swr issue

[shooterfpga]

im running rg59 belden cophase 18ft coax, and 5ft wilson silverloads, im having a problem with swr, no matter what i do, it stays in the red zone on my external swr meter, this is an all new installation, ive checked everything except for the coax, for shorts. i need to pick up an ohm meter for that, but not sure how to check it for continuity, what settings on the meter etc. as far as the swr, ive even tried whistling into the mic to see if the swr meter would pick up the reflection, the needle never moved out of the redzone, in fact it didnt move at all.

[countryboy]

ohms meter. put one lead on sheilding and other on center pron. there should be no reading... make sure the coax is unhooked on both ends.
now put on on center one end and do same with other end. shuld be 0 ohms. same for shilding.

[countryboy]

also give it a good visual check. look for kinks,cuts,pinches,bruises, bare spots, ect... and check the end conetors..

[Pocono Redneck]

What type vehicle is this on?

Where and how are the antennas mounted?

Is the mount point metal-to-metal?

Do you have the nylon/plastic spacer in the hole that the stud mount goes though?

[shooterfpga]

they are mounted on stake mounts, stud > locking washer > washer > nylon delrin > mount plate > pl259 connector

[mopar2ya]

they are mounted on stake mounts, stud > locking washer > washer > nylon delrin > mount plate > pl259 connector

Have you grounded the stake mounts to the bed? If you haven't, this is your problem.

Mopar

wan•na•boo (wah-nah-boo) Informal n. Derived of wan-na-bee 1. One who aspires to be a
Peakaboo. 2. One who imitates the behavior, customs, or dress of a Peakaboo. 3. A product
designed to imitate the qualities or characteristics of something built by a Peakaboo.
-.. --- -. - / ..-. --- .-. --. . - / - --- / -.. .-. .. -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- .-. / --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. . / .-.-.- / .-.-.

[shooterfpga]

i hope its as simple as that, i really dont wanna pull my coax out and get a new $40 cophase cable. i made up a 16ga grounding wire, is this good enough? its a couple of feet long, just enough to reach the lower side of the bed. should i make it longer and run it through the drain holes to the body frame? what about if i were to get some rf bonding straps to use as a ground? 1ft or make it run to the body? also, do i need to ground both antenna mounts?

[mopar2ya]

i hope its as simple as that, i really dont wanna pull my coax out and get a new $40 cophase cable. i made up a 16ga grounding wire, is this good enough? its a couple of feet long, just enough to reach the lower side of the bed. should i make it longer and run it through the drain holes to the body frame? what about if i were to get some rf bonding straps to use as a ground? 1ft or make it run to the body? also, do i need to ground both antenna mounts?

Ground both mounts, and make the ground path as short as possible. All you really need is a good connection from the stake mount to the bed. If this can be accomplished with a one inch wire, by all means do that. If the wire is a couple of feet long, it may or may not work very well. The longer the wire is, the less chance there is that your system will perform at it's best. If you can find some, ground strap would be better. Coax braid can be a good alternative to ground strap. You can even leave it as coax if you wish. Strip both center and ground conductors, tie them together at each end, tin 'em up with solder, and use that as ground strap. It will work better than 16 ga. wire. But, if 16 ga. wire is all you have access too, by all means, give it a try.

Mopar

wan•na•boo (wah-nah-boo) Informal n. Derived of wan-na-bee 1. One who aspires to be a
Peakaboo. 2. One who imitates the behavior, customs, or dress of a Peakaboo. 3. A product
designed to imitate the qualities or characteristics of something built by a Peakaboo.
-.. --- -. - / ..-. --- .-. --. . - / - --- / -.. .-. .. -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- .-. / --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. . / .-.-.- / .-.-.

[shooterfpga]

just wondering if using an rg58 jumper between radio and swr meter would give me an incorrect reading, when using rg59 cophase harness. because thats what im using.

[johnboy]

I dont think it will make a difference on the jumper....as long as they are both 50ohm....Have you tried the ground yet? Also...not trying to insult you but are you calibrating the meter before testing it each time? A friend of mine thought he was testing his stuff and was having the same issue...turns out he just didn't know the proper was to use the meter....

[shooterfpga]

yup, i have tried the ground, it seemed to help a tiny bit, still in the red zone, but it is higher a tiny bit on 40 and lower on 1. as far as the coaxial being both 50ohm for the jumper and my cophase harness, thats a big no, rg59 is 75ohm.

[johnboy]

If i am not mistaken they should both be 50ohm......I am not a radio smarty so i could be wrong......please correct me if i am.

[shooterfpga]

as far as the meter, i zero the calibration knob each time i check, and bring it back up to the CAL icon.

[Punkin Head]

cophase coax harnesses like the rg59 is 75 ohm coax. with it being split and running the antennas on it I think it all measures out 50 ohms in the end but the coax is actually 75 for the cophase systems. much easier to run 1 antenna and use 50 ohm coax if you like the looks of the duals just mount a dummy antenna on oposite side so it looks like duals

[johnboy]

thanks for the correction punkin head.....

[drdx]

Looks are one thing, but you won't get real benefit unless the antennas are at least 8 1/2 ft apart. Just a thought: The feeding of a single antenna and having both mounted works, but be careful. The radiating antenna may see the non radiating one as a parasitic element, like a beam driven element sees a reflector or director. If so, it could skew the radiation of the fed antenna, making for a strange radiation pattern, as in radiating signal to one side or the other.

-drdx

[lonesome 500]

the wonderful world of ''co phasing'' antennas

[lonewolf]

Seeing where there is already a thread going here about it i got my swr's down to 1.6 across the board on the cobra 200 gtl dx not sure if i can get them any lower antenna is as high as its gonna get and if i lower it will send swr's north so should i leave well enough alone or try to get it to at least 1.5. I would prefer 1.1 across the board but i don't think it will happen.