built in swr and external swr dont match

In this case I would have to check it with a know good meter.

 

First off, the meters that are built in to those radios suck and are very inaccurate. It is not uncommon for them to be completely wrong. IF you have a good quality external meter, I would trust that reading.

 

Exactly.

I tune all my own radios and have done several for other people. Sure, they were all in Jeeps and not a big truck, but the same idea apply.

An external meter will me much more accurate. I have had internal ones show a steady SWR while I am changing things, yet get the changes in the external one you would expect with whatever I am doing. As far as I am concerned, the only thing an internal one is good for is getting some new equipment sorta adjusted close, until you can get home to use a real SWR meter.

 

Quick check use a dummyload if it shows a good match the radio meter is working one trick i use is a 75 ohm dummy load it should measurs about 1.5:1.

 

Thats because maybe the external meter is not showing what your doing to the frontend of the radio while your in there twisting things. By your description you should not be in there.

I have in general found the internal meters to be fairly good, except in the case where a golden screwdriver has been in the radio . I check the internal meter when I align the radio, if its off then I simply adjust the meter. But only after tuning the rest of the radio first, always tune into a service monitor or a load. Last thing to check is the swr portion of the radio. Ths internal meter is as accurate as the technician tuning it. Soooo if the SWR meter is reliable, and your tuning your own radio, then, well Im not going to fill in the blank, but you probably don't need to say I tune my own radio.

 

Maybe I don't understand, or maybe you misread my post.

I do get the changes in my external SWR meter, but the internal one may stay steady.

I can get changes in my SWR by messing with things other than the antenna, like going for a better ground or tapping some cleaner power closer to the battery, or rerouting the antenna cable to get it further away from sources of interference. While adjusting the antenna is obviously important, it has been my experience that these other things can offer even more of a difference.