SWR INFORMATION

1. Choose a cIear Iocation to adjust the SWR

Antennas are very sensitive to objects close to them. Go to an open area to tune your
antenna, such as a parking lot. This can be done at home, providing you are not close
to the house. Do not try to tune inside a building, under trees, near or under power lines,
nor with someone standing next to the antenna. This distorts the signal and causes a
reflection back into the antenna giving false readings. Also, close all doors, the hood
and trunk lid.

2. Setting the SWR
1. Test with the radio only. f you have
an amplifier, either turn it off, or
preferably remove from installation.
2. nsert the antenna whip 1 into
chrome antenna adjustment mast at
the top of the coil.
3. Using either the meter built into the
radio or a good external SWR meter,
calibrate on channel 20. Switch back
to SWR and record the readings on
three channels 1, 20, & 40.
4. f the lowest SWR reading occurs on
channel 1, the antenna whip is to
long and must be shortened. Loosen
the mast set screws and lower the
whip 1/4 into the mast. Tighten mast
set screw and again read SWR.
Repeat until lowest SWR is
obtained.

f the whip is fully lowered into mast and the SWR is still high, remove the whip from
mast. Using a hacksaw, grinder, or bolt cutters, cut 1/4 from the bottom part of the whip.
Re-insert the whip into the mast and test again for SWR. Repeat the above procedure
until the SWR is below 1.5 of all channels.
f the lowest SWR reading occurs on channel 40, the antenna whip is to short and must
be raised. Loosen the mast set screws and raise the whip 1/4, re-tighten set screws and
test SWR again. Repeat the above procedure until the SWR is below 1.5 of all
channels.
. The whip is raised to the top, but the SWR is stiII Iower on CH 40
This generally occurs on vehicles with very small ground plains, such as the compact
cars, cars with hatch-backs, etc. t indicates the need for a longer whip than the
standard one supplied. Wilson Antenna has a longer whip (66) available for these
situations.
4. The SWR on a trunk Iid mount is .0:1 on aII channeIs
When a reading of 3.0:1 is present on all channels, this indicates a lack of ground for
the antenna. For example, some of the vehicles today use a fiberglass trunk lid or
insulate their trunk lid from the actual chassis or frame, ground of the body. This is done
by inserting plastic washers on the trunk hinges, and/or sandwiching a layer of
styrofoam type material between the two piece trunk lid. To eliminate this situation, a
jumper wire must be installed from the actual bottom lip of the trunk lid to metal on the
body of the auto. To accomplish this, loosen one of the hinge bolts on the trunk-lid side
and install a braided strap. Re-tighten the bolt. Loosen the bolt on the other side of the
hinge (trunk-body side). nstall the other end of the braided strap to this bolt and re-
tighten. Be sure to leave a long enough loop to prevent pulling apart when the trunk lid
is fully open. As added ground insurance, you may wish to add a jumper from the set
screw on the trunk lip mount to the hinge bolt on the trunk-lid.
5. My needIe pegs the side
When the SWR meter needle slams the side on all channels this is generally an
indication that you have a short in the system. This will probably be from the coax or
mount. Disconnect the coax from the radio and the mount. Using an ohm meter or
continuity tester, check the mount first (it may have been installed improperly). There
should be no signal between the center pin of the coax connector and the ground side
of the mount. f there is, you may have forgotten to install the nylon washer or put it in
the wrong position. f the mount checks good, proceed to the coax. f you have replaced
the connectors on the end, there may be a short from the multi-strands of the shied.
Again, using an ohm meter or continuity tester, touch one lead of meter or tester to the
center pin of the PL-259 connector on one end of the coax. Touch the other lead to the
shield (or outer connector ring) of the same connector. f this shows a shorted condition
(or reads continuity), the coax has a short and must be repaired or replaced. NOTE:
The coax may have an unseen break in it. To test for breaks, use the following method:
touch one lead of meter or tester to the center pin of the PL-259 connectors on one end
of the coax. Touch the other lead of meter or tester to the center pin of the PL-259
connector on the other end of the coax. f this shows a shorted condition (or reads
continuity), the center portion of the coax is in proper working order, no reading will
indicate a break. Now repeat the process for the shield side of the coax, using the outer
ring of the connectors.
. If the SWR is good untiI power is appIied
The antenna is not the problem. n this case, it is the amplifier. You have already
established that the antenna is properly tuned and in good working order with low SWR,
except when power is applied. Assume a ham operator is on 10 meters using a solid
state amplifier. With the radio only, the SWR is 1.1:1 when the amplifier is turned on, the
SWR jumps to 2.0:1. The amplifier is not only transmitting at 28 MHz, but is also
transmitting on a second frequency of 56MHz. This is known as a second harmonic (2X
the fundamental frequency of 28 MHz). Thus the SWR meter is reading both the
reflected signal of the normal frequency and the rejected second harmonic signal. The
antenna will not accept energy transmitted at 56 MHz, and returns it all back to the
radio, which shows up on the meter as high SWR because the meter cannot tell the
difference between 28 MHz and 56 MHz. n fact, as much as 30% of the power is at 56
MHz. The primary cause is an amplifier that is not adequately filtered. Adding a Low-
pass filter at the amplifier output is the easiest solution. For best results, connect the low
pass filter directly to the amplifier using a barrel connector and a right angle connector
or very short coax cable. (See illustration below)



. How Iow can the SWR be brought down to?
deally it is nice to get the SWR to 1.1:1, but practically a 1.5:1 works just as well. Some
installations will not even allow you to achieve a 1.1:1 SWR because of the grounding of
the vehicle, the amount of metal available as a ground plane, and other circumstances.
However, the loss with a 1.5:1 (using 18' of coax) is actually less than 1/2 of 1% of your
output power, which on a normal 4 watt radio means a loss of .025 watts of power. This
means that instead of transmitting 4 watts, you are actually transmitting 3.88 watts. This
is not even noticeable at a receiving station. Therefore, spending the extra time to get
below 1.5:1 is purely a matter of choice, especially if you have a high performance
antenna.
But, what happens if your SWR is 2.0:1 instead of 1.5:1 or less? Most CB radios today
have protection circuits that starts to shut down (by lowering the output power) when the
SWR reaches above 3.0:1. This reduces the output power of the final transistor
amplifiers. So generally, anything between 1.5:1 and 2.0:1 is acceptable and useable
for good, solid, reliable communications. Readings of 3.0:1 or higher indicates a
problem may exist in the system, and we do not recommend continued use or
permanent damage can occur. Check for complete grounding of the system (see #3
above ).
. Why do I get different SWR readings when I move my SWR meter to a different
part of the coax?
This generaIIy happens onIy under two conditions.
A.
f the antenna is not matched to the coax (at the antenna feed point), there will be RF
voltage on the outer conductor of the coax and can disrupt the accuracy of the readings.
A matched SWR should show the same reading any where the meter is installed along
the coax.
B.
When two SWR meters are used in one coax line, and the SWR does not read the
same on both meters (assuming that the antenna is matched correctly), one or both of
the meters are not balanced to 50 ohms. Due to poor design or a component failure,
one or both may be actually be matched to 60 or 40 ohms