SWR Moving Around

What?

When you move the mic around, the SWR goes up/down?

Is the SWR meter external?

If not, get one and see if this happens.

 

Grounding issue?

 

The McKinley doesn't have a normal Meter to check SWR. It has digital readout that says 10, 12, 13 etc. (10 = 1.0 and so-on...doesn't show the decimal ) it also beeps to the value, like if you have a 1.0 SWR then you get one long tone...farther away from 1.0 you get beeps...slower the beep, worse the SWR is...you also don't push the Mic button, it's automatic in SWR Mode...

What I would do is get in a open area to do your check...if it's still doing what you say then I would first check all my coax and Mic connections... Haven't ran into that problem with mine.

Now if your checking SWR while driving around, then what your saying is normal...SWR doesn't stay constant when moving.

 

LOL The beeping deal is like the rig expert /zoom feature..

 

That would be my bet: he's got RF in the cab with him and grounding issues. Unless, he is moving when he's checking SWR-that would also cause it. That is because when an antenna moves thru a fluid environment, it encounters different things: other vehicles, buildings, the ground underneath--even moisture can affect it. So you need to be sittin' still to check it and ground, ground, ground! Make those grounds short as possible.

 

Almost have to be a grounding problem if just moving the mic up and down causes it to jump...BUT, I cant remember ever having a issue where SWR jumped around by just moving the mic around...even back when I was running a 16-pill....I had RF all over the place but still no jumping swr just moving the Mic...(I think he's driving around)

 

I have the same CB and the SWR is not accurate. It was showing 1.8:1 for me and it was a perfect 1:1. Use a real SWR meter.

That being said, my SWR was jumping around too and it was because of a bad ground. If you're in a truck with a fiberglass cab you really almost have to use a NGP (no ground plane) antenna kit. The performance isn't quite as good as a normal antenna on a good metal truck, but it will be far better than the performance of a normal antenna on a fiberglass truck that you can't get a good ground on.

A quick test to see if you have a bad ground. Put the CB on SWR and listen to the beeps. Close all doors and park the truck away from anything around the antenna. Now, grab the base of the antenna where it mounts to the truck. Just grab that sucker and hold it. If the beeps get faster then your SWR is going down when you grab it and that is a direct indication of a bad ground.