Power meter on my dx-979 barely moves off of 0 when transmitting, the swr meter also hovers around 1.0 no matter what channel...not used to seeing such low swr readings and almost nothing on the power transmission. my antenna is a FS-II 4' deluxe tunable, grounded on my truck chassis. any thoughts?

High SWR on antenna system.. may have mess up your RF final transistors. if you were talking on it for a long time. have someone check the SWR on the antenna system... should be a FREE service.

You appear to be aware of you antenna system with the separate meter attached so the tells me you dont punish a radio with an high swr. I am just guessing red wire/solder in mic cord at plug given that it is a side mic mic jack.
Stock mic
1- Shield (Ground)
2- Yellow (Audio)
3- Red (Transmit)
4- White (Receive)

The best way is with an antenna analyzer but that is too expensive unless you do SWRs for a living. The meter on the radio should suffice for your needs.
Adjust the screw on the antenna until it is about 1/2 inch out.
Place the srf/swr switch to swr.
Go to channel 1 and note the SWR reading on the meter.
Go to channel 40 and do the same.
If channel 1 SWR is higher than channel 40, then screw the tuning screw out a turn or 2.
If channel 40 SWR is higher than channel 1, then screw the tuning screw in a turn or 2.
Repeat until the SWR on channel 1 is the same as 40. Channel 19 will be the lowest.

If you are not comfortable using the built in SWR meter, you will have to invest around $20 for a small SWR meter.

,,,,Don at NTCB, Inc.

Check the SWR reading on your antenna. If you have the wrong adjustment here, it is like having the wrong antenna, or none at all. You will need a SWR Meter, and somebody who knows what he/she is doing to help you.

When talking on side band, they need to tune you in on their end.

I would check the radio with an external meter to see if it is the transmitter or the Meter in the radio. If it is the meter in the radio it could have a bad detection Diode or just oout of adjustment or even a bad calibration pot. other wise start looking to fix your transmitter like finals or other similar problem.

Your antenna is not tuned for Lowest SWR. The higher the SWR the less power you put out.

It needs to be tuned to the center of the band. Channel 19 or 20. an SWR of 2 is not that good. You should not go over 1.5. Idealely it should be as low as possible. My antenna is tuned so that my SWR is 1.0 on every channel.

So on channel 1 your SWR is high, so it puts out less power. Some what better on channel 20. And your SWR is lowest on channel 40, thus it gets out better.

You want to get the SWR on channels 1 and 40 the same. You need to know whether or not the antenna is too long or short.

Tune to channel 1 take a reading. Take note of it. Then do the same one channel 40.

If the reading is higher on 40 then on 1 your antenna is too long and you need to make it shorter. if its higher on 1 then on 40, its too short so make it longer. When you get to the point when the SWR on 1 and 40 is about the same, you about as good as you are going to get with the meter in the radio, and you will see that on channel 20 your SWR will be very low, and it will be your best channel, and you will also see that you put out about the same wattage on all channels.

To add 10Khz to your transmit frequency:

FIXED/OFF/+10KHz SWITCH: The left position puts the radio on
one of the three fixed channels that is selected by the channel switch
(6,19, or 21). This over-rides the channel selected by the 40 channel
knob. The right position adds 10KHz to whatever frequency you are ON.
In the middle, both features are OFF.

Otherwise, a radio tech would be able to retune the frequency inside the radio.

After adding 10KHz to your frequency, use the SWR control to check the SWR of your antenna.
Here's how:
SWR CAL CONTROL: Normally this switch is set to “PO”. Then,
during transmission, the meter indicates output power. To read SWR,
rotate this knob during transmission until the needle moves to the “SET”
point on the SWR scale. Then, while still transmitting, set the R.B./SWR
switch to SWR.

Ideal SWR is 1 but you'll want to be as near one as possible. An SWR of 1.6 or greater will make ineffective use of your antenna.
If in doubt, a radio tech has the required meters and tools to adjust the SWR/Tuning of your antenna.

THAT IS A VERY GOOD SIGN THAT YOUR SWR MATCH IS OFF....I DONT KNOW IF YOU MATCHED UP YOUR RADIO WITH YOUR ANT.IF NOT YOU CAN BUY A CHEAP SWR METER @ RADIO SHACK...CHECK THAT YOUR COAX CABLE IS OK TRY TO REPLACE THE COAX......GOOD LUCK

Hi,

Based on your post/description:

1. how do i set the swr
Normally SWR are calibrated on your operating channel (where you usually stand-by). This is to maximize transmit power and receive sensitivity. To set SWR, switch to channel of your choice, switch SWR control to CAL, key or press PTT, while pressing PTT rotate ADJ knob until max deflection of needle on meter, release mic, switch control to SWR, key/press PTT, needle reading/deflection is SWR for that channel.

I would suspect that your SWR will vary from your current 1.4. This is because you have too big excursion of channels (240 channels).

2.reading a 1.4
This reading is good enough and should do. However as earlier stated, you seem to have 240 channels which would mean that your radio + antenna moves in a wide bandwidth and since the antenna tuning is affected by frequency, your SWR will also be affected by channel.

Best if you can further lower it down.

3. some cb cant get me
This is because the standard CB radio is only 40 channels. The next would be a 80 channel and then 120 channels.

4. is it my radio
Yes, you have a wide coverage radio almost an extended 10 meter rig.

5. do i have to set my radio on high or low to set my swr
I will assume you are referring to power output, set it to HIGH when doing SWR calibration

Hope this be of some help/idea. Pls post back how things turned up or should you need additional information.

Good luck and kind regards.