Yeah, hook it up to another transmitter and see if it does the same thing.
Oh. Well, it seems you've figure out that you have a bad meter. Or, if you're using a cable to insert the meter, perhaps a bad stretch of cable.

 

And of course the obvious. Try a known good meter on your radio and see if it reads correct. If so, **it can it.

 

I tried this already. I am using a Firestick Firefly antenna and have adjusted the tip up and down, and still could not achieve less than 3.0:1 reading on the meter. Without the meter hooked up, I can adjust the antenna and notice the transmit power meter on the radio change. I currently have the antenna set to where I am achieving the highest transmit power reading on the radio's meter. I still wander though how accurate that is. It makes sense to me that the lower the SWR, the more power the radio would be transmitting out, correct? Before I installed the Firefly antenna, I tried three different Wilson top loaded antennas as well as a 102" SS whip. Again, everytime I keyed the microphone I was getting readings in the red zone indicating 3.0 or higher.

 

In the vehicle I had before my JK (Dodge Ram 2500 w/CTD), I ran a total of four different radios. Two CB's (Cobra 29 and Uniden PC68XL) and two export radios (Galaxy 55 and General Lee). Each time I installed a different radio, I checked my SWR reading with this same meter and each time, I had the systems dialed into less than 1.2:1. Thats why I can figure this one out unless the meter has kicked the bucket.

 

That's the exact one, except when I bought it in 1995 it was like $24.99. The jumper I am using to connect the meter in line between the CB and the antenna coax is roughly two feet long. I have checked it using a multitester to ensure it is not shorted out. Is it possible when I plug the meter into the system, that the additional two fee of coax is enough to throw the SWR reading out of wack? Doesn't adding or taking away lengths of coax have the same affect as raising or lowering an adjustable antenna?

 

The CB is grounded to a bolt on the firewall. The antenna mount is grounded to the chassis via a stainless steel bolt, as well as it has a pigtail that runs to the frame.

 

No. Not unless you have a bad length of coax. But, do remember that RF is not DC. When you test with an ohmmeter, you're using DC. But your radio receives and transmits RF. Things that are an open to DC, may in fact be a short, or low impedance (think of this as resistance, though technically it's not) to RF. So don't let the good ohmmeter tests you've run distract you from the fact that you may still have something amiss in your cabling or antenna.

 

How about where the radio itself mounts to the vehicle. Does the mount have to be grounded to the vehicle in order for everything to work correctly? Right now, I have the radio mounted on top of the dash on the cover that is above the AM/FM radio. With the cover being made of plastic, I was wandering if I should run a ground wire from somewhere on the vehicle and attach it to the mount. In all of the other vehicles I have had in the past, the radio was attached to metal. I didn't know if this would have any negative effects or not.

 

No....that won't make any difference. All you need is DC ground to make the radio work. Altho a grounded radio mount can't hurt, I doubt very much it will help either.
Oh and btw....you can't go by your meter showing high transmit power either, because sometimes reflected power, (high swr), will cause an output meter to read high.

Originally Posted by mmcconnell View Post
I tried this already. I am using a Firestick Firefly antenna and have adjusted the tip up and down, and still could not achieve less than 3.0:1 reading on the meter. Without the meter hooked up, I can adjust the antenna and notice the transmit power meter on the radio change. I currently have the antenna set to where I am achieving the highest transmit power reading on the radio's meter. I still wander though how accurate that is. It makes sense to me that the lower the SWR, the more power the radio would be transmitting out, correct? Before I installed the Firefly antenna, I tried three different Wilson top loaded antennas as well as a 102" SS whip. Again, everytime I keyed the microphone I was getting readings in the red zone indicating 3.0 or higher.

So when you adjusted the tip up and down, did the needle on the swr meter change at all, meaning was it not doing anything but staying on 3.0:1...??? Seeing that you see the radio meter move without the swr meter inline, I would have to say the meter is bad. The only other thing I can think of would be a bad jumper coax. Did you take apart the meter to see if there was anything smoked inside?

 

When I adjusted the tip of the antenna up and down, it made very little difference with the SWR readings. On my meter, there are no graduated marks beyond 3.0, only a red zone, thus I couldn't tell exactly how much of a difference it made. I did take the meter apart and examine it, and couldn't find anything that looked like it had been smoked. I am going to try to get another meter today and try it.