Does anyone in the Mission Viejo area have a SWR meter and time to help me tune my CB? I will be installing it this afternoon at my father in laws place in Lake Forest. If you are willing to come help that would be awesome if not then I can come to you. Obviously I will supply the refreshments for anyone willing to help. Also if no one has time today, does anyone have time some day this week?

 

I'm available, but I'm about 45 minutes south of you in Oceanside/Vista area. I have a new antenna and coax cable I'm installing myself today. For the cost of gas though you'd be better off just buying your own meter. I picked mine up at Fry's for less than twenty bucks. I suppose you could always return if after using it if you decided not to keep it.

 

Speaking of tuning... I just finished tuning my cb again. I have a Cobra 75, and was previously using a Vanco (generic) antenna and coax cable that I bought at Fry's when I bought the cb. I was getting a 2.0-2.5 swr reading on channels 1 and 40, and couldn't seem to improve. I was given all sorts of advice about grounding, but always had a feeling that it was the lower quality coax and antenna I was using. I wasted all sorts of time adding additional grounding wires in various locations and never did improve my SWR reading.

While, on a road trip I did this weekend I stopped at a T/A travel center truck stop and came across a Wilson Flex 4' antenna with tunable tip and Wilson "Pro" coax cable. I installed both this morning and managed to get a 1.25 reading on channel 1, and a 1.2 reading on channel 40 after only a few minutes of tuning. It was either the lower quality antenna or coax after all and not the lack of grounding as so many folks tried to tell me. I replaced both parts at same time, so not sure if it was one or the other or both. Point is to make sure you go with quality parts to include the coax cable itself. Grounding is important as well, but it all plays an important role when it comes time to tuning. Just throwing it out there so you don't waste time on sub-quality parts during your install like I did.

 

RadioShack carries decent SWR meters as well. It's worth the cost if you ever change/alter your setup in the future since you have to retune every time you change something, even antenna mount placement.

 

did you get your cb tuned yet? I'm in the same boat as you but am completely clueless on how to

 

No. I am installing it tomorrow hopefully. Then i'm going to try tuning it. I will let you know how it goes.

 

Very simple process, the Radio shack SWR meter has good directions and if you have a tunable antenna, even easier.

 

Thats kind of what I figured. I mean it's just a CB, how hard could it be.

 

It's not difficult. It can be a PITA if you still have high SWR after trying to tune it. My buddy has the same setup as me, yet we can't get his SWR below 2-2.5. I get 1-1.5 on all channels. Just can't seem to figure out his issue.

 

Not to threadjack, but will i need to retune if i unscrew my antenna and screw it back on?