Am I killing my radio?

Until you check your SWR you could very well be killing it! Get your SWR under 2.0 and you will be fine. the reason your range sucks is most likely becasue your SWR is super high!

 

DAMAGE IF DONE IS FOREVER .......

Now that said many radios use a protection for SWR that turns down the transmiter it try and not blow the final ..... It dosn't always work .....

SWR meters are sold by every good CB/HAM supplyer try SPARKY, COPPER, AES, HAMRADIO outlet, radioshack and R&L. You don't have to spend a bunch of money many under $25 work just fine I bought one from SPARKY on sale for $15 and it tracks my bird on CB not bad for a cheap meter .....

If your radio has one built in don't trust it .....

 

If there is no screw then you have to tune the antenna buy clipping off the length of the whip until you get a correct SWR reading. Im going to tell you...the antenna you have is not one of the best and you may be better off going with a wilson mag mount antenna. They are easy to tune and work great and can be had for under $50.00. You can find these on many websites.

 

99% of the time it is TOTALY GONE so if your puting out anything the radio is ok meters are cheap and your friend in the long run .....

 

Get on line and order a cheap Dosy meter. These things will do just fine and can be had for under $100.00. As far as how much damage you have done odds are if others can hear you then you have not hurt your radio but if you keep talking on it then you may blow the finals in the radio at which point it will become a paper weight!

 

Yes. Now if someone can only hear you if your close then thats not good but if you can be heard a few miles aways then you should be fine.

Look where the whip goes into the base of the antenna,the screw should be there. If not then your going to have a helluva time setting the SWR to where it needs to be.


What kind of car or truck are you putting it on?