[NLRS] SWR infinite on 432.....rats!

[David Palm]

Thanks for the excellent responses!  I always learn so much these groups --
I archive all of the emails from both NLRS and Badger Contesters and have
referred to past discussions numerous times.

With regard to my SWR woes on 432, I started yesterday by checking the
center pin on the N connector and that seemed fine, so I connected it to
the rig one more time and wouldn't you know, suddenly everything was back
to normal.  I held my breath, disconnected from the rig, connected to the
antenna switch (shared with 144 MHz) and sure enough, it was still fine.
So it's one of those "nobody move" scenarios -- there's something
intermittent in there, but as of right now it's working.  All things
staying the same, I should have 432 in the mix for the contest.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions, which I'm sure I will need when
(not if) this goes flaky again.

73,

David  W9HQ




On Tue, Sep 6, 2016 at 8:34 PM, David Palm <thepalmhq at gmail.com> wrote:

> So I've been having a bit of intermittent and puzzling issues on 432 MHz
> for the last few weeks.  I got through the UHF contest okay, but as of two
> days ago the SWR has decided to go infinte and stay infinite.  I swapped
> out the N connector on the LMR-400 down-cable right at the rig, which after
> a lot of horsing around to figure out the problem, had started to seem
> flaky anyway.  No change.
>
> I've run the rig into a dummy load and I know for sure I'm getting power
> out and that into a 50 ohm load everything is as it should.
>
> So....it seems that the only thing is to break this down by subsystem.
> First, climb up there, unwrap the waterproof connection between the LMR400
> down-cable and the flexible rotor loop, terminate the main down-cable with
> a 50 ohm load, and see if that's the culprit.  If not then climb all the
> way up, detach from the antenna and test the rotor loop by itself.
> Finally, test the antenna with a known-good cable.
>
> Any hints or sage advice out there on making this easier?  Or more
> probably it just is what it is.
>
> 73,
>
> David  W9HQ
>
>