Your radio doing that when it sees a perfect match is curious. As I said above, I would add a barrel connector and a 3 foot coax jumper to the coax
between the meter and antenna and check SWR again. If there is a noticeable change you have a hidden problem that is biting you.
If you are using mobile antennas, 18 inch radials won't do much good. Its all well and good for some base antennas that have a matching circuit, but it won't benefit you any for testing mobile antennas.
As you seem to be a do'er, I recommend you take both power and SWR readings at both ends of that 75 foot of RG-58 and see if you see a difference. I suggest using a mismatched antenna and tuning it while watching what happens with power and SWR on both ends if possible. If you get it made, do the same thing with the RG-8 cable that you have. Take notes if you want, think about what you saw. Then we can discuss from there what you learned, how it helps, or perhaps I can suggest a course of action based on where you would like to go next. Some people simply learn better this way than reading what is essentially books of information. If thats you, I'm willing to work with you.
The DB
