Max 2000 swr

Good afternoon,
I have installed a max 2000 on a 20ft pole but before I installed it I put it on 10ft pole and checked the swr which was 1.1 now I have add another 10ft and installed on the house the swr is 2.0.  What have I done wrong? Thanks in advance.

Hi Jason,

Well...you moved it didn't you?!

Joking aside and not getting into the typical forum shenanigans of antenna discussions relating around common mode and ground effects you've got a few choices.

If the coax length is the same and all else is equal then you can either attempt to redo the SWR in situ, (looks difficult), drop it back to where the SWR was good or bring the whole thing down, adjust the rings and put it back up with fingers crossed that you adjusted it right. (It should've been pretty good straight from the box.)

I know, sounds terrible but I've put up then brought back down many an antenna in my time trying to get that elusive 'perfect' SWR.  (Too old with a gammy leg to be doing such nonsense nowadays!)


Or depending on the SWR reading at whatever channel/frequency you could live with it. A SWR of 2 still means that your squirting out 90% of your RF so if that's the worst but gets better lower down or up the band then I'd personally live with it until you can be assed to sort it out.


I'll leave you with that before the inevitable "they're cr*p", or ,"never had a problem with mine", "you need a choke", "change the coax...connectors...coax type...better coax....best-of-the-best coax", etc.

I hope you get sorted, keep it fun, safe & enjoyable and the very best of luck with it.  


All the best,
Victor

Thanks Victor,
Think I will drop it and start again while I have the ladder. I was confused with the fact that the swr is the same across all the channels, so not sure if the rings need to go up or down.

No worries Jason and I think it may well be worth dropping it, adjust it and put it back up whilst you can.

They're a pretty wide band antenna so the same SWR across say 40 channels is pretty typical and you may only notice across a wide frequency sweep otherwise. 

As I mentioned they're usually pretty good straight out of the box but I'll bet that when you had it on the ground you set the SWR by turning the rings clockwise. (I'm assuming, not presuming or trying to cause offence.) It may be worthwhile turning the rings back anticlockwise to about where they were and giving that a go. 

If that lowers your SWR then job's a good'un as you don't want to be up and down those ladders too often!
(Forget 1:1 SWR, low enough is good enough.)


Keep yourself safe mate, too many people fall doing such stuff and why the Radio Amateur Foundation exam has a section on ladder safety. (A windy day makes even a shorter antenna a flipping handful!)

All the best,
Victor

I'll let you know how it goes this afternoon and thanks for your time.

Yes i decided a couple of weeks ago to take my silver rod down and start again so up with the ladder (not that keen on heights) and i took it down and measured every section so they were the same an the put it back up, and then checked my swr which was 1.5 so reasonably happy (wonder if they will ever invent antennas that self swr,) any way i was talking to a guy in blackburn last night and he said i was throwing him nine pounds so that's the best up to now 

Well spent the whole afternoon up and down the ladder. I've given up for the day. Best I can get is 1.6
I will have a rethink and try again in the week. Thanks again you guys.

Well done Jason.

The fun wears thin when you've been up and down the ladder a few times.
 

1.6:1 SWR still equates to 94.7% output power accounting only for SWR losses.
(So a 4W UK FM transmission would be 3.79 Watts out....barely negligable.)

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hi Jay, that's some height there but I can see why you've gone that route with the buildings either side.
I've a gainmaster to put up since last year and I've been humming and harring what size pole , brackets, bolts, position etc ever since

So I'm interested in your set up and my first question would be "what bolts did you use for the brackets" . ?
Your bricks look newer than mine. I've been recommended using the rawbolts or thunderbolts which screw straight into the brick.

Hi I have used raw bolts and k& T brackets think there the 18inch, poles are 2x10ft 1.5 inch. We have had a week of high winds in Wales last week so managed to withstand that. Wouldn't mind adding a 5ft 2 inch pole on the bottom to try and clear roofs next door.

Hi just an update on my swr, I have installed a earth inline with coax which has brought my swr down to 1.2 and I seem to be pulling in more signal.