CB Radio information.
Whereas Mobile phones are great for communication, including hands-free kits and blue toooth devices, we often find members with wanting CB Radios.
There are hand helds which can be good for a free hundred metres, so great if one is in a vehicle with a Cb and another person walking a field with a portable.
there are also units that can be vehicle mounts where the radio/cd usually goes and also base station units.
Aerials is a fairly big topic too.
Midlands 42 hand held CB radio |
An Installation of a CB into a Discovery 2 (Not related directly to our club but a useful article. Please also see www.discovery2.co.uk for further information.) |
Tune the CB antenna using external meter
- Turn on the CB.
- Set the CB to channel 40.
- Set the SWR meter to the FWD (forward) and then ANT to SWR.
- Key the microphone by depressing the talk button and turn knob until the SWR meter indicates the “set” position. Unkey the microphone by letting up on the talk button.

- Please note that many meters will have both an SWR and RF Power scale so be sure to read the SWR reading.
- Flip the SWR meter to the “REF” (reflect) position, and ANT to PWR.
- Key the microphone and look at the SWR reading on the SWR meter for channel 40. Take note of that reading.
- Repeat, this time on channel 1.
- The goal is to set the antenna to lowest SWR readings possible, evenly across all channels.
- For example, channel 1 and 40 at the same at 1.5. If they do not match, adjusting the antenna is advised.
Ideally, you should work to reduce it to a 1.5:1 ratio or less for an excellent broadcast signal. Adjustments to your antenna will help to improve the ratio.
If the SWR reading from channel 1 is higher than the one from channel 40, then the antenna is shorter than required.
If the SWR on channel 40 is higher than on channel 1, your antenna is too long. If you need to adjust the length of the antenna, keep in mind that small increments can have a big effect.