Standing Wave Radio - Holiday Navigator 2003 Owner's Manual

Equipment
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Standing Wave Ratio
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SWR (Standing Wave Ratio):
In order to set the SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) on the unit, the CB radio
must be equipped with a built-in SWR meter or an external SWR meter. Using
an external SWR meter will also require a short piece of co-axial cable with
CB plugs on both ends. Attach the external SWR meter according to the
instructions included with the meter.
To Set the SWR (Standing Wave Ratio):
• Make sure the antenna is properly mounted and grounded. If
setting the SWR on a mobile antenna, make sure all vehicle doors
are closed, all other accessories are turned off and the vehicle is in
an open area away from any obstructions when setting the SWR.
• Set the CB radio to the CB mode and to channel 20. On Cobra
radios with a built in SWR meter, set the S slash RF, SWR, CAL
(calibration) switch to the CAL setting.
• Push and hold the "push-to-talk" button on the microphone. This
causes the needle on the SWR meter to swing to the right. Adjust
the needle to the calibration mark on the meter by turning the
CAL knob.
• Continue pressing the push button on the microphone and move
the S slash RF, SWR, CAL knob to the SWR setting. External
SWR meters will have to be set to the SWR setting. This will
cause the SWR meter's needle to swing to the left. A reading of 3
or above will impact the performance of the radio and should be
adjusted downward. A reading of 1.5 is average and acceptable
under most conditions. A reading of 1 is ideal.
Adjusting the SWR Setting:
To adjust the SWR setting, try either extending or retracting the antenna in
small increments while repeating the procedure after each change until the best
setting available is reached. If retracting the antenna is necessary to obtain a
better reading, it is acceptable to clip the whip in small increments to obtain
the proper length. Do not cut more than ¼ of an inch at any given time, as the
adjustment needed may be very small.
Check the SWR reading on channel 40 and channel 1. If either of these
channels is above 1 to 3.0, adjust the antenna so that the SWR setting is
acceptable for that channel while maintaining the lowest possible reading on
channel 20. It is important to note that adjustments made for the optimum
SWR setting on one channel will affect the SWR setting of another channel on
the other side of the dial. If channel 1 is optimized, channel 40 will suffer. Try
to balance adjustments to optimize across all channels.
If an acceptable reading cannot be obtained, recheck the antenna mounting
and grounding. A properly ground antenna is necessary to obtain an accept-
able SWR reading.
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