dukie564

yea i know how to adjust everything on the radio, and my antenna is not tuneable. May need to do that though if I can't figure it out. I know i need to fix my body to battery ground so maybe that'll help.

Northwoods Snowman

The way you want to tune (assuming you want the best SWR on CH19) it is to get the SWR the same on channels 1 and 40. That will give you the best possible on CH19 for your setup. If memory serves me since you're SWR is much higher on CH40 than CH1 your antenna is "long" and need to be shorter. Even though you may not have a "tunable" antenna, they still are tunable and should be tuned. What you have to do in that case is physically cut the antenna down to what you need. Same thing goes for SS whips. You if there's not an adjustment to extend or shorten the antenna, they typically come from the factory long and then you trim accordingly. Hope this helps. I just went through this not too long ago with mine.

Here's the link to Firestik's tech page on tuning. http://firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Setting_SWR.htm I'm assuming you're run across their tech page in your research, but if not it's a wealth of info.

dukie564

Yea i actually checked and I had it backwards. CH 1 is high, and CH 40 is low, so i'm "short".

I plan on adding a spring and possibly a quick disconnect in the near future, so we'll see how it turns out with those and some grounding checks/revisions.

cf1k1

STOP USING THE RADIO!!!!!!!!! until you get it tuned properly. Spend the $20 and buy a tuneable firestik/wilson. The antenna you have can be cut (with a saw), but if you're off by and 1/8" of and inch too short, it's bad. Just get a a tuneable antenna. The best thing for the radio is to have the calibration stuff set at zero and have the antenna do the tuning.

dukie564

whoh relax partner - I have it set right now so on ANY channel, i never go above a SWR reading of 3. Calibration isn't perfect, but I adjusted it so my SWR is within spec. My range i'm sure is ****ty like this, but it still works for now and won't damage the radio.

cf1k1

I'm relaxed lol, I don't want you to blow a $100 radio is all lol. My point being, anything above a 2.5 swr, especially a 3 will fry a radio. Just turn it off for now and get yourself a tunable antenna. Or, you can run a 102" whip and spring. It has me at an swr of a 1.5 through all channels.

Basslicks

Hey Dukie, what are you wanting the quick disco for? I have a heavy spring on mine with the 5' firestik and it only takes a minute to unscrew the antenna - and if you add a lock washer between the antenna and the spring, you can just fist-tighten the antenna and it won't ever come undone... mine has been on there for a year - only being taken off for parking garages and it has never loosened up on its own

Saw?!? You don't need a saw... the fiberglass mast is is just what the copper wire wraps around... the copper wire is actually the antenna - all you have to do it take the tip cap off, expose the copper wire, and nip off a little at a time until you reach the length you want. The only hard part about it is making sure you don't take off too much... but any CB shop worth their salt can make this happen without much effort.

cf1k1

When you cut the wire, I was told by the cb shop (reputable one at that) to cut the mast too

Basslicks

Not sure why you would need to.... the purpose of the mast is just to have something to keep the copper wire up in the air - also acts as an insulator - the fiberglass mast has no transmitting properties whatsoever - that information is from an ARRL licensed General operator.

If you are cutting the wavelength of the antenna, you will need to cut the mast because you're cutting more than just a half of a wind or so off of the copper to fine-tune. Going down an entire wavelength means you have to remove quite a bit more copper which means you need less mast so that when you stretch the copper over it, the windings are properly spaced and tethered at both ends.

dukie564

don't need to cut anything, I'm too short, not too long.

zimbobwye

That's what she said! ..sorry, dukie. I'll bow my head in shame. But, couldn't pass that one up!

Outlaw Star

Lmao. Thanks, I needed the laugh today.

dukie564

ROFL...thanks

mikefrost

You need to let me build you a bumper for that thing Justin

Basslicks

Who, me?