Maco M-105 Flatside

[North Texas Mudduck]

Blows my mind
got swr on beam at 1.2 about 5 feet off the top of roof
put beam in the air on top of tower swr at 1.1 1.2
this is with tandy rg8

last week pulled beam down replaced with rg 213 same length
swr pegs the meter
coax hooked up right

check connectors no short

receives just as well when swr was at 1.2

anyone have any ideas

[231]

Sounds like the SO239 connection on the gamma match might have a problem. How long has the beam been up?

[North Texas Mudduck]

about 2 months
then about 2 weeks ago took it down
weather been bad then last night changed coax is all i did had it sitting back on tripod where i tuned the beam now wham in the red with swr

[Mississippifrog]

Sounds like a short in the new coax. Did you check the tip and the shield of the PL259 at the same time to make sure that there was no continuity?

If its not a short does the new coax your using now have a different velocity factor than your old coax? If it does maybe this is trowing off your match.

Also make sure your jumpers are made from the same coax as you just ran to the antenna.If the jumpers have a different velocity factor it can cause a false reading.

Do you have your old coax to check it with?

[North Texas Mudduck]

i took the old antron stood it back up on the pole attached the new coax to antron and swr flat

hook it back to beam and swr in the red

so im also leaning toward the connector in the gamma

after looking over the connector and gamma match im afraid im going to look into the 10,000 watt gamma
im already to the point to where i can max out the coax rating and gamma so i might wait and get some bigger coax along with new gamma

[Mississippifrog]

What kind of coax are you thinking about getting?

[North Texas Mudduck]

maybe some Nemal 218 or bigger
since i dont turn the beam to much stiff coax wont bother me
and if it is stiffer coax then give the rotation of the beam a little more extra to bend with

[North Texas Mudduck]

ok figured it out
the arm that hold the tip of the gamma match was pushed in 6 inches
measured 18 inches from driven element bracket to arm and it should be 24 inches so all is up and going
and now i had beam on ground for 2 weeks skip rolling talking skip with beam 5 feet off top of roof
now beam back up on tower and no skip

[Mississippifrog]

lol Thats the way it works some times.Good thing is you got it ready when the skip starts up again,which should be soon the way conditions have been lately.As a matter of fact I'm getting conditions out of the northeast corner as i type this.

Good luck

[316]

I was going to say have you made sure that your beam is alligned correctly, sorry it took so long.

[North Texas Mudduck]

heres a pic

[Mississippifrog]

looking good 555

You have your rotor at the bottom?

[North Texas Mudduck]

no rotor yet going to be later down the road
but i have it pointed ENE can talk to anything sothern states up to newyork and chicago

[Shakedown101]

Theres a difference between foam rg8 and polyetheline 213 , I have never gotten lucky by replacing different coaxes with same lengths and specs come out in the good , Glad it all worked out .
Shakedown101 27.025