Mike,

In less I am missing something, I don't understand why you should have an S 
W R of 30:1 through a length of coax.  This would suggest there is something 
wrong with the coax.

What type of coax are you using and how long is it?

If you were feeding a one half wave dipole which is suppose to be 
approximately 50 ohms at the feed point, using this coax would have the same 
30:1 S W R as you had with the 50 ohm dummy load.  Just because you can tune 
out the 30:1 S W R, doesn't mean there is an efficient transfer of R F from 
the coax to the antenna at the feed point.

Unless there is something wrong with your dummy load, it looks like you 
found the problem, replace the coax!

Howard #3

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Ryan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 10:02 PM
Subject: 75m issue


> Hi all:
>
> On the one hand I got my buddy researching my antenna to death and coming
> up with a theory that my antenna shouldn't have the Unun balun because 
> it's
> not a 4/1 which is what I'm supposed to have.
> Tom assures me that the way I have my antenna set up is just fine and it's
> the coax. Tom suggested I place a dummy load at the end of my coax and I
> should have a flat or very low SWR. If it was high then it was definitely
> the coax. I did just that and the SWR was 30/1 but was able to be tuned to
> flat and held.
> My buddy put my tuner on his wire antenna with 1kw through it with no
> issues.
> Omg the trials. I don't know who to believe.
>
> 73:
> Mike VO1AX