bbolander

I used the Radio Shack SWR meter to adjust my 3ft firefly on my Arizona Rocky Road tailgate mount and it worked well. Just a turn or two up on the adjuster (after I found out you have to put the plastic cap on to test after each adjustment) I got 1.4 SWR inside the garage with the garage door closed and 1.1 SWR outside in the driveway.

When I test my dual band 2m/70 cm Ham antenna on the tailgate mount and the other one on my hood mount the SWR meter pegs all the way to the right like the CB did before I adjusted the antenna.

Before I try using the little set screws to adjust the SWR on the ham antennas, does anyone know whether the Radio Shack unit will even test Ham antennas well for SWR? Or do I need a different SWR tester for Ham radios/antennas?

OH9JK

CB is 27 MHz so the meter is calibrated for that frequency.

JK-jeepit

the SWR meters I've used have freq ranges. So I would say a 11M SWR meter won't work for 2M/70CM

goldtr8

You need a different swr meter for the 2m and 70cm HAM bands.

An MFJ meter costs about $50 ish

gs2offroad

The Rat Shack SWR meter has a frequency range of 3 - 30 Mhz. A Vanco SWR-1 meter ($30) goes up to 150 Mhz, that gets you into the 2m band. If you get the SWR low on 2m, you will be good on 70cm also since it is approximately a 3rd harmonic.

bbolander

thanks for your input, saved me a lot of frustration trying to use the shack meter. i'll pick up a ham meter.

bbolander

wow, lots of choices for ham testers. i've never done his before so i'd appreciate any comments on which tester to get and how to adjust my ham antennas for swr.

cheapest, and simplest MFJ-844 for $70 that looks like it would work fine for just simple dual band swr

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Produc...ductid=MFJ-844

a few more MFJ ones up to the MFJ-874 for $109 that looks like its range would also covers the CB range. does any one know if that's the case, use one tester for cb and for ham?

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Produc...ductid=MFJ-874

and the Diamond SX-200 for $89 that can also measure forward and reflected power. would this be a good feature to have?

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-000009

then, how to adjust the antennas? my 4ft firestick II came with instructions saying you can adjust the height with the set screws at the bottom, but my 18" hood mount comet ssb-2 came with no instructions at all, and it has set screws at the bottom but also a plastic bulb in the middle with set screws for the top and bottom sections of the antenna. which set screws do i use to adjust it?

gs2offroad

Both.
Most mobile dual band antennas have an SWR<1.5:1 out of the box and need no adjustment assuming you have it mounted over a decent ground plane.

OH9JK

Jeep and decent ground plane should never be used in same sentence.

Vernnz

Use the set screws. Loosen the screw, extend or shorten the antenna and tighten the screw. Then check SWR again.

Check out the MFJ-259. It is pretty universal in HAM shacks. Pricey but it does everything.