What type of antenna is it? If your not sure a picture would help a bunch! There are a few broadband antennas, but most should be tuned to the operating freq. Post some pics, or some specs and it will be easier to tell you how to tune it....
Protect freedom, or freedom won't be there to protect you....
cheers for your reply, looking back at my 1st post i realised that i should've given more info so here goes.
FM Broadcast band 87 - 108MHz dipole antenna kit.
250W power handling ! Solid machined *Stainless Steel* Elements Element Lock Nuts so they don't unscrew. SO239 Connector (Needs PL259 to connect) Element end caps. + Polarity indicator so you know which way is up. Complete with mounting bracket, ready to go. Very high quality indeed
This was taken off the ebay page and doesn't give any info on the specs.
Well if you aren't using a lot of broadcast power you could just hook it up and test to see what the SWR reading is. Even an old CB meter would do in a pinch just for SWR measurements. Most antennas designed to work the whole band are usually tuned to the middle of the band, so it's probably already cut for around 98MHz.
Does that antenna have any way to easily change the size of the whips like an allen wrench screw or something that holds the whip into the base so it can slide in and out to size? If not you could clip the ends if really needed but I wouldn't worry about it at this point and especially if you are running <20 watts or so.
Probably just best to run it as is and see how it performs first.
I have always used math for the antenna and fine tuned with field strength. Never used an SWR meter on FM and never lost a final transistor
Not condoning this method, but if you get stuck with no SWR meter....
Cheers!
Hi,
yea i dont have a SWR meter but my antenna came with the instructions to show you how to clip it to frequency, so if i have any problems as it is i'll just clip it. Cheers guys for you input, i'm test everything out tonight and i'll let u know what happens.
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