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Having SWR issues with my stacked halos, do halos need a coax choke?

mr_fx

Sr. Member
Oct 8, 2011
1,536
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173
Kansas City
Basically I found that SWR on my stacked halos varies hugely as the antenna gets closer and further from a tree branch, when the antenna array was first tested it was on my buddy's mfj-269b and showed to be resonant at about 144.000 mhz, with great reactance, swr around 1.3 @ 144.000, and under 1.6 @ 144.300. that was tested with a 10 foot or so long jumper from radio shack (they call it 'RG8/u', but ummmm.... well let's just say it's a little on the thin side)

Well we tested it with 50 foot on new JSC 3060 mini 8 (which has similar specs to RG-213, and is good stuff as far as mini/x 8 goes) What we found was the as we would raise and lower the antenna array that the swr would change quite a bit, some times as high as 2.2, the reactance and the resonant frequency would change too...

Weird thing is this antenna is not near anything metal, it is however near a tree, or rather IN A TREE :) But I really cannot see that being the issue

I am kinda thinking feedline radiation... opinions??? Smart Arse comments??? ideas??? things to try??? things to double check???
 

If it's a live tree, it has some water content. Might not make a bit of difference at HF, but at VHF and above it could have some effect.

Get a 1:1 unun, or make yourself a choke and try it
 

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