Calling all CB experts.

Basecamp

Test Drive
Location
Living the dream
Ssooo originally mounted a Midland 75-822 with 3 foot Radio Shack magnetic ground plane base loaded whip antenna with 17 feet of coax. Last minute addition for WENT 2014, ran untuned for entire event and worked good. Then picked up a 2 foot Firestik, mounted that to a medium spring and magnetic base and 18 feet of coax. Got home and bought a power/swr meter to tune this setup.

After swr meter showing 3 and higher with no improvements after adjusting/tuning height of the Firestik I researched all that I could and determined that the Firestik was a non ground plane antenna attached to a ground plane mount and was incompatible. I then re-installed the whip antenna and got reading of 1.2 to 1.5 across the board, very happy.

However, I decided to get a "proper" swr reading and measure in an open field with no obstructions. Upon doing so the swr meter would barely budge on the scale, swr or power readings. Checked all connections, checked for pinched coax, nothing. Returned swr meter for a new one, same "non existent" reading.

Did additional research and determined possible a power issue. Measured power and swr readings again and it started working again (no changes to setup) and read 1.5 to 1.9 swr and power readings were good. Then after multiple readings the meter goes "dead" again, movement but very little.

CB receives fine, can hear chatter when driving around, some times not. Unsure if cb is not working (like when meter goes dead) or just no chatter at the moment.

So anyone with any idea about why the power/swr meter reads and then decides to not read and then reads again would be greatly appreciated. And if you notice a typo, incomplete sentence/thought or blatant f*uped grammar, I may or may not have been consuming beverages. Thanks.
 
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TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
Its possible that keying the mike with too high an SWR fried the radio.

LISTENING doesn't really heat the radio, transmission does. The SWR tells you essentially a way to see if the signal is being broadcast into the airwaves, or, converted to heat.

A high SWR # when you key the mike means more heat/less broadcast...and the higher, the hotter. If you get it hot ENOUGH, things burn up....and, depending on what the weak solder points or components were, each radio will start to go south in its own special way.

So, the ONLY SWR reading you should be taking is a "Real One", as the fake ones give you the opportunity to overheat stuff during a false low...so you think its a cool SWR #, but, its frying.

When a radio works intermittently, its typically a sign that bad things happened inside it.
 
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Basecamp

Test Drive
Location
Living the dream
Update. After additional research apparently the positioning affects the SWR reading. So holding the mic close to my chest it reads 1.2 to 1.5 across the board with SWR meter on passenger seat and after placing the SWR meter in the lower console it reads 1.6 to 2.6 with mic position not affecting the reading. Higher SWR on 40 means I should lower my antenna slightly for get a lower reading. However these readings were taken in a parking lot with obstructions, next update when checked in an open area. Weird, but working.

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Basecamp

Test Drive
Location
Living the dream
Open area testing shows same 1.6 on ch. 1 and 2.6 on ch. 40. Antenna lowered as far as it will go, have to cut 1/8 inch at a time off the top for better readings. Good enough for now though, glad radio wasn't fried and leaving meter inline for now. Thanks for the input everyone.
 
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