19
Troubleshooting, Questions and
Answers
Here are some of the typical questions that we get
Q: How long is the three foot whip?
A: The whip is 36 inches long.
Q: I was driving down the road and decided to tune the antenna. I looked down at the transceiver’s SWR meter
to tune the antenna and my car crashed into a tree. The SWR is now really high. Why did that happen?
A: You are not supposed to be DWT (driving while tuning). This is no joke.
Q: My antenna on the car has a high SWR on 10 meters. The SWR is 3:1. What’s wrong?
A: You need to improve the ground connection or add a second ground strap.
Q: My SWR is really high. It’s 1.9:1. What can I do about that?
A: Don’t worry about it. An SWR of 1.9:1 is terrific. Did you know that an SWR of 5:1
results in only a 1/6 of an S unit decrease in signal strength? If the SWR is less than 2:1,
most transceivers will not roll back power.
Q: The SWR on 20 meters is higher than all of the other bands. Why? I ran braid to the frame of the car.
A: Well likely there is an inadequate ground connection. First of all, don’t use braid.
Second, use a flat wide strap. I would add a second ground strap to the sheet metal of the
vehicle. You should also try another length of coax.
Q: I hooked up the antenna and the SWR is very high. I think the antenna is shorted out. Is that possible?
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