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olcoleman
07-23-2018, 08:30 PM
Hello, I am a new CBer and am trying to get my rig tuned. I have the Uniden Bearcat 980 with a 5’ Firestick antenna. I have spent about 1.5 hours trying to tune the antenna tip with the Bearcats built in SWR meter. I have screwed the antenna tip up and down all the way about two times. I turn it about a 1/4 to 1/2 turn and check the meter. I have gotten the SWR meter down to about 1.9 on channel 40 and about 3.0 on channel 1. I just can’t seem to get all the way down to 1.5. Any tips?

T-I-N-Y34
07-24-2018, 05:54 AM
Well if it's higher on 40 then it is on 1 it needs to be longer. That's the rule. if' you've tried it with the screw all the way out. Try it with a spacer or spring under the antenna. But first Try running the cable a different way. The smallest change sometimes can make a world of difference. Make sure your cable isn't coiled anywhere or overlapping. You want your cable as straight as it can be. How is your antenna mounted? How long is your coax cable? How far is it to your antenna from your radio. If you have to much coax that could be the problem. There are so many things it could be. So good luck and let us know. And If anything I've said here seems wrong to someone don't hesitate to jump in...lol I'm just stating what's helped me in the past.

sonoma
07-24-2018, 08:01 AM
we need to know how you have the antenna mounted and what car it is on. if it is a pickup and you have it mounted right behind the cab as most people do you are getting rf feed back off your pickup. we need to know how it is mounted and what on..
extending the antenna with a spacer helps some times since it raises it higher from the bed of the pickup and it needs to be 1 to 1 1/2 foot from the cab.
2nd using the meter on the radio some times is not reading right. you really need an external meter to check the swr.