I just installed my cobra 75 with a 3' firestik. I don't have a SWR meter but I can hear the weather channel really clear. Is it safe to say that my reception on CB will be fine based off the weather frequency? Or do I need to still get a SWR meter?
A random coathanger antenna would provide good weather reception. Good weather channel reception has nothing to do with the antenna being properly tuned for your CB. CB antennas always need to be tuned using an SWR meter. Not to mention that the weather frequency is much higher than the CB frequencies.
You could do a test transmission without hurting it, just to make sure it works.
Trust me, half the cb's in the country have never had a swr meter put on them and their getting used.
Are they perfectly tuned-No
Are they being used regardless-Yes
Are they burning up their radio-No
I have a Cobra 75 with a 4' FS and it tuned to 0.8 out of the box. The FS base is mounted behind the 3rd brake light on the tire rack. My issue is I park in a garage and must remove the FS before parking. When I am driving without the antenna it leaves the mount open to crud and corrosion. I started by keeping a bolt in there except when I want the FS in. Then I drilled and tapped the head of the bolt to take a through-the-glass antenna mast. NWS comes in fine but the CB tunes to 2.9. I can leave it in place and it will just bend and drag under the garage door. Now I can at least listen whenever and put the real antenna in when needed.
No need for a 4' antenna, at least there's no real advantage to anything that tall for just offroad use. I went from a 4' to a 3' and then 12-13 years ago, ended up with a 2' that clears my garage door... works fine, everybody in my offroad groups gives me all 'loud and clear' on my signal even when we're spread out.
Question on that .8 SWR.... did you mean 1.8:1? There's no such thing as a .8 SWR, the best SWR you can get is a 1:1.
That should have been 1 SWR using a RS SWR analog meter. I was doing s couple of things when I replied and mixed up projects numbers. I run a 4' to transmit a 1/4 wave instead of a 1/8 wave when on the highway and in the desert.
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