Installed a Cobra 19 Ultra III tonight, with a 3' Firestik Antenna. I only plan to use the CB on group runs and am wondering if you can run it with the antenna straight out of the box without all the SWR tuning. Being group runs, will be in close proximity to the other guys, so not deeply concerned about highway use, long distance, etc. Any info would be appreciated-thanks.

 

no if you want it to last you need to tune it. Also it will get frustrating when you can transmit or copy when on the trail. The firesticks are easy to tune and a meter is cheap.

 

By cheap he means about $30. And the meter isn't something you are going to use very often. I'd ask around to see if any of your friends have one first. I have one and always offer to help people tune their antennas to save them the purchase. It is very easy to do however. As long as everything is grounded right and all......

Alternately you could take it to some truck stops. Some of them have CB shops that could help you.

 

If anything, you at the very least need the SWR meter to make sure you've got a good install. If you've got a pinched coax, no good ground plane, mount installed wrong (i.e. accidentally put the plastic spacer in the wrong place and thus antenna is shorted to ground), or even a bad antenna (it happens), etc... your SWR will be sky high, indicating you've got a problem that needs to be fixed ASAP. You would barely transmit, if even at all, and your radio's life will be very short lived. Note that receiving signal is the easy part, and just because you can receive doesn't mean there are no issues present.

Aside from that, tuning will help get a better and longer range transmissions, and help the longevity of the radio... and on a personal side note, seems like every trail ride we always have at least one person who never bothered to check or tune their antenna; and all day long all we hear is garble garble garble. It's annoying, don't be that person

It's actually gotten to the point where we are trying to get the group to ditch CB and go GMRS instead.

 

Thanks for all the info. Makes sense now. I dont mind buying a meter but have to learn to use it for the initial setup. Im in Oceanside, north of San Diego and from prior threads havent found anyone with a cb shop in this area.

 

go to the firestick web site they have an excellent tutorial on how to tune the antenna. If you can brush your teeth without poking your eye you can tune the firestick.

 

Ha ! Made me think of this.



(sorry, no tech here)

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Truck stop or local CB shop is where it's at. Most shops will tune it for $10-$20.

 

Hit up San Diego Jeep Club on FB, I'm sure we can get someone to help tune it for you.

 

Thanks - I found a place in Escondido that did it. Quoted $40 but did it for $20 as he said he didnt get as good a result as he would like.....seemed like a good guy but they were a two way radio place but dont tune cb's as an offered service. Sounded like he was doing it to help me out and make a few bucks. But I appreciated it as I couldnt find any truckstop/cb shop etc in this area that would do it. Was told by many that cb's are on the way out..
But works good for me on the trails! So I cant complain! Thanks for the response.