Cobra 29 LX High SWR Reading

Allow me to give a friendly interjection:

1. With a swr of 1.5-1.8 on the existing antenna, it's going to perform better than any of the "no ground" antennas.

2. If you (originator) had made a mistake in soldering coax it would show immediately with an outrageous swr.

I'd still be happy with the 1.5 *if* the 4' antenna is what you intend to run. Firestik does make the classic wire wound top loaded antenna that you tune by trimming the wire at top. That would allow you to make the antenna shorter where the one you have will not.

 

Good advice!

 

Try a different antenna...But where you have it mounted, I doubt your going to get any antenna to tune as low as your wanting....Antenna's are at their happiest when up high on the roof...

 

Go back to where you started. 1.5 on 1 and 1.8 on 40. At this point the antenna needs to be shorter. A Firestik classic has a tight winding of wire at the top. Remove the cap, take a razor and gingerly cut a little of the outer jacket to expose the wire. Trim about 3/4" of this wire then re-check ch 1 and 40. I would test this antenna first before trimming to make sure it reads the same as the one you have. If swr is higher on 40 the antenna needs to be shorter and in the case of the classic Firestik you have to trim the wire to make it shorter. Be sure to replace the cap each time when checking.