Rusty Sidebander, Trying to Get Back In

[Bolster]

OK, today I got a chance to tune the antenna with my ham friend Alan, and I hit a SNAG. We hooked up a dummy load and all looked good. Then Alan put some sort of analyzer in line, that had two needles, one for signal, one for reflected. Wherever they intersected was the SWR. And we could not get the SWR down to 2 in AM mode. Best I could do was about 2.2 (tuned to channels 30-35 because I want to SSB), and I think the SWR is about 3.0 down on channel 1. When I was using this rig 15 years ago, I don't recall it being more than about 1.5-2. So, is it possible that my antenna has deteriorated, or how do you explain this high SWR?

The antenna is on a mag mount, dead center of a Toyota RAV's roof. I spun the little brass nut on the end up and down in 1-turn increments, found the sweet spot with the lowest SWR, but it never went below 2.2. We tested both without and then with the amp in-line. (Apparently this testing device could take the wattage.)

One other interesting thing. Alan thought the analyzer was telling him that my output was 9 watts on amp low, 25 watts on medium, and 45 watts when the amp was on high. Does this sound right for the Amp I have? I thought it was higher than that. Looked to me that there were range settings on the analyzer and I'm not sure we were even in the right range to measure.

I tried to make some SSB contacts but no luck. I don't think I'm making decent waves. I may need to visit a store that specializes in CB SSB. Any of those in Los Angeles?

[paBullwinkle]

Check your coax that some little critter didn't munch on it while it was in storage.

[Eskimo_Pie]

I had a Workman brand 5" mag mount for my fiberglass whips, and I had trouble with high SWR. I had to disassemble it to clean the corrosion off the 3/8" stud where the center of the coax connected. Also the ground to the metal plate that secured the magnet was corroded. Water had leaked in through the hole where the coax passed into the mount.

[Radio 75]

What kind of power does the amp do into a dummy load? I'd check that first before getting too excited.