general lee swr

no, buy a meter.

 

~25 bucks. I keep mine in line all the time to watch for coax problems, etc. It has saved me from destroying my radio and amp. Don't leave home without it.

 

Buy stock in antennas if you insist on right side mounting

 

Try the step up to a DIAMOND or DAIWA mobile cross-needle meter.

At DX ENGINEERING

 

Why spend the money, a reasonably priced unit works just as well.

 

I paid about $30 for my Radio Shack meter in '81 and I still use it. I think the little Workman meter are only $20 today

 

Available at any truckstop.
Astatic PDC7 Compact SWR Meter

 

I’m certain MG is aware of price & value.

No, I was thinking back to high school when one of the earlier classes was the more difficult. And it’s hard to wake up.

So there you are, lizard-eyed.

There sits MG. Perfectly nice guy. So let’s bait the hook and toss it on out.

The cross-needle has more info. A quality unit is “likely” to be accurate where the cheap truckstop stuff is hit & miss.

Running down the highway, and that antenna lays back. Or is oscillating.
Then there’s system integrity. Etc.

The cross-needle gets to be addictive.

Wonder if he’ll go for the bait. Now, to think up an example bound to fixate his attention: “The Life & Death of a Mobile CB Transceiver”.

As anything is better than thinking about last nights homework.

Now, none of this was going thru my head. It’s when he mentioned he keeps his SWR Meter in-line constantly. One crackhead to another.

Then you guys show up with your examples of pennies. Me, I’m waiting for the 8:05 bell and Mrs Cross to walk in. Wonder if I can get a strike that’ll play through the next 50-minutes and the ending bell.
.

 

I don't remember much about my high school days. And those old folks who show up at reunions: they look eligible for nursing homes. Dylan was right: the times were indeed a'changing. Hell, they done changed so much I can't connect the dots anymore.

About the SWR meter: I do appreciate quality, only I don't want to subject an expensive meter to the ravages of a trucking environment. My little old-and-cheap field SWR indicator continues to work well. I check it against a "house" meter on occasion to make sure it behaves. It does.

That little meter saved me not long ago when I threw my slip-seater rig into the cabin and FORGOT to hook it into the antenna. Wow.

When I did my customary dead-key test after hooking things up, the needle #### near broke itself slamming into the right-hand-side of the meter range...indicating the trucker's equivalent of PULL UP! PULL UP! The last thing a pilot hears as he blissfully flies into the ground.

That 25 dollar meter earned its pay that day. I'll try harder to keep it from getting so excited in the future.