I've got a Nagoya UT-72 dual band antenna on my Jeep. I've just cut it down to tune for GMRS. I've got Ch19 (my main simplex channel) from 1.75 swr down to 1.42. I did get it to 1.19, trimmed a touch more to improve repeater channels, and ch19 went up to 1.42...so I assume I'm done cutting at that point. That leaves the repeater channels around 1.98...it was 3.10 before I started trimming, yikes!
First question...are those acceptable ranges, 1.42 simplex, 1.98 repeater?
Second question concerns my base antenna. I've got a Tram 1477, pre-tuned dual band. I checked the swr on ch19 and it's at 2.18. and repeater channels are around 1.50. Are those acceptable ranges, or should I try to figure out how to tune it...and if so, do I trim or lengthen?
Last question. Other than trimming/lengthening the antenna, is there anything else I can do to improve my swr?