silverbullet02

Bought a Cobra 148 NW ST and a Wilson 1000 antenna...hooked it up tonight, and while starting to fiddle with it (antenna cable was running thru door on passenger side, where I was sitting) and the door shut and wire got caught in latch, and put a pretty hefty nick in cable. So I got the ohm meter out, checked for continuity, and I have continuity between the inner and outer wires...checked the antenna for my car, and there's no continuity there...my conclusion was that the pinch crushed the wires together in there, so I went and cut out the bad part, then spliced it back together...but I still have continuity there...so I attempted to dial in the SWR...I can't get SWR to come down, no matter where I adjust the antenna...tomorrow I will try the other antenna just to see what happens...my guess is that I screwed up the new antenna somewhere along the line...does this sound right to you? Any words of wisdom? TIA,

Brian

Dan Brooks

Sounds to me like the coax is FUBAR'd, but before you replace it make sure the antenna mount is properly installed. If the nylon washer is in the wrong place it will cause what you're seeing. I'll try to dig up a diagram and post it.

Dan Brooks

Let's see if this works....

Commatoze

Dan, the Wilson 1000 doesn't look like that. It's a base loaded antenna.

Brian, If you checked the coax while it was still hooked to the antenna, that's why you saw continuity between the shield and center conductor. The 1000 is a base loaded antenna, and there's a little matching network at the bottom in the coil. The network is hooked to ground as is the shield of the coax. So, you saw the DC (not RF) short across the network. In order to accurately check the status of the coax, you must remove the coax from the antenna, and even then you can't see if the impedance has been changed by the door damage. You can't splice coax like electrical wiring. You must installl a connector on either end, then use an inline connector to join them. If all you did to fix it was to just soldered the coax together, you've created an impedance bump at the joint which severly degades the performance of the radio and the antenna, and is why you're not able to tune the antenna. I highly suggest you replace the entire run of coax. -Tom K3GM-

silverbullet02

I did buy a couple connectors and connected it back together...problem is that the coax is essentially permanently attached to the base...I dunno if there's an easy way to take it off...I'm at work right now, kinda running out of ideas...prolly just end up buying a new antenna...hate to do that, but I don't know any other options...if this is the route I go, I'm prolly just gonna get another of the same...I've heard this is a great antenna...any other opinions? Thanks.

Commatoze

Brian, you should be able to fix the coax without buying an entire new antenna. Radio shack sells solderless PL-259 connectors. While not the best, they do work, especially if left undisturbed like under a dashboard. You'll need 2 of them. Then you'll need 1 SO-239/SO-239 (female) inline connector to join the 2 male connectors. You might also be able to remove the coax at the base of the antenna too and start with a new run of coax. If you lived a closer than 3500 miles, I'd be glad to do it for you! I'm just off I-90.