After drilling the roof for the antenna last weekend, finally got around to connecting the power leads etc. for the rig but I'm having an issue with SWR so thought some of the radio Gurunerds might have an idea or two.
Just been out to the car and thought I would check the SWR with a cheapie hand held I have (Eurosonic Ultimate) as if there was anything massively amiss I thought I would mind blowing that less I bought an adapter to allow me to connect the coax to the handhelds bayonet fitting so can't see a reason not to check SWR that way
Connected up the SWR meter on FWD, pressed PTT and adjusted the Cal knob until the meter was at 'SET'. When I turned to REF the needle stayed where it was
I still have my old magmount attached to the bonnet So I connected the handheld and SWR meter to that and couldn't get the meter up to SET. The needle was about half way across the red but I ran out of dial before it would go to SET. With it in this position (half way across the red) I switched to REF if dropped all the back to the left (off the scale)
Any thoughts?
Its a roof mounted antenna with the 'star' connector on the back. I didnt wire brush the inside of the roof as it was tricky to access.
Its a brand new out of the box antenna. I did have to coil the whip around my girlfriends (enormous!) suitcase to bring it home but its still straight.
I didnt have to cut the coax at all the 17 feet of it happened to be precisely right to reach from the roof around the inside of the trim, under the carpet and up to the dash. (In fact it was so close it was getting scary)
The SWR meter and cable are second hand. Could it be that they are no good or would it just read nothing if it was knackered?
Or shouldn't I be checking SWR with a handheld?
Grrr... and indeed, Feck!
Just been out to the car and thought I would check the SWR with a cheapie hand held I have (Eurosonic Ultimate) as if there was anything massively amiss I thought I would mind blowing that less I bought an adapter to allow me to connect the coax to the handhelds bayonet fitting so can't see a reason not to check SWR that way
Connected up the SWR meter on FWD, pressed PTT and adjusted the Cal knob until the meter was at 'SET'. When I turned to REF the needle stayed where it was
I still have my old magmount attached to the bonnet So I connected the handheld and SWR meter to that and couldn't get the meter up to SET. The needle was about half way across the red but I ran out of dial before it would go to SET. With it in this position (half way across the red) I switched to REF if dropped all the back to the left (off the scale)
Any thoughts?
Its a roof mounted antenna with the 'star' connector on the back. I didnt wire brush the inside of the roof as it was tricky to access.
Its a brand new out of the box antenna. I did have to coil the whip around my girlfriends (enormous!) suitcase to bring it home but its still straight.
I didnt have to cut the coax at all the 17 feet of it happened to be precisely right to reach from the roof around the inside of the trim, under the carpet and up to the dash. (In fact it was so close it was getting scary)
The SWR meter and cable are second hand. Could it be that they are no good or would it just read nothing if it was knackered?
Or shouldn't I be checking SWR with a handheld?
Grrr... and indeed, Feck!
Comment