OK, so I'm sure I'm goofing up something, but I can't figure it out.
I have a Cobra 75 wxst and a brand-spanking-new Firestick Firefly 4ft with tuneable tip. I also ordered the hood groove-mount kit with 18ft of Firestick cable and mounting stud. I also ordered the Firestick quick disconnect and an SWR meter with cable.
I mounted the antenna, ran the cable into the cab, connected the coax connector including soldering the wire tip, then made the connection at the radio box and powered it up. I can hear others just fine and I can get out just fine (tested a few times with StlCruiser and we could talk a mile or two away), so I know it will work for trail use, but here is the problem.
When I hook up the SWR meter and test following the procedure in the Firestick SWR book CoxCB sent me, I get readings WAY in the red. Channel 1 is about 3.2 / channel 19 is about 4 and channel 40 is about 4.8
I played with the antenna tip extension but no amount of screw in/out seems to matter. The SWR book states that a reading higher on 40 than on 1 indicates a 'short' antenna and I should lengthen it. Alternatively, it says a very high reading (in the red as I have) indicates a very poor ground plane or cable fault. I've checked my cable connections for continuity and everything checks out fine. I"m just wondering if I did something wrong putting the cable connector on the end.
Any thoughts (other than ditch the CB and move to Ham)?
I have a Cobra 75 wxst and a brand-spanking-new Firestick Firefly 4ft with tuneable tip. I also ordered the hood groove-mount kit with 18ft of Firestick cable and mounting stud. I also ordered the Firestick quick disconnect and an SWR meter with cable.
I mounted the antenna, ran the cable into the cab, connected the coax connector including soldering the wire tip, then made the connection at the radio box and powered it up. I can hear others just fine and I can get out just fine (tested a few times with StlCruiser and we could talk a mile or two away), so I know it will work for trail use, but here is the problem.
When I hook up the SWR meter and test following the procedure in the Firestick SWR book CoxCB sent me, I get readings WAY in the red. Channel 1 is about 3.2 / channel 19 is about 4 and channel 40 is about 4.8
I played with the antenna tip extension but no amount of screw in/out seems to matter. The SWR book states that a reading higher on 40 than on 1 indicates a 'short' antenna and I should lengthen it. Alternatively, it says a very high reading (in the red as I have) indicates a very poor ground plane or cable fault. I've checked my cable connections for continuity and everything checks out fine. I"m just wondering if I did something wrong putting the cable connector on the end.
Any thoughts (other than ditch the CB and move to Ham)?