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swr tuning with the little wil

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Cellular and Communications
Forum Discription: Cell Phones, Hands Free Kits, Bluetooth, Two Way Radios, CBs, Pagers, Wireless Internet, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=123314
Printed Date: March 28, 2024 at 8:37 AM


Topic: swr tuning with the little wil

Posted By: zachy_je
Subject: swr tuning with the little wil
Date Posted: August 30, 2010 at 5:51 PM

I am new to the CB Radio world. However, I have done a lot of research. I bought a Cobra 25 LTD Classic CB Radio and a "Little Wil" Wilson Antenna. I also bought an SWR Meter from Radio Shack. According to my research, if your SWR reading on Channel 40 is higher than the reading on Channel 1, your antenna is too long. This was my case. I've been shortening my antenna by about 1/8" at a time. This is working great for Channel 40. On Channel 40, I started out at over 3 in the "red zone" and now I am at just over 2.5. My problem comes with Channel 1. It has been moving up the scale instead of down. On Channel 1, I started out at just under 1.5 and now I am at just below 2.5. So far I would say I've removed about 1/2" from the antenna. Any advice would be helpful. Do I keep cutting the antenna shorter and hope it levels out under 1.5? Or is there another issue?



Replies:

Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 30, 2010 at 7:22 PM
Are you recalibrating the meter for each channel.  I am not familiar with the mini wii antenna, but way in the past wilson did make a decent product.  You may want to see what kind of readings other people are coming up with with that particular antenna.  The numbers you are stating seem to be kind of high to me. 




Posted By: robertsc
Date Posted: October 11, 2010 at 9:02 PM

Matching your antenna requires shorting of your antenna until it matches on 1 and 40 you you have done what is required.

your meter reading should be close to the same on both channels





Posted By: zachy_je
Date Posted: October 17, 2010 at 12:33 AM
Hey thanks for the responses guys! I found a website with a lot of truckers and CB Techs CBRadioTalk.com. Here is a link to my specific posting: Tuning the "Little Wil - https://www.cbradiotalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=35541

@Robert - they basically said the same thing that you did. As long as channel 1 and channel 40 are about the same, your "dip" in the middle should put you within a comfortable SWR reading. Thank you for your help!

@Idiot - The Little Wil, being a magnetic mount, I found out, will not be perfect. You have to settle with not having the "preferred" SWR readings that a direct mount antennae would give you. I did recalibrate on each channel that I was testing. I do appreciate your suggestions. Thank you.

Zach




Posted By: catback
Date Posted: October 26, 2010 at 6:01 PM
Yeah cbradiotalk has some good info but mods there have some power tripping issues.

How's your lil wil doing now? My last setup was dual 4' wilson silver loads and a cobra 29LTD black chrome. The match was virtually perfect with the highest SWR being 1.3:1 when something was acting funky and 1.1:1 normally.





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