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SWR problems

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tac50matt

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Hello
I am running a midland 1001lwx untouched not peaked or tuned or anything. Im running 18ft of RG8X coax snaked not coiled under my seat (as to not make a make shift ferret choke), then i have it running to the antenna that is on the lip of my truck bed. (I moved it from between my toolbox and cabin thinking that is what was causeing my SWR problems. my antenna is a 62" radio shack steel wip. So my problem is no matter what i do I cant seem to get my SWR out of the 1:6 range . I made sure my antenna was not grounded anywhere and the little plastic washer was in place . So if there is any tips or advice you could give my that would be great.
 

tac50matt

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Not 1.6:1 6:1 ... And it is a radioshack swr slash power meter. Do you think this is still the problem. Thank you for your help Matthew
 

prcguy

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A 62" steel whip? Without any loading coil? Give us a better description of the antenna and mount.

If its just a steel whip with no loading coil and the mount simply connects to the vehicle body and whip with no matching then you have an antenna cut for about 45MHz, not CB.
prcguy


Hello
I am running a midland 1001lwx untouched not peaked or tuned or anything. Im running 18ft of RG8X coax snaked not coiled under my seat (as to not make a make shift ferret choke), then i have it running to the antenna that is on the lip of my truck bed. (I moved it from between my toolbox and cabin thinking that is what was causeing my SWR problems. my antenna is a 62" radio shack steel wip. So my problem is no matter what i do I cant seem to get my SWR out of the 1:6 range . I made sure my antenna was not grounded anywhere and the little plastic washer was in place . So if there is any tips or advice you could give my that would be great.
 

tac50matt

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It has a full load. It is just a radio shack full load 62" wip, and I'm useing 1/2 of miror mount bolted to the to the bed
 

tac50matt

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You did bring up a good question though.
In december I take my ham test and then I'm gonna get a ham.
In short could you take a 102" wip and cut it down to run on the 70cm band.
 

K9WG

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A 62" steel whip? Without any loading coil? Give us a better description of the antenna and mount.

If its just a steel whip with no loading coil and the mount simply connects to the vehicle body and whip with no matching then you have an antenna cut for about 45MHz, not CB.
prcguy
I thought about that but I assumed (silly me) that since it was a RS antenna it would be for 27MHz.
 

LtDoc

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tac50matt,
Why won't your antenna tune? What's it close to, and how close is it? I would think that it should be able to be gotten better 'tuned' than that.

Cut down a 102" whip for 70 Cm? If you had to, sure. But that would be a sort of waste. A 1/4 wave 70 Cm antenna is only about 6.5 inches long, or so. There are just too many other ways of making a 70 Cm antenna besides cutting down a 102" whip. Save the whip for 10 meters maybe?
- 'Doc
 

w2xq

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Tac50, use an inexspensive (doesn't need to be digital) VOM to check for a short between the coax center and shield on the connector end. Result should be high (approching infinate). Then check continuity from end to end for center-to-center and for shield-to-shield. Results should be just about zero for both readings. You can also check the antenna base for continuity to the truck body (again about zero).

Aside from any fix to the connector or cable (pinched or nicked?), it's been my experience that paint or underbody coating prevents setscrews or lockwashers from making a ground. If the section of the truck does not have continuity with the truck chassis, clean off the areas where you can attach a ground strap (e.g., car battery).

If everything checks out, then you can assume an SWR reading is reasonably correct. If you think your meter might be problematic, borrow another one. Then you can take the steps of determining the proper length of the antenna.

Hope that helps.
 
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krokus

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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.973 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

The under-seat worries me, as that is just asking for cable damage.
 
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tac50matt

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As to the 70cm question I was just asking cause i had one; )and it has good SWR so I had ruled out grounding and went straight to somthing i had done wrong to the antenna) I will try the grounding and the other stuff you suggested *trsundstorm. /Krokus I will ask on a single cab 1990 3/4 ton pickup where am I gonna put 18' when i only need 8'.) I only changed out the 102" wip for vanity reasons. Thanx all you guys and if yall think of any thing else just tell me :)
 

tac50matt

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I should probably post a knew thread for this but... Im building a 2meter yagi beam. Any tips. Any common miss understandings I need to know about.
 

W2PMX

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The Midland 1001lwx is CB. Running a 52" mirror mount whip on the lip of a truck bed will give you an SWR of anywhere from 1:1 to 10:1, depending on a few factors, like exactly what the tuning method for the antenna is, what mount you're using (just clamping it to the truck bed lip is effectively running it ungrounded, so any SWR reading you get is meaningless), etc. Your actual SWR could be anything - a trough SWR meter isn't going to tell you what it actually is.

To run a CB antenna on the truck bed you need a ball mount or something else that will properly connect the antenna to the bed, and you need an antenna designed to use that mount. This isn't a ratchet wrench, where 1/2" is 1/2" and any 1/2" male piece will mate with any 1/2" female piece. Mounting on the truck bed lip is a bad choice to start with (running CB mobile is a bad choice as far as antenna technology goes), but mounting an antenna not designed for that place, on a mount not designed for it, is asking for poor performance.

You could just revert to 1920s antenna "engineering" - if it works, and the transmitter doesn't burn out, the antenna is good for what you want. It worked for RCA for years.
 

tac50matt

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what I have done is taken half the mount and bolted it to the to the lip half way down the bed.
Am I gonna have this much trouble trying to tune my dual band 2meter/70cm radio?
 

tac50matt

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Well guys I found it. I pulled back the little black cover on the load, and low and behold, one of the coils was broken in two. I do not know how it got that way but it kind hacked me off because the antenna was brand new.
 

reedeb

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MY suggestion is go with a ball mount and go with a 102" STEEL whip and spring You will have a PERFECT match.

Do NOT mount ANYTHING IN the bed mount them outside. putting an antenna IN a bed means you have all that metal around the antenna and THAT will block and or really mess up an SWR.
 

tac50matt

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lol I just got off a 102" whip but your right it worked great lol. Just no so good when I go mudding with my friends in the woods. Or for that matter at the drive throughs.
 

reedeb

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lol I just got off a 102" whip but your right it worked great lol. Just no so good when I go mudding with my friends in the woods. Or for that matter at the drive throughs.

You can always get a hold down clip while muddin in he woods, and as for the drive thru if you have the clip you can bend it down before you drive thru. [I did for years]
 
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