Could it be enough power to cause the 259 to overload? Absolutely.
I have a similar situation with a nearby AM station on 1470 KHz at my QTH. The
addition of the MFJ front end filter (MFJ model 731) to my 259B worked perfect.
With the MFJ filter in line and adjusted properly I was able to make
measurements on antennas for 80 and 160 meters with no problems and the 259/731
readings were close to the same as I measured on the HP Network Analyzer. I
highly recommend the MFJ filter. Thanks to W8JI for designing the 731!
Good Luck and 73,
Tim K3LR
Pete Smith wrote:
> Yesterday I tried to use a borrowed MFJ 259B to tune the omega match for my
> 160m shunt fed tower. Readings were all over the map, followed no logical
> pattern, and would jump dramatically from time to time -- an R of 24 would
> suddenly go to >600, for example.
>
> By pure dumb luck I managed to get the match set up almost perfectly -- SWR
> 1:1 at 1830 -- but I'm intrigued. The nearest AM broadcast station is ~5
> miles away and runs only 500 watts on 1550 kHz. It pins the s-meter on my
> Mark 5, barely -- 6 dB of attenuator takes the meter off the pin. Could
> that possibly be enough power delivered to the antenna analyzer to make it
> behave erratically?
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> The revised World Contest
> Station Database
> is online at www.pvrc.org
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
This list is sponsored by the new eHam.net Store. When you buy products
like ICE filters, Array Solutions StackMatch, or M-Squared Antennas from
the eHam Store for the same price you pay direct, a portion of the sale
price goes to support this list. Check it out at http://www.eham.net.
-----
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
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