CB Radio Issues

I hope I'm posting in the right area.

I have a Uniden 520XL CB with an 18' coax running to a 4' Firestik II on a Relentless Fab hood mount on the driver's side. I am trying to tune the antenna, but when I hook up the external swr meter, power on the CB, and hit the TX to attempt to calibrate the meter, the needle doesn't budge, even with adjusting the cal knob. I have good continuity through both cables as well as the plugs on the meter, so I know there's no break in the wires. What am I doing wrong?

 

You have the SWR meter in line with the antenna yes? I mean a cable coming from the radio two the meter then a cable from the meter running to the antenna. If thats how you have it set up then yeah you should be getting something unless 1. your cb is dead. 2. cable is broken. or 3. the SWR meter is broken. If its one of those cheaper ones from ebay, or a gas station, or radio shack it often doesn't take much to burn them out. I would get another SWR meter and test it out first before trying anything else.

 

You probably already figured it out, but I agree. I would find another SWR meter and go from there. Also you may need to remove some of the powder coat to get a good ground. I used Cali Raised brackets and had to remove some just where the hood bolt contacted. Either way he SWR meter should still move.

Edit: Found out the ditch brackets were from Rago Fabrication. Cali Raised is an authorized dealer for them.

 

What they said ^

Went with the Bearcat 880. I know its bigger but I really like the built in SWR and the weather channels. I've used NOAA twice here in DFW for severe weather while driving. Tornados were popping up here and there. At night you can't see them so it helps to have something continuous rather than a too late EBS notice on the radio. But the 520XL was on my list.