How To Tune Your CB Antenna | 48in Fire Stick Antenna 

Love that T-Shirt Brotha!

Very helpful video! thank you! Just finished setting up my first CB and got my antenna tuned damn near perfect.

Swr = standing wave ratio. Swr starts at 1! 1=perfect! Swr needs to be below 1.25 to be safe not to hurt your final. A final is inside your cb and is the power behind the transmission. A swr of 1 compared to 1.25 can mean the difference of someone hearing you and not hearing you. I've noticed the closer you get to 1 the more it means on you hearing someone else then them hearing you = sensitivity. Let's talk coax! Best to have shielded coax wire. The more connections between cb and antenna the less sensitivity you will have! Hope this helps anyone watching this video and thank you to the maker of this video for helping the average person feeling comfortable hooking up a cb radio. Remember everyone to be respectful when transmitting and enjoy the original internet!!!

Thank you, Sir! One of the best videos I've seen on SWR meter tuning. I plan to put a CB radio in my Jeep JK soon. Very helpful. Really enjoyed this.

love the shirt. This is a great video on swr. There are many lackluster ones on other channels.

Thank you for the video. i'm new to off roading with a CB radio and needed help tuning my firestick. cheers!!

I know this is an older video, but, if you read the instructions that come with all meters like this one, it says to unkey before switching from FWD to REF. This is to prevent damage to the finals. Even with a basic radio such as this one, the momentary open when switching between FWD and REF, the VSWR will be extremely high (near or at infinity) and can do expensive damage to the final transistor(s) You won't have that problem if you use a cross needle meter (shows FWD, REF and VSWR all at the same time) or a digital meter that displays all information on a LCD or LED screen. These types of meters require no adjusting to calibrate as they are self-calibrating.

I just got that same radio too. Need to install it now. Waiting on my SWR meter, Antenna and cable and gonna be good to go. Obliged! Stay safe out there. I'm also American as F*ck.

FWD is forward power / REF is reflected power

Another excellent video! thanks brother!

so much info. thanks. wish you showed how to run power to it.

Love your videos!

This works for non amplified cb units but if you pushing power like a 200 watt system you can risk burning out your cb if the basic SWR meter is off. Get a antenna analyzer like a Rig Expert AA-35 it tests your antenna SWR without using your CB, it will check your Omms to make sure your at 50 Omms, if not maybe your coax is bad, or your grounding might need a better point of contact, it also has a feature that lets you use a hand held radio so you can listen to a tone and make adjustments to your Antenna length without going back and between the antenna and the analyzer reading. It’s not much more involved than a basic SWR meter and is a lot more accurate.

Most helpful, thanks.

Greetings from Chile. A radio amateur CE3 ENC

I know you said 3 is danger zone. I bought a cb radio at a swap meet and it reads 3 and my antenna grounded. You think my tuning is just really bad or I bought a bad cb?

Good video, My question Is how was the SWR when you shut your doors and closed the spare tire rack ??? I notice alot of metal on the tire rack that would be above the mount and affect the antenna radiation is why I ask. Thanks

Can I put a 20 foot cable in my cb antenna thank you

I don’t worry about channel one and 40 just tune it to the channel you use most is best to get your radio to perform the best but great video If you play with it long enough and away from buildings like out in the country or near a park you can get the needle to just flicker and no more then you have it tuned as good as you can get it and the antennas with the tuneable tips are the best antennas and if you are in Nz hi tech antennas are the best

You should get away from any structure, swr will be high around buildings.

do you remove the swr meter or it need to stay connected? my guess would be it need to stay there since the calibration is in this box..

Love the tee

Can I run a T and install two fire sticks and get better distance or will one do the same as far as range goes

I have a 4 door long bed dually and my antenna cable don't reach help please

Quick question: I am new to cb radio system, should I take SWR meter off after tunning up? Or leave it on all the time?

How do you keep the tuner adjustment ring from moving? I get it set but after a few days I notice my swr warning light comes on, on my radio. I check antenna and see the adjustment screw has moved. I guess due to road vibration. Any suggestions?

Another tip is to do this in an open field with no obstructions

I forgot on my original comment sorry to all! If 1 is higher then 40 tge antenna is to short If 40 is higher then 1 the antenna is to long

Damm he’s got a pretty mouth !