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Understanding CB Meter...

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Uniden pc78xl. I played with the whip today and got my swr down to around 1.5. I understand how to use the meter in that fashion. On the top of that switch is a [S/RF] mode. Also in the meter the middle bar is rf and bottom is signal. Im assuming these have something to do with eachother. What is the rf and signal meter and where should they be? If i remember right with the mic keyed and silet my signal jumps to just under 30. Where should this be and how is it adjusted?

Thanks
 

Redneck0410

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Uniden pc78xl. I played with the whip today and got my swr down to around 1.5. I understand how to use the meter in that fashion. On the top of that switch is a [S/RF] mode. Also in the meter the middle bar is rf and bottom is signal. Im assuming these have something to do with eachother. What is the rf and signal meter and where should they be? If i remember right with the mic keyed and silet my signal jumps to just under 30. Where should this be and how is it adjusted?

Thanks

I would recommend double-checking your antenna with an external SWR meter. The built-in meters with those radios are historically not dead-on accurate. When that switch is in the "RF" mode, if it jumps to around 30, you should be getting out pretty good. You may need to make some more adjustments to the whip to try and get the SWR as low as you can. While we're on the subject, what kind of antenna are you tuning and where do you have it mounted, vehicle, externally, etc.? The idea with antennas is to get the SWR the lowest where you use the radio the most (i.e. Channel 19 or your preferred channel). To do this, I recommend calibrating your antenna on channel 20. It's right in the middle of the CB band and you shouldn't get very high SWR on either end (channel 1 and 40). You'll want to check the calibration on 40 and SWR on 40 and 1. Have I confused you yet?
 
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Not confused yet. Its a 48" fiber glass from Radio Shack. Started out with a 3' Truck-Spec fiberglass. That = Junk and to "short" 40 lower than 1" Im sure the Radio Shack antenna is doing me much favors either....
 
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