Does anybody have a SWR meter that they are not using and would let me use/buy off them cheap? I need to tune my CB badly. Thanks

 

what CB do you have? if its a cobra 29 it has one built in. and from my experience they work pretty good.

 

classic 25. its got the little meter in the left corner with the needle that jumps when you press the mic, but i'm unsure of where it should be, or how to tune it if it isn't where it should be.

 

the 25 doesnt have an SWR meter built into it. the needle gauge that you have is basically just to see how strong the incoming signal is. in order to tune your antenna you would have to buy a meter or go to a local spot (if any) and have them tune it. when you key up and the needle looks likes it about to jump off the end of the scale that doesnt mean anything. mine has been doing that since i had it jumped up to 45 watts.

remember, you are NOT tuning the radio, you ARE tuning the antenna. the radio doesnt change anything. once you get the antenna right, you should be able to connect any radio to it and it wont change anything. you are basically matching the antenna to the vehicle and everything that is really close to it.

by the way, what kind of antenna is it?

 

i guess i should have reworded my first post. i know i was tuning the antenna, not the cb. but thats for the clarification. I have a 5' whip from Radio Shack mounted on my spare tire. I used to have a lil wil on top and it got great service, but i forgot it was up there and drove into a car wash and that was the end of that... i put the new one on and i don't have much signal? weirdd

 

sorry for the late get back. when you say that you put a new one on and you dont have signal, what do you mean? you replaced the lil will whip and nothing? or nothing with the 5 ft from radio shack?

 

im thinking a pinched wire if its the one from radio shack. there are two wires in a cb antenna wire. the core and the shield. if you smash it a little bit, and i mean a LITTLE bit, you shouldnt have any problems. but if you run it through a door and smash the crap out of it, you could have broken the core and then you are screwed. you would have to buy a new cable or replace it. i would also check the grounds on the antenna. i had a ground come off and i couldnt hear anything. but that was on my wilson 1000.

 

You can always go to your local cb shop and have them tune the attenna,If Im not mistaken if you keep keying up the radio you will mess it up.

 

that is true. if you run the radio too long with an antenna that is too out of wack, you can burn the finals out in the radio. they arent exactly expensive, but why spend the money if you dont have to.

 

For a barefoot unit pushing out four watts, not so much. If you run a peaked and tuned radio and/or run a kicker with it, then it becomes critical to have your SWR properly tuned.