Hi guys,
I recently decided to get back into CB radios after probably over 30 years (since I was a kid). I don’t remember them being this complicated! I’m a total newbie now. After some research, I bought a Uniden bearcat 880 CB radio, a Pyramid 12V 5 AMP power supply, and a K40 CB antenna for my home base station. After setting these up, my SWR reading is extremely highly (3.5+). I have my entire setup within one room on the second floor of my house. My antenna is sitting in a metal baking pan (1ft-1ft) on my windowsill and my CB radio and power supply are on the other side of the room. I’m not sure what the issue is due to not knowing much about CB radios. Another issue is that my microphone doesn’t seem to be properly functioning. I’ve tried using the talkback feature on my radio and I’m getting no response from my mic. I’m not sure if microphones can affect SWR or not. If anybody has any tips for getting my SWR lower or how to better ground my setup please let me know. Maybe I need a bigger pan or use tin foil for my antenna?


Thanks,
John