Just built a Cushcraft A148-10S 2 meter yagi beam. Hooked up 75ft of Lmr 400 to it and ran a test with my MFJ 259B. The antenna is only 5ft off the ground and is vertical. I also built the antenna to spec from the supplied instruction manual.
I found the SWR to be around 1.4 at 144, 1.6 at 145.00 MHZ, 1.4 at 147.00 MHZ, and 1.3 at 148.00
The antenna had a 1.1 SWR at 149 MHZ.
Now today it rained all day and the SWR was higher at all the above frequencies.
I did not use the supplied rubber cap that goes over the coaxial connector on the antenna due to my coax already having the PL-259 soldered on.
Now I understand the reading are not going to be accurate do to the antenna being so close to the ground at only 5ft. The instruction manual says for best results to have the antenna at least 10 feet off the ground.
Tomorrow I will have the antenna installed on top of my 40ft tower.
I'm hoping that the SWR of the antenna will come down when the antenna is installed on top of the tower.
The manual says in most cases the antenna does not need to be adjusted when built with the supplied measurements.
I will be using the antenna for FM simplex and repeater usage.
I found the SWR to be around 1.4 at 144, 1.6 at 145.00 MHZ, 1.4 at 147.00 MHZ, and 1.3 at 148.00
The antenna had a 1.1 SWR at 149 MHZ.
Now today it rained all day and the SWR was higher at all the above frequencies.
I did not use the supplied rubber cap that goes over the coaxial connector on the antenna due to my coax already having the PL-259 soldered on.
Now I understand the reading are not going to be accurate do to the antenna being so close to the ground at only 5ft. The instruction manual says for best results to have the antenna at least 10 feet off the ground.
Tomorrow I will have the antenna installed on top of my 40ft tower.
I'm hoping that the SWR of the antenna will come down when the antenna is installed on top of the tower.
The manual says in most cases the antenna does not need to be adjusted when built with the supplied measurements.
I will be using the antenna for FM simplex and repeater usage.