller amount taken off to balance ch 1 and 40 and it would not have been all that good at the band edges. This is where a graphical display type of antenna analyzer pays for itself the first time you use it.

Is the antenna on a mag mount or on a roll bar or something other than a permanent roof mount? If so the coax may be a radiating part of the antenna, which might give you an option to tune the coax for a better match using an RF choke you can slide up and down the coax.
prcguy
 
F

FiveFilter

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
308
Since channel 40 is worse than channel 1, the antenna is still too long for the setup. Keep trimming until it gets better. The goal is to get channels 1 and 40 as low as possible, and 20 should be a little lower than the extremities. However, the short antennas are not as wide-banded as longer antennas, so they don't work as well (except for the fact that they are much more forgiving of low obstacles such as garage roofs, which is why I use short antenna myself when needed.)

My magnet-mount K30 antenna had to be trimmed from its 35-inch starting point to 32.5 inches. I stopped there when the SWRs got to: Ch 1 =1.1, Ch 20 =1.2, Ch 40 = 2.9. I could have tried a little more cutting to get 40 a bit lower, but all of my usage is on channel 19 for traffic reports, so I left it as it is. With such a short length, I knew the little shorty was probably not flexible enough to get too much better anyway,

My antenna is mounted on the roof of my sedan. I can also mount it on the trunk, but the SWRs are not quite as good there because the little trunk is not as good a ground plane as the big roof.

As I said, the little short fellas are not as wide-banded as the tall guys, but they sure are handy when the ceiling is low!

I also have a couple of Wilson antennas, the 500 and 1000 mag mounts. I've had a lot of luck with these new-era Wilsons no matter where they are made.

I specialize in mag mounts for the ultimate in no-new-holes-needed flexibility.

Addendum: The principle to antenna tuning is, if the SWRs are lower on Channel 1 than on Channel 40, the antenna is too long. If the SWRs are lower on Channel 40 than on Channel 1, the antenna is too short. There's not much you can do if the antenna is too short except getting a longer one, but you can trim one that is too long.
 
Last edited:
prcguy

prcguy

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
15,361
Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
You say keep cutting but he started with a 2.5:1 match on ch 40 and now its 4:1 after cutting. The problem appears to be a really narrow band antenna that might give a little over 2:1 on ch 1 and 40 with something better in the middle, which would be the best your going to get. Now its terribly skewed with the upper channels looking pretty bad. If he keeps cutting ch 1 might get a little better but ch 40 will continue to get worse.
prcguy




FiveFilter said:
Since channel 40 is worse than channel 1, the antenna is still too long for the setup. Keep trimming until it gets better. The goal is to get channels 1 and 40 as low as possible, and 20 should be a little lower than the extremities. However, the short antennas are not as wide-banded as longer antennas, so they don't work as well (except for the fact that they are much more forgiving of low obstacles such as garage roofs, which is why I use short antenna myself when needed.)

My magnet-mount K30 antenna had to be trimmed from its 35-inch starting point to 32.5 inches. I stopped there when the SWRs got to: Ch 1 =1.1, Ch 20 =1.2, Ch 40 = 2.9. I could have tried a little more cutting to get 40 a bit lower, but all of my usage is on channel 19 for traffic reports, so I left it as it is. With such a short length, I knew the little shorty was probably not flexible enough to get too much better anyway,

My antenna is mounted on the roof of my sedan. I can also mount it on the trunk, but the SWRs are not quite as good there because the little trunk is not as good a ground plane as the big roof.

As I said, the little short fellas are not as wide-banded as the tall guys, but they sure are handy when the ceiling is low!

I also have a couple of Wilson antennas, the 500 and 1000 mag mounts. I've had a lot of luck with these new-era Wilsons no matter where they are made.

I specialize in mag mounts for the ultimate in no-new-holes-needed flexibility.

Addendum: The principle to antenna tuning is, if the SWRs are lower on Channel 1 than on Channel 40, the antenna is too long. If the SWRs are lower on Channel 40 than on Channel 1, the antenna is too short. There's not much you can do if the antenna is too short except getting a longer one, but you can trim one that is too long.
Click to expand...
 
J

JayMojave

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
722
Location
Mojave Ca
Yeah what PRCGUY said: Those little wills antennas are very narrow in bandwidth. And the SWR he said is pretty much dead on.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert
 
Ravenkeeper

Ravenkeeper

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
236
Location
Antelope Valley, CA
Curiousity may have killed the cat........

nicolet said:
Greetings, I am new to CB radio. I received a Wilson Little Will and mounted it on my Tacoma over the cab. I checked the SWR, cut off ¼” as directed, and checked SWR again. Here are my results

First check 26.9 MHz 1.9
27.4 MHz 2.5

Second check 26.9 MHz 1.5
(after cutting ¼”) 27.4 MHz 4.0

My question is, is cutting another ¼” the correct next step? Let me know please and thanks for your help.
Fred
Three Lakes, WI
Click to expand...

prcguy said:
You say keep cutting but he started with a 2.5:1 match on ch 40 and now its 4:1 after cutting. The problem appears to be a really narrow band antenna that might give a little over 2:1 on ch 1 and 40 with something better in the middle, which would be the best your going to get. Now its terribly skewed with the upper channels looking pretty bad. If he keeps cutting ch 1 might get a little better but ch 40 will continue to get worse.
prcguy
Click to expand...

JayMojave said:
Yeah what PRCGUY said: Those little wills antennas are very narrow in bandwidth. And the SWR he said is pretty much dead on.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert
Click to expand...

Like Jay, I concur with PRCGuy. I was just looking at the online manual for Little Wil antennas, and their guidance seems to be a little outdated. So, to make sure that you're not going in the wrong direction, I have a few questions:

1) Does your SWR meter have a FWD/REF switch?

2) IF your SWR meter has a FWD/REF switch, are you setting the FWD, on each channel/frequency, before taking your SWR readings? If your meter does not have that switch, don't worry about it. My meter doesn't have that switch, but a friend of mine has a SWR meter that does, so I used his to tune my antenna.

3) I've tuned a few K40 antennas, and I'm assuming that Wilsons are the same way. (Here's where the cat may die.) Mark the antenna with a piece of masking/painters tape, loosen the set screw, raise the whip up 1/2", and take the readings. What did you get?
 
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