[TowerTalk] Feedline loss

[Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com>]

This weekend, I noticed that one of the 4 dipoles in my K3LR 80m array has 
suddenly developed very broadband characteristics.  At its design frequency 
of 3525 Khz the SWR is about 1.3:1, and at 3850 it is only 1.45.  By 
contrast, the other dipoles in the array show well over 3:1 SWR at 3850.

My hypothesis is that the RG-8X feedline, which is the oldest one in the 
array - about 6 years old - has become very lossy, and the resulting 
resistance is being summed with the antenna impedance, producing the moral 
equivalent of one of those resistor-loaded center insulators that the guy 
in Florida was selling as an "automatic antenna tuner."

Any other possibilities I should be thinking of?

73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database
was updated 20 Oct 2004
2796 contest stations at
www.pvrc.org/WCSD/WCSDsearch.htm  

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