tuning a cb radio without swr meter

urbanwheeler · Jan 9, 2011

Tryin to tune a new cb antenna without a swr meter. Any ideas?

messix · Jan 9, 2011

not gonna happen

340SHORTY · Jan 9, 2011

Im in Redmond and have a meter. I cant find my 3" extension tho. what kind of antennea are you trying to tune?

TigTorch · Jan 9, 2011

Yea...You cant tune it if you have no meter to tune to.

How about simply not tuning it. If you've hooked it up using normal parts and practices its gonna work. Certainly tuning it will make it as efficent as possible.

If you have a short circuit in the antenna it wont transmit.

rebelss · Jan 12, 2011

go to truckcity in milton and spend 15$ and have them tune it. in and out in 10 minutes.also you might learn something about cb's while your there.

crash2 · Jan 12, 2011

You can tune it with the higher channels. Its going to be a hit/miss without a swr meter.

JTR · Jan 13, 2011

you need to find someone w/ a meter, otherwise ch20 and shoot for the highest dead key( in a meterless world on a 40ch rig)

if its a fixed whip, you'll have to try and tune w/ the coax. 18' 6" is a good start and usually helps getcha in the ballpark w/ a decent match

chainsaw · Jan 13, 2011

Channel 20, buddy in another truck a 1/4 mile from yours line of sight. Adjust till you can hear him and he can hear you. Itll get ya in the ball park.

That is with a tuneable antenna of corse.

crash2 · Jan 13, 2011

chainsaw said:
Channel 20, buddy in another truck a 1/4 mile from yours line of sight. Adjust till you can hear him and he can hear you. Itll get ya in the ball park.

That is with a tuneable antenna of corse.

Exactly. The higher in the bands you go on a poorly adjusted antenna the worse the line of sight gets. I grew up around highly modified CB stuff(dad belonged to a CB club back in the day).

chainsaw · Jan 14, 2011

crash said:
Exactly. The higher in the bands you go on a poorly adjusted antenna the worse the line of sight gets. I grew up around highly modified CB stuff(dad belonged to a CB club back in the day).

Oh really? Maybe you can teach me how to hook up a linear amp....uh...just in theory that is!

crash2 · Jan 14, 2011

chainsaw said:
Oh really? Maybe you can teach me how to hook up a linear amp....uh...just in theory that is!

Haven't had one of those since my toy had a full cab :redneck: Ya I don't know anything about those

Zoediak · Jan 14, 2011

chainsaw said:
Oh really? Maybe you can teach me how to hook up a linear amp....uh...just in theory that is!

haha... better make sure your system is set up and matched well before any 'amp' is applied, as it will also effect the SWR (Signal to Wave Ratio) or 'match'.

and don't forget those grounds...

ahh yes, the days of the modified CB's... still have a lot of my gear from the days when I used to dabble during my electronics courses... hahaha

still have my amps floating around somewhere too.... haha

fun times!!

chainsaw · Jan 14, 2011

Zoediak said:
haha... better make sure your system is set up and matched well before any 'amp' is applied, as it will also effect the SWR (Signal to Wave Ratio) or 'match'.

and don't forget those grounds...

ahh yes, the days of the modified CB's... still have a lot of my gear from the days when I used to dabble during my electronics courses... hahaha

still have my amps floating around somewhere too.... haha

fun times!!