well my Workman W58 (Maco v 5/8 clone) is acting funny this morning, high SWR, I mean REALLY high, like 3+ this is the first rain I have seen with it... any ideas? This is pissing me off big time as you can imagine. I will have to wait for everything to dry out before I can even bother trying to correct this.
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big rain this morning = high SWR on new antenna?
- Thread starter mr_fx
- Start date
that would be my first thought but I have never had this issue before. Only thing that has changed is the antenna. Same coax. LEss than a year old. RG8x with 'high quality' connectors.
Were the SO 239 is mounted with the wire coming out and going to the matching ring, cover that whole area with a good RTV sealant.
Most likely ( especially if it has not rained in a while) dirty water is shorting the connector.
Have a look at the attached images.
This is for the I10K antenna, but I am just using them to show what I am talking about.
First one shows the SO 239 connector with the braid attached.
Think of this as the connector on the workman.
In the next picture of the tuning set up if you look close, you will see that the connector and braid is covered with Black RTV sealant.
Also if you did not use coax seal around the PL259/SO239 connection, you could have water intrusion into the cable.
These connectors are not water tight.
This is were a good, small dummy load comes in handy.
Remove the cable at the connector, attach the Dummy load, and read SWR.
If it is good, look elsewhere for the problem.
73
Jeff
Most likely ( especially if it has not rained in a while) dirty water is shorting the connector.
Have a look at the attached images.
This is for the I10K antenna, but I am just using them to show what I am talking about.
First one shows the SO 239 connector with the braid attached.
Think of this as the connector on the workman.
In the next picture of the tuning set up if you look close, you will see that the connector and braid is covered with Black RTV sealant.
Also if you did not use coax seal around the PL259/SO239 connection, you could have water intrusion into the cable.
These connectors are not water tight.
This is were a good, small dummy load comes in handy.
Remove the cable at the connector, attach the Dummy load, and read SWR.
If it is good, look elsewhere for the problem.
73
Jeff
Attachments
I echo what AudioShockwav says. Another product you could use to seal both the connector and the SO-239 is Liquid Electrical Tape (Brush-On Electrical Tape) available as a small 4 fl oz jar at most hardware stores. Just a thought.
I don't know the particular antenna you have, but if it is similar to the Maco the coax connector is upside down installed on the bar at the bottom of the matcher. Some connectors are cheap and have a lot of clearances around the pin where the wire is soldered. This can let water in.
Your RG8X foam coax is bad about allowing water in. They get a little water in the coax and then the process can act just like a suction pump...as gravity has its effect.
I use a product called Stuf. It's Teflon and is made by Cross Devices. It goes inside the connectors before you screw them together. It really helps repel water at that point.
You can check it if you take the coax off the radio end and handle the coax to allow it to drain from the antenna properly, you might see water come out. If this doesn't work then all you've done is waste some time, but it might be better than taking the antenna down just to check.
AS's idea is good, but that can fail also. KC9Q's idea above is often used, but it won't stop water for the source I describe.
Let us know what you find, OK?
For what it's worth (I like longhand): I read that Maco bought Wilson and builds the Maco V5/8; and the Workman W58 is a copy of the Maco & often includes a copy of the Maco instruction sheet.
ok there is no water intrusion in the coax. I hooked a dummy load up to the Coax and the same (1.0) SWR I get with dummy load connected to the radio with a 3ft jumper. so it's good.
so my guess is the connector on the antenna has water in it. or maybe the cable that goes form the connector to the matching device?
so my guess is the connector on the antenna has water in it. or maybe the cable that goes form the connector to the matching device?
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
is everything tight on the antenna ?, particularly on both ends of the tuning wire ? if you narrow it down to the so_239 connector , just replace it with a mobile stud .
http://www.macoantennas.net/files/MACO_V58.pdf
http://www.macoantennas.net/files/MACO_V58.pdf
No it was those Chinese parts that you can see daylight thru. The water had to go somewhere and only two places to go. If it happens again while raining, you'll know for sure the fitting is junk, and it either needs protection or replaced and protected.
I am starting to thing that the matching system is being effected by the water some how.
well I I don;t know what to think. over the course of the day (about 80F temps, and no more rain) I found that the SWRs dropped to about 2.2 (@ 27.385 MHz) and they got higher as the frequency got higher from there. Still seems that the center frequency is around 26.5MHz
one thing that helped was adjusting the matching device as high (tall??? Long???) as it would go) That got me a 1.6 SWR @ 27.385MHz and around 2.0 @ 27.555 MHz, still nice and low around 26.5MHz...
one thing that helped was adjusting the matching device as high (tall??? Long???) as it would go) That got me a 1.6 SWR @ 27.385MHz and around 2.0 @ 27.555 MHz, still nice and low around 26.5MHz...
I guess that is what you meant when you said "thereabouts".
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I could be wrong, but in my opinion based on my experiences, I think the antenna is still not well matched.
It should be showing upward of 2 megs of bandwidth. I think you'll have to go down to close to 25.555 mhz at <2.0:1 SWR to get there...if the antenna can do 2 megs.
If the antenna will show that BW however, you should be good to go, you're just a little low in frequency. That might make sense since you stretched the antenna out as far as it would go.
good luck,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I could be wrong, but in my opinion based on my experiences, I think the antenna is still not well matched.
It should be showing upward of 2 megs of bandwidth. I think you'll have to go down to close to 25.555 mhz at <2.0:1 SWR to get there...if the antenna can do 2 megs.
If the antenna will show that BW however, you should be good to go, you're just a little low in frequency. That might make sense since you stretched the antenna out as far as it would go.
good luck,