NW WA Meet / BS Thread

What’s the square thing with the brackets?
Oh a motorcycle wheel tie down
Eyes getting bad

 

Front tire of the motorcycle goes there? I'll borrow any trailer so I don't have to run some tubing through my back window.

 

Back up enough trailers, and eventually your give a fuck disappears.

 

I need help troubleshooting CB. Swr readings are to high, I ran a ground to the frame and 1 to the body which lowered the reading. I'm still hitting just about 3 on channel 1 and it's in the red on 40. Thoughts? Want make sure I'm not missing something else before I try lowering the antenna.

 

Only reason ive kept the canopy (well one reason)....so nice to just toss shit like that up on the bars and to have to deal with a trailer

 

where are you connecting the SWR meter at? (hint: as close to the CB unit as possible)
did you tune the tip (hint: firestik2)
what location are you tuning at? (hint: I tuned at Lake Sammamish state park in the soccer fields parking lot and there was no other cars to interfere with my tuning)
do you have that stupid plastic washer on? (hint: say yes)

@Digiratus

 

Is the antenna bracket powder coated? Using a fire ring by chance or another antenna connector?

I'm using a firestik and their fire ring. Had to grind off the powder coat on the bracket where the bolts connect. That grounds the bracket and then the nylon washers make it so the fire ring antenna mount is not grounded. I guess that's the key.

 

This

 

no powder, no paint.

 

Do you have any coils in the antenna coax cable?

 

Nope, I measured before ordering.

 

I had a challenging time with getting SWRs low as I have a coiled up coax cable; straightened it out; SWRs were 1.1 to 1.3 out of the box... but it crapped out three days ago... RIP Uniden 510XL...

 

This is why I'm struggling. I've read all the trouble shooting info I can find. I will screw with it next weekend when I'm in the middle of nowhere. Maybe just to much interference around here.

 

Where is the antenna mounted? On the hood or roof? What reading are seeing on a middle channel like 21 or 22?

Poor grounds are the number one cause of high readings but yours are just sort of high.

A poor ground plane is the second big culprit. A flat metal surface around the base of the antenna creates the ideal setup where the signal can reflect away from the antenna. It also gives the best results for hearing and being heard. A moderately high number is an indication that the transmission is meeting resistance. My guess is poor ground plane is the cause.

 

It's on one the bull bar uprights on my bumper.

 

Try taking the o ring out of the tip. That's what the problem was with mine.

 

I've see testing without the cap make a big difference as well.

 

The oring limits how short the antenna can be.

 

Good lake day yesterday