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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.
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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