[Mobile-Portable] antenna

[Jim N5QL]

You may have an intermittant short at the base of the Iron Horse.
.
Flexing stresses the wire at the bottom and eventually will fracture the 
wire.

Try doing a continuity check from the base of the antenna to the top 
where the stinger inserts while you bend the antenna back and forth . Do 
this with it mounted.

Some of the brands of this type of antenna have a small stress relief 
loop at the bottom just before the wire enters the base ferrule.

 If this happens just saw the bottom ferrule off, drill out the 
fibreglass, re solder and epoxy the shaft back in..

Make a little back and forth squiggle with the wire just above the 
ferrule for strain relief.

Seal with electrical tape if you don't have any shrink tube.

Please let me know if this helps. I have "re-built" many of these, some 
with a 3" open coil at the top of the shaft that tunes like a bug 
catcher changing bands with a wire jumper. Some 20 to 10 meters and 40 
-10. Those were a lot more efficient.

73,
Jim, N5QL




Jay Eimer wrote:

>I'm not sure that's the issue, but if it is, we'll just have to live with
>it.
>
> 
>But the SWR isn't actually high (at least I don't think it is)- it's just
>not stable.  On an MFJ-259 analyzer, it "swings" from 1.5:1 up to infinity
>and back.  No idea how reliable the 1.5:1 is, since it won't settle on any
>particular reading on any particular freq. 
>