Homer the on the mk2 Vortex the cone is within a inch or two half the length of the antenna,
I'm not speculating on what's happening until I do a test isolated from the mast with some kind of choke on the coax in a short period of time with two antennas I'm happy have no bad connections anywhere,
a half assed wipe over with a Scotch-Bright pad won't do,
vectors will tune to a low vswr with parts of the antenna missing or not making good electrical connection,
losing a full section of monopole on an old vector is no problem just tweak the gamma & your good to go, even better than before,
snap a radial from the hub no problem,
change the cone from shorter than 1/4wave to 3/8wave no problem,
like Eddie said don't worry about the match the gamma sorts it out,
so its important when cleaning up scruffy old vectors to make sure EVERYTHING is bright & clean inside & outside and making good contact,
the sintered hubs weather to a none conductive surface & fur up where they contact the monopole & need wire wheeling & brushing back to shiny conductive silver,
shot blasting sirio hubs leaves a dark grey none conductive surface,
a good mod is replace the short rusting radial bolts with longer stainless studs & nuts that screw through the hub & grip the monopole bypassing the hub for a much more reliable connection for the radials and so239,
so239's fur up with white crud & need stripping & cleaning on wire wheel & inside pin socket cleaning,
i can't just throw a scruffy old vector together & cut the hoop down & call it done, its not the way i do things.
