TRAM 1486

[WSAH786]

Greetings wise ones.

I have a question about trimming a TRAM 1486. I understand how to measure and where to cut when tuning the antenna, but my question is when using it as a repeater antenna with a duplexer should it be tuned for the receive (467.xxx) or transmit frequency (462.xxx)?

[BoxCar]

I would tune it 2 1/2 MHz over the repeater's transmit.

[COBrien]

Antennas get tuned for transmit frequencies. SWR can only be measured while transmitting.

Personally, I trimmed and tuned the 1486 on my repeater to 465 MHz.

The ultimate plan is to relocate the repeater to a better (read: higher) site, with a DB420 that was donated to my project. If/when that happens, the 1486 will serve as my base station antenna. Since a base station will transmit between 462 and 468 MHz, 465 MHz seemed like a good middle ground.