do you have a counter poise of any kind for the antenna to work against?
if not, then even touching the case of the meter will alter your swr
readings.
you have to put the ground side of the feed line, or radio, to a ground of
some kind...water pipe, a big chunk of wire, anything to use as a counter
poise...even a ground rod will work in a pinch.
But, just from what you describe, it almost sounds like a bad patch cable or
bad connecters somewhere in the chain.
I did something very similar to what you are doing for 80 meters, and
successfully got the swr right down to 1 to 1 by cutting about 1 foot of
wire off at a time until it was 1 to 1 where i wanted it. I had the ground
side of the feed line, RG8x coax, tied directly to an outdoor water pipe
valve.
remember to keep the tuner in the radio off as well as sometimes that can
alter the load a bit from what i've found.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message -----
From: "mark Torgerson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 10:18 PM
Subject: Question About TW 1 and readings
> Hi=20
> I have a tw 1 talking watt and SWR meter. Well, I have been pretty =
> pleased with the unit but I am beginning to wonder about the readings it =
> gives. I put up about a quarter wave of wire for 75 meters. Then I =
> tested the SWR reading. it tested high at the high end of the band and =
> down around 3.5 MHz I had a reading of about 3.8. So, I trimmed the =
> antenna and found the SWR dropping. Then I took off more wire and the =
> SWR jumped to 19 or 20. So, I figured out a quick way to add some wire =
> to the antenna and the SWR jumped to 30. The miter was sitting on top of =
> the radio. So, I moved the meter and the SWR went higher yet. Sadly the =
> 12 volt power cord fell out of the meter shorted on a ground source and =
> shut down the power supply before I could continue farther. My question =
> is are the SWR readings accurate? Are the actually the readings of the =
> antenna, or is the radio interfering with the meters readings? Is it an =
> issue with something else like the cable? At best I am feeling confused. =
> The readings are not matching what I have been taught about the lengths =
> of antennas and SWR readings.=20
> Any insights are appreciated.
>
> God bless,
> Mark
> --=20
> Currently in Pendleton, Eastern Oregon Regional At Pendleton, =
> Oregon Clear, 95.0=B0F(35.0=B0C) Wind:WNW (300=B0) at 12mph (10KT)
> Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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> =20
>
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