The best SWR guide in the world.... Ever

http://www.klimaco.com/klimacopages/swrand.htm

I know a lot of you have been scratching your heads and your keyboards with regard to SWR on your CBs. A bit late in the day, but I was digging around for a really good reference guide to help people out and found the above. A lot of info in there, but all good info and well worth a dig through if you're interested in using CB in the future or are considering your Amateur Radio Foundation (which I hope to do later this year when time allows).

Nick Burt's guide (previously linked) will show you how to SWR your antenna, so use his guide in conjunction with this for further trouble shooting if readings are still too high or if you get an "infinite" reading on both FWD and REF/SWR

Or get a nice little pink stepladder for me to stand on while I solder your pl259 to your rg58, hey Ad?

why would this need to be done....?!? its all very confusing lol last time i checked my cb worked lol but i dont think its ever been SWR tested

me either...

I learned about doing SWR after I had a CB that worked.... and then stopped working. Thing is, you can blow your CB's transmitter and still receive loud and clear, so it's not always obvious things have gone wrong.

In my case I'd assumed that just because my mate could hear me 250yards up the track, all was well. When I borrowed another CB and an SWR meter it turned out my SWR was 3.5 due to a really poor bit of soldering on the antenna cable and a weak earth return due to corrosion. Anything below 2 is fine, below 1.5 is good and the actual returns in signal strength below this are so small as to be negligible (exponentially smaller returns for each increment improvement).

So why would it need to be done? If you have taken off and then refitted your antenna or mount, if your cable has corroded or started to break down through flexing, if you have pinched a cable too hard in a door, if your SWR has always been high due to an underlying fault, all of the above can take a functioning CB and turn it into a paperweight.

well im considering asking to be hitched up to the meter one night.....but i know deep down whoever put it in didnt do it right....lets keep you and my dad away from each other, otherwise my car will be in bits on the start line!!!!

Harry, it disnae take a start line to get yer car in bits.

anon

BOFA Bill wrote:

Harry, it disnae take a start line to get yer car in bits.

anon

Grrrrrr....and who put me onto it?!

It was ok before you got yer mits ontae it.

Brakes and abingdon ring ony bells?

anon

Ssssssssh bill

NoDo$h wrote:

http://www.klimaco.com/klimacopages/swrand.htm

I know a lot of you have been scratching your heads and your keyboards with regard to SWR on your CBs. A bit late in the day, but I was digging around for a really good reference guide to help people out and found the above. A lot of info in there, but all good info and well worth a dig through if you're interested in using CB in the future or are considering your Amateur Radio Foundation (which I hope to do later this year when time allows).

Nick Burt's guide (previously linked) will show you how to SWR your antenna, so use his guide in conjunction with this for further trouble shooting if readings are still too high or if you get an "infinite" reading on both FWD and REF/SWR

Or get a nice little pink stepladder for me to stand on while I solder your pl259 to your rg58, hey Ad?

That's a cracking document - I've added it to my CB file on google docs, for ease of future reference.