Hi,
I recently bought a Midland radio and a Hustler antenna and installed everything in my Explorer. I acctually found an awesome spot to put the radio in...will post pics soon. :-)

Anyways, I heard about the whole tuning antenna thing and went out and bought a Midland SWR/Power meter for 7 bucks at this store around the corner. Now, there are two switches and a turning knob on it. I kinda have figured out how to use the switches, but I have no idea on how to use the know....does anybosy have any idea?
Could anybody provide me with a detailed guideline on how to tune my antenna??
Thanx for any help

Quakecom

I can only tell you the little I know from watching a friend tune mine last weekend. You want as low a reading as possible, under 5 is the goal. Test channels in the low, middle, and upper range, i.e. 1-20-40.
Didn't the tuner come with directions?

Quakecom,

The knob you discribe is an attenuator (Think of it as like a volume control) only it controls the level of RF, or transmitter energy that goes to the actaul meter itself, not the antenna. Usually, for one of these, you set the switch to "FWD" or Forward Power. That's the power going TO the antenna. Key and hold the mike Push to Talk(PTT) button. The meter should move almost all the way to the right. There is likely a mark or indication on the scale on the meter face to "Cal" or calibrate the meter. Use the knob to adjust the needle to the calibration mark. Or, one of your switches may say "CAl" or Calibrate, set that switch to "cal" and push and hold the PTT, while rotating the knob to a calibration mark on the meter. You will probably have to have the other switch in the "forward" power position while doing this. Once the meter is calibrated, set the "Cal" switch to the other position to take your readings. Leave the other switch in the Forward position, push and hold PTT, and note reading. Then set the "Fwd switch to "Ref" or similar nomenclature to read the REFLECTED power. This is the power that is bounced back down the coax and to the radio. The object of the game is to adjust the length of the antenna so that you have minimum Reflected power. This will give you maximum forward power, or signal going out (radiated) by your antenna. Point 5 or less is desirable on the reflected power setting, You never will get your reflected power down to zero, but a good antenna will come close. Bill is right about checking over the band (Channels 1-20-40). First check the antenna at Ch1 and then Ch40, noting the REFLECTED power readings. If Ch1 reading is lower than ch40, then the antenna needs to be SHORTER. If Ch40 is lower that ch1, then the antenna needs to be longer. Shorten or lengthen the antenna carefully, in 1/8" increments. Some antennas have tuning screws that you move up or down to legthen or shorten, some have set screws that you loosen to slide the radiator up and down. Some have a "stinger" that you can raise (lengthen) a bit by loosening the set screws, but to shorten, you may have to cut little bits off the bottom, Do the basic tuning procedure on channel 20. This is mid band and will make your antenna perform best across the band.

Hope all this rambling helps. Good luck. It's actually lots easier than it sounds here.:)

SO you need to get below 1.5 on channels 1 and 40 and near or at 1 at 19 to get good performance from your C.B.?

Just a little added note...

First the way stated here is the correct way to do it,
BUT, I like to add the following: once you have set the antenna up and decided that the SWR is the best you can get, check the channel that you will be working on the most, i.e.19, 4, whichever one. Then set the SWR on that channel for the lowest reading possible.

Set the antenna on the working channel, mark where you have set the antenna for the lowest SWR over all then move the antenna up just a little and see what happens to the SWR if it goes down then move it again in the same direction until you get the lowest reading, if the SWR goes up then move the antenna the other way.

Make sure it is on your working channel, all the rest of the channels will fall in line enough for you to work them if you have to.

I hope this is not too confusing, :eek: sorry if it is.

Good Luck,