Just upgraded......but need HELP!!!

[BoDarville01]

Okay, swapped antennas again, and still getting high SWRs. I've switched from 9' to 18' coax, and still have high SWRs. i can only guess that they are high because of settings in the radio.

Need to go back to WalcottCB and have them look at my setup i guess, cause nothing i'm doing is working, and i cannot run a CB on 3+ SWR reading.

anyone with any suggstions???

[WA4GCH]

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

Okay, swapped antennas again, and still getting high SWRs. I've switched from 9' to 18' coax, and still have high SWRs. i can only guess that they are high because of settings in the radio.

Need to go back to WalcottCB and have them look at my setup i guess, cause nothing i'm doing is working, and i cannot run a CB on 3+ SWR reading.

anyone with any suggstions???

The problem is the antenna NOT the radio ...

Hook a wire of about 102 in to the antenna ground ( coax sheild ) at the antenna and see if it changes.

[BoDarville01]

Originally Posted by WA4GCH

The problem is the antenna NOT the radio ...

Hook a wire of about 102 in to the antenna ground ( coax sheild ) at the antenna and see if it changes.

102 what? you forget i am clueless when it comes to radios. I'm not one of these truckers who has all this spare time on their hands so they read every tiny little thing there is to know about CBs. Same with a cell phone. I know the basics how it works, and just want to use it.

[FriedTater]

Hey ! I never read the first thing about a radio.
Ive learned strictly through hands on experience.
Burned'em ,Smoked'em and spent many thousands of dollars on them.Installed a few thousand over the last 30 years,I'm not a Bench Tech but I know what works and how to trouble shoot,all of which was learned by watching and asking questions as someone did something.

As for the 102" ground ,blow that one off and make some progress here.Your Firestick already has a 102"wrap on the antenna its self.

Do you know how to calibrate the antenna swr meter that is on the radio?(set to zero on the little red diamond)
SWR is all antenna/coax with grounding coming in third.

If there is alot of swing in the modulation it can cause your meter to be spastic and go nuts when everything is actually fine.Decent Watt/SWR meters are fairly cheap and pretty helpful in trouble shooting antenna issues verses radio issues.

What's quite funny is how all these "alleged" radio hands are silent when simple knowledge issues such as this arise ??

I would love to call acouple to the floor on it but .....

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

102 what? you forget i am clueless when it comes to radios. I'm not one of these truckers who has all this spare time on their hands so they read every tiny little thing there is to know about CBs. Same with a cell phone. I know the basics how it works, and just want to use it.

[WA4GCH]

Originally Posted by FriedTater

Hey ! I never read the first thing about a radio.
Ive learned strictly through hands on experience.
Burned'em ,Smoked'em and spent many thousands of dollars on them.Installed a few thousand over the last 30 years,I'm not a Bench Tech but I know what works and how to trouble shoot,all of which was learned by watching and asking questions as someone did something.

As for the 102" ground ,blow that one off and make some progress here.Your Firestick already has a 102"wrap on the antenna its self.


SWR is all antenna/coax with grounding coming in third.



What's quite funny is how all these "alleged" radio hands are silent when simple knowledge issues such as this arise ??

I would love to call acouple to the floor on it but .....

Most antennas are only 1/2 the antenna and the firestick is one of them.
To work a firestick needs a groundplane if he cannot get it to tune up hook a 102 inch wire to the sheild ( GROUND ) side of the coax at the antenna just let it droop down and see if the SWR goes down ...... IF this works then just fine a way to get a better ground for the antenna.

This is how you do it for a multiband 1/4 wave this uses 8 1/4 wave antennas as a groundplane.

[killroy]

BoDarville01, I suggest that during your travels find a shop that uses a MFJ antenna analyzer to test and set SWR's. What it does is take the radio completely out of the equation. It hooks up to the coax were the radio would be. It will tell you everything about the set up. I won't waste time explaining it because as you say you would not understand it any way. But once the antenna is set correctly if you still have high SWR's then you will KNOW it's the radio, and not the antenna.

Where do you run? Do you ever get down around S.E. Louisiana or the Houston area? I'm close to New Orleans, and a friend of mine is by Houston, ether one of us can get it right for you.

[FriedTater]

I have a used 259B that I snagged at a pawn Shop for
$150. thats in perfect condition

[BoDarville01]

Originally Posted by killroy

BoDarville01, I suggest that during your travels find a shop that uses a MFJ antenna analyzer to test and set SWR's. What it does is take the radio completely out of the equation. It hooks up to the coax were the radio would be. It will tell you everything about the set up. I won't waste time explaining it because as you say you would not understand it any way. But once the antenna is set correctly if you still have high SWR's then you will KNOW it's the radio, and not the antenna.

Where do you run? Do you ever get down around S.E. Louisiana or the Houston area? I'm close to New Orleans, and a friend of mine is by Houston, ether one of us can get it right for you.

i use to frequent Houston from time to time months ago. Now that I'm 'Great Lakes Dedicated', i probably wont ever get back down there. I'm thru Walcott, IA quite a bit, where most of the work has been done. Can e-mail them about that FMJ antenna. as far as that 102" ground, just any plain wire will work??

thanx for the help guys. Just pretty agrivating blowing good money into a radio, and still not getting the problem fixed. I'm not one of these super truckers who has to have a radio he can talk to the moon with, and sound super cool with the gay roger-beep and talkback.

[WA4GCH]

Originally Posted by BoDarville01

i use to frequent Houston from time to time months ago. Now that I'm 'Great Lakes Dedicated', i probably wont ever get back down there. I'm thru Walcott, IA quite a bit, where most of the work has been done. Can e-mail them about that FMJ antenna. as far as that 102" ground, just any plain wire will work??

thanx for the help guys. Just pretty agrivating blowing good money into a radio, and still not getting the problem fixed. I'm not one of these super truckers who has to have a radio he can talk to the moon with, and sound super cool with the gay roger-beep and talkback.

You need a ground for a firestick to work If you have nothing now or a unknown ground try a simple wire from the antenna end of the coax the hot center of the coax goes to the fire stick and the sheild has to go someplace if it floats with no ground it is not going to work.

[killroy]

Originally Posted by FriedTater

I have a used 259B that I snagged at a pawn Shop for
$150. thats in perfect condition

That was a heck of a good deal. I love mine. And make a few bucks on the side setting every ones SWR's around here.