Why is my SWR so high?

Im over 3 on my swr and it doesnt matter how I adjust the tip. My current grounding setup is that I have the antenna grounded to the mount and the mount is grounded to my bed rail.

 

Dude!!!
You don't ground the whip!!
I am surprised it works at all.

 

Its not a No ground plane whip.what do I do with the black wire with the ring terminal coming off the antenna then?

 

Did you added that wire to the whip??

 

But even with it detached and the mount still grounded im over 3 on my swr.

 

Did you add that wire to the whip??

 

This is what the antenna packaging shows

 

They come that way

 

OK,,, but I think I see a problem with your mount.
It looks like there is a insulator missing.

 

Where?

 

Is that a Firestick mount?

 

Fire stick mount, wilson flex 4' antenna. And I just noticed this on my coax. Looked like it arced on something.

 

what have you done to adjust the tip? High swr usually means the tip is too long and needs trimmed short.

 

Its been all the way up and all the way down. No changes.

 

Channel 1 is almost at 4 and channel 40 is right at 3.

 

Is the part of the antenna stud that's going through the hole in the mount touching the mount at all? If so they could be grounding each other.

Also, do you have a lot of excess coax laying somewhere in the truck curled up?

 

No, that is fine, that is how it looks after they solder the wire inside the connector.


If you have extra coax in the truck spoiled up it should be wrapped in a figure 8 shape, but that only saves you about .5 on your swr meter.


Everything else looks ok.

The plastic insulator is in the correct position.

 

Ok. If ch1 is higher than ch40 than the tip is too short. You have extremely high readings.

Coil the extra antenna wire in a figure 8, not a loop, this will help slightly.

If the reading on channel 1 is higher than the reading on channel 40, you need to lengthen your antenna. Alternately, if the reading on 40 is higher, your antenna is too long.
For example, if your reading is 1.3 on channel 1 and 2.1 on channel 40 you need to trim down the tip, turn adjusting ring, or pull out wire a small amount, cut it, and tuck it back against the coil.
If your reading is 2.7 on channel 1 and 1.5 on channel 40 your antenna is too short. the only solution is to add a spring, raise the antenna, or re-position it.
If any adjustments are needed, they should be made in small increments. Re-check after each adjustment. Be sure to have all components on the antenna when testing, including the tip if there is one.

Also, when taking readings you need to be seated in the truck with the doors closed and windows up, hood down, not parked in front of a building, really need 15 meters of no obstructions around the truck.

 

SWR over 3 generally means that there is a grounding issue. Something is touching where it shouldn't be. Happened to me when I switched over to a firestik from a Wilson.

Did you put that PL connector together or did you get it that way?

 

Take the ground to the frame. /thread