How To Tune a CB Radio Antenna With an SWR Meter

Tuning your CB radio's antenna is ideal if you want the best performance from your antenna. To tune a CB radio antenna, a SWR meter is need to measure the standing wave ratio, the lower the ratio is displayed on the SWR meter, the less reflected power is being reflected into your CB radio. If you don't tune your CB antenna using a SWR meter, you can damaged the output transistor inside your rig.

Instruction on how to tune a CB radio antenna:

1)Connect the SWR meter in line with your CB radio and antenna, using a patch lead. On your SWR meter there are two connectors, one is called a Tx, which connects to your CB radio and the other called ANT, which connects to your antenna.

2)Once you have made the connections, make sure the switch on the meter is on FWD, then key your microphone on channel 1 and using the calibration button, make sure the needle is pointing to set. Now adjust the switch, to measure the reflected power, which is know as REF on most SWR meters. Carry out this procedure again, but instead this time for channel 40.

If the SWR ratio on channel 1 is greater than channel 40, your antenna is to long and it will need to be shortened, to gain a lower SWR reading

If the SWR ration on channel 40 is greater then channel 1, your antenna is to short and the antenna length has to be increased, to reduce the SWR reading.

In general having a SWR reading under 1:5 is acceptable and it is safe to operate your radio in that ratio. If the SWR reading is above 3, your antenna is not performing at it's best and you can damage the output transistor in your radio, which can be expensive to replace and repair.