CB fitting gone pear shaped

[Ballibeg]

Did all the fitting etc etc and came to do the swr.

At this point I was feeling chuffed it had all gone to plan. Silly me, as it
all went pear shaped at this point.

Went to channel 1 UK, swr HUGE
Went to channel 40 UK, SWR HUGE.

So I checked my aerial was earthed and went through connections etc. Tested
again....

and I don't know what happened but nothing showing on the SWR meter, not to
set or anything. CB isn't showing anything on the dial when I transmit
either.

So probably caused by the huge SWR either the meter, or CB or both has gone
bang.

$$$$$$ magic. Of course now I'll need to either get a new swr to work out
its the CB that went bang of get the CB repaired etc and if I do all this
I'll still have the problem that the SWR is HUGE and so by testing the CB
I'll blow something somewhere.

Ah bejesus,

Dave

[MattF]

Check your grounds. If you have a good ground connection at the aerial end, you should be able to put one probe on the outer ring of the connector, and the other probe on bare metal on the bodywork and get a reading under five ohms.

[Ballibeg]

Will check.

As nothing showing on SWR meter now could I have bust that? Or is it more likely the rig thats kaput?


Dave

[MattF]

Will check.

As nothing showing on SWR meter now could I have bust that? Or is it more likely the rig thats kaput?


Dave

Coud be a naff meter, but check through from the aerial backwards and rule that side of things out. Check you have continuity through your cable and connections, preferably under an ohm from end to end, centre to centre, outer to outer, then check your ground on both the aerial and the rig wiring. If all those are okay, then it's either the meter or the rig. Also, make sure you haven't shorted the cable. It's quite easy with those PL connectors to get a strand shorting over when you fit the connector.

[Ballibeg]

Coud be a naff meter, but check through from the aerial backwards and rule that side of things out. Check you have continuity through your cable and connections, preferably under an ohm from end to end, centre to centre, outer to outer, then check your ground on both the aerial and the rig wiring. If all those are okay, then it's either the meter or the rig. Also, make sure you haven't shorted the cable. It's quite easy with those PL connectors to get a strand shorting over when you fit the connector.

Thanks Matt, I've checked all that out.

Seems the rig or meter has gone kaput. $$$$$$$$. Guess it'll all have to be sent off for a repair bill. Still can't work out why my SWR was so high. I guess it could be mounting the aerial on the rear wheel carrier. It is close to the body for the aerial to run but I didn't think it would put the SWR so high it would blow the rig.

Dave

[MattF]

It is close to the body for the aerial to run but I didn't think it would put the SWR so high it would blow the rig.

Dave

It shouldn't.

[Ballibeg]

Well as the meter worked to start with and then ceased I'm guessing the rig went bang.

I've been back over everything and I can't see what I could have done wrong.

Not a happy chappy but thanks for the help.

Dave

[BUSHWHACKER]

Well as the meter worked to start with and then ceased I'm guessing the rig went bang.

I've been back over everything and I can't see what I could have done wrong.

Not a happy chappy but thanks for the help.

Dave

Try another length of coax first, yours may be a fraction too long.
SWR the CB @ channel 19 first.

[Ballibeg]

Done all I can testing the co-ax.

There's a connection across the co-ax only when its connected to the cb. So at the back of the rig should you get a reading across the aerial socket? I do.

Dave

[BUSHWHACKER]

Not knowing your Rig, antenna and SWR equipment/style/specs, maybe you'll find something useful here............

http://www.firestik.com/Meas-SWR.htm...g%20Continuity

[Ballibeg]

Great link and I have a short in the wrong place, the CB itself.

Dave

[charvell]

Done all I can testing the co-ax.

There's a connection across the co-ax only when its connected to the cb. So at the back of the rig should you get a reading across the aerial socket? I do.

Dave

hello mate where are tou mounting the arial? I had the same problem with mine, in the end I wemy and got a heavy duty mag mount slapped it on the roof and the swr went down to 1.2.

Not teaching you to suck egs but make sure the connections into the swr meter are in the right way round if they arnt then you will get a massive reading, also make sure you are on the uk channel settings and the europe ones

[Ballibeg]

No chance of teaching me to suck eggs on this subject!

I've got the aerial on the rear spare carrier, idea gleaned from the forum.

I know having the aerial close to the body of the car might not be helping the SWR but I'm still surprised its blown the rig ( at least I think it has.......)

Dave

[charvell]

No chance of teaching me to suck eggs on this subject!

I've got the aerial on the rear spare carrier, idea gleaned from the forum.

I know having the aerial close to the body of the car might not be helping the SWR but I'm still surprised its blown the rig ( at least I think it has.......)

Dave

I doubt if you have blown the rig, My arial would not swr on the rear wheel carrier, so as i say got a mag mount on the roof and now its perfect.

[Ballibeg]

I doubt if you have blown the rig, My arial would not swr on the rear wheel carrier, so as i say got a mag mount on the roof and now its perfect.

I hope you are right, but there's no output showing on the swr meter at all and I've checked the co-ax to it.....


Dave