HAM Radio Help!

[rpagan1970]

I just bought the TYT TH-9800 Plus Quad Band Radio and Quad Band Antenna and I'm looking for some help with tuning the antenna after I install the Radio.

I currently have a CB Radio and Antenna, that I installed and tuned, on my Wrangler but have recently passed the Technician Exam so I'm upgrading to HAM.

I don't want to mess this up so I'm looking for someone to help me. I have the SWR meter I used to tune my firestik but some expert support would be great!

I'm in LA County and will take whatever help I can get.

I already have a Baofeng Handheld radio and have used CHIRP to program it so I think I'm halfway there.

Thanks in advance!!!

Robert

 

[JKGreg]

Hi Robert, I think you need a different SWR Meter For the Frequency’s on the new radio they are like 136. And up where the 11 meter of CB Bands are 27Mghz. You could take to a Radio Shop Like Ham Radio Outlet. It can’t be too much to have tuned. We don’t have any shops close to me anymore... i have not done a ham unit yet either. Working on getting my Ticket Too.

 

[64Trvlr]

Check on QRZ.com for a Ham club in your area and ask them for a little help. I belong to 2 clubs here in AZ and know that we love helping new Hams set up and learn to operate their equipment.

You might ask for a little help here too!

Overland Communications

Ham, GMRS, CB, more.

www.overlandbound.com

 

[M Rose]

I just bought the TYT TH-9800 Plus Quad Band Radio and Quad Band Antenna and I'm looking for some help with tuning the antenna after I install the Radio.

I currently have a CB Radio and Antenna, that I installed and tuned, on my Wrangler but have recently passed the Technician Exam so I'm upgrading to HAM.

I don't want to mess this up so I'm looking for someone to help me. I have the SWR meter I used to tune my firestik but some expert support would be great!

I'm in LA County and will take whatever help I can get.

I already have a Baofeng Handheld radio and have used CHIRP to program it so I think I'm halfway there.

Thanks in advance!!!

Robert

Some CB antenna anylizers will work to help tune the radio... I’m not familiar with your exact radio, but most have a built in SWR meter that is very accurate that you can use to get the antenna tuned. Back to the CB SWR meter. If it can handle up to 100 watts, it will tune your radio, if it doesn’t have a selectable watt selection, it probably won’t work, only because the unit wouldn’t be able to handle the power coming out of the radio. I use a CB SWR meter in my shack to tune the UHF/VHF bands, I should see how it compares to my HF tuner on the HF bands. I do know that my cb tuner shows exactly the same thing my built in tuner on the Icom IC7100 shows for 2m and 70cm bands.

 

[Downs]

You'll need another SWR meter but I bet you'll find that the setup you are using is pretty well tuned right out of the box.

 

[Sneaks]

Some CB antenna anylizers will work to help tune the radio... I’m not familiar with your exact radio, but most have a built in SWR meter that is very accurate that you can use to get the antenna tuned. Back to the CB SWR meter. If it can handle up to 100 watts, it will tune your radio, if it doesn’t have a selectable watt selection, it probably won’t work, only because the unit wouldn’t be able to handle the power coming out of the radio. I use a CB SWR meter in my shack to tune the UHF/VHF bands, I should see how it compares to my HF tuner on the HF bands. I do know that my cb tuner shows exactly the same thing my built in tuner on the Icom IC7100 shows for 2m and 70cm bands.

My CB SWR meter will work on 2m/70cm if you reverse input\output (rig into the antenna lead, antenna into the rig lead) and surprisingly was accurate when compared to a ham meter, though I don't know how that would go with 10/6 (assuming those are the other two bands). YMMV

 

[Prerunner1982]

I don't know about the quad band antennas but from my experience most of the 2m or dual band antennas I have dealt with need little if any tuning.

Also that radio does 10m FM, a technician license only allows you access to SSB on 10m so it may not even be worth it to worry about an antenna for 10m.
Though a lot of 6m action is SSB there may be some FM action too especially when propagation is open.
May be easier/better to get a dual band antenna and a separate 6m antenna if you are interested in 6m, or get a switch and run two separate antennas to one radio.

 

[Graeman]

I noticed that you have a Jeep JKU. The ham antenna will not work as good if mounted next to the spare tire like the cb antenna does. Yes, it will work just not as good. I know this because I went from a 1.1 on the swr meter when mounted up on the a pillar light pod to a best of 1.6 mounted between the spare tire and the tailgate. I will be mounting the antenna back to the front a pillar this weekend to get that 1.1 swr again on my dual band. Oh yeah, like everybody else said a CB swr meter is not designed to work on the quad bands that you have with your new ham radio.