What I'm trying to ask above is, did you calibrate the swr meter for forward power before reading (SWR)?

 

I have the cobra 29lx... It has the swr meter incorporated.

 

Do you have the CB bracket screwed into something metal? AND is that something and the bracket in good contact? If not, I believe Cobra tells you you need to ground the case of the radio. I do realize the black wire is connected to ground, but I think I recall the owners manual specifically mentioning you need a separate ground. I could be wrong, but this stuck out in my mind because I thought it was a little counter intuitive...If the cable and antenna do not check shorted with an ohm meter and you are grounded here, I would try an external swr meter. If it is still O.K. to this point and the above has all been checked, I would check the shield of the coax with a field strength meter (usually built into an external swr meter). If you absolutely cannot obtain an external swrfield strength meter, There is one more thing to try...but try this stuff first!

I will try to find a manual for this particular CB. I would like to verify.

 

Do I ohm the coax cable or the connector behind the radio?

 

This is how my cb is mounted

 

Ohm the coax cable. Leave the antenna and coax on the back of the jeep connected. Remove the Coax connector from the back of the cb. Put one lead on the center pin of the coax and the other on the outer conductor of the coax. With the antenna connected, you should have an open circuit. If you read a short or 0 ohms, you have a problem. if this is the case, disconnect the coax at the antenna and repeat procedure. If you still have a problem, then the coax is bad, otherwise it is the antenna mount. If you do not have continuity here, you are O.K. on the antenna.

 

Looks nice. I'm a little jealous of that nice radio! You could easily ground the case and see if it makes any change. Simply take a short piece of wire from the thumbscrew to a bare metal spot on the jeep. The shorter the wire the better. FWIW, I didn't see any requirement of the such in the owners manual, but you can try it. It is free to try and an easy remedy if it eliminates the problem.

 

So I ohm'ed the coax and it did not give me a 0. So I should try getting another mount for my antenna?

 

0 is bad. It would mean it was shorted. If you got infinity or OL on you meter, that is good. Your antenna system should be O.K.

 

So since it didn't give me a 0 reading it should be fine!