feedline loss would be possible
EXCEPT, i use a same length cable for my homebrew dipole
and that one was within 15 min swr 1:1
ive got a roll of cable that i use for everything i do
i know that the antenna isnt designed for 26 tot 30mhz
but my transmitter can do it, so i did that to double check the results to see if it improved on the lower and higher side of the cb band
and it didnt
I would examine the pl-259 connectors you installed on that cable. It is still possible that the cable is OK; it might just have a bad/poor solder job on one end of the cable - and the other end too.my best guess is that the cable malfunctioned