Tuning a new base antenna

[WREX241]

I just installed a new TRAM UHF base antenna 400-500 MHZ 5 db gain 200 watts Ham/GMRS on the house, connected to a Midland MXT400 on a battery power supply. The SWR reading is 3.2. I can monitor fine, however aparrently im not getting out, No one has responded to my calls for a radio check. Any advice on tuning?

[axorlov]

People not answering calls for radio checks is a normal situation. It's not a Ham band, and even on Ham band good luck finding anybody on 446.000.

 

- Is it Tram 1450? What manual says about adjusting length of the radiators?

- Is your meter appropriate for the 460MHz? Do you use it correctly? Meters require calibration for SWR measurements. It's often easier and better to measure forward and reflected power. You want reflected power to be as low as possible.

 

To check the feedline integrity, attach dummy load instead of antenna, on the far end of the feedline, check SWR or reflected power at the radio, should be 1:1 or close to it. If you don' have dummy load, Move radiators to shortest and to longest positions, check SWR (or reflected power), see if there is any difference. If there is difference in measurements when moving radiators, chances your feedline is ok. Experiment with radiator length.

[WRCZ387]

From the specs, this user has a slightly different model of Tram antenna,

but hopefully the tuning method is the same, or at least similar

 

http://pascogmrs.us/tram-1486/

 

If not, I would do a web search for the instructions for your particular model

 

I hope that this helps

 

73

Greg