Where did you connect the analyzer? You want it as close as possible to the feed point, with as little length of coax jumper as possible. Even a 6 ft jumper can skew the results, been there done that....
Sent from my iPad > On Aug 21, 2019, at 12:36 PM, Jeff Blaine <[email protected]> wrote: > > An inverted L without radials is a random length wire and the measurements > are of no meaning until there is a ground system to make up the other half of > the antenna. > > But to Wes point, the 259 and big 160m antennas is a recipe for going nuts. > You don't even need a high powered BC station - even a low powered station a > pretty far distance away can cause the 259 to give results in error. A VNA > or something like the Rig Expert are FAR more robust in this application. > > 73/jeff/ac0c > alpha-charlie-zero-charlie > www.ac0c.com > > >> On 8/21/19 12:04 AM, Wes wrote: >> How many high-powered BC stations do you have around? >> >> Wes N7WS >> >>> On 8/21/2019 8:55 AM, N4ZR wrote: >>> I just put up an inverted L, with a vertical length of about 60 feet, and a >>> total of 135 feet. It is fed through 16 turns of RG-400 on a ferrite core >>> at the base. There are, as yet, no radials. >>> >>> Because I was impatient to see what was going on, I grounded the shield to >>> a single copper-plated ground rod and connected my MFJ259B. I expected a >>> high R value, and I got one - 112-122 ohms. But surprisingly (to me), >>> lowest SWR was at 2.070 MHz, and X remained at zero over quite a wide range >>> - all the way down to about 1.7 MHz. >>> >>> Is this all to be expected? I plan to put down at least minimum radials in >>> the next few days, and would expect the R value to drop as I do so. Am I >>> off-base? >>> >> >> _________________ >> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
