scanner90
Member
Well I've got a realistic radio that was hooked up to a junk radio shack antenna and lets just say I was better off rolling down my window and shouting across the road at whoever I was trying to talk to.
So I bought a 5ft Wilson FGT antenna, some quality coax(forget the brand) it said something like mini-8 and 95% shielding, as well as a roadpro SWR meter.
I've got the antenna mounted on my front bumper which might not be the ideal spot but it's the best compromise for my use.
Anyway I hooked up the meter and couldn't get it to work right, it was pegging the needle on some channels and almost pegging on others. I tinkered w some stuff but never got it working right.
So after testing the mount and coax w a multimeter as well as other stuff I found out that if the mount wasn't grounded that it all worked fine. I got another nylon washer and installed it on the bottom of the mount so the outer part of the coax connector isn't grounded at all. I bolted everything back on the bumper and grounded the ground wire from the antenna.
This time the gauge worked just as described in the book and after adjusting the tuning stub I have an SWR between 1 and 1.3 on all channels.
My question is does this sound right? I'm new to CBs but I though the mounts were supposed to be grounded?? Maybe since the Wilson has the ground wire it's different? I'm hoping I didn't just "trick the meter" and still have a problem. It seems to get great reception(much better than the old setup) but I haven't tried transmitting yet.
So I bought a 5ft Wilson FGT antenna, some quality coax(forget the brand) it said something like mini-8 and 95% shielding, as well as a roadpro SWR meter.
I've got the antenna mounted on my front bumper which might not be the ideal spot but it's the best compromise for my use.
Anyway I hooked up the meter and couldn't get it to work right, it was pegging the needle on some channels and almost pegging on others. I tinkered w some stuff but never got it working right.
So after testing the mount and coax w a multimeter as well as other stuff I found out that if the mount wasn't grounded that it all worked fine. I got another nylon washer and installed it on the bottom of the mount so the outer part of the coax connector isn't grounded at all. I bolted everything back on the bumper and grounded the ground wire from the antenna.
This time the gauge worked just as described in the book and after adjusting the tuning stub I have an SWR between 1 and 1.3 on all channels.
My question is does this sound right? I'm new to CBs but I though the mounts were supposed to be grounded?? Maybe since the Wilson has the ground wire it's different? I'm hoping I didn't just "trick the meter" and still have a problem. It seems to get great reception(much better than the old setup) but I haven't tried transmitting yet.